The article reports on mentoring programmes as a way to enhance protégés so that they can adapt in their new roles. Since 1995, efforts have been made to overcome the skewed human resource patterns at high skills levels in South Africa through the repeal of old legislation and the introduction of various other legislations. Beyond the legislative regiment the success of human resource transformation is highly dependent on the implementation of effective mentoring programmes. While such programmes usually have noble intentions, their effectiveness and success are greatly dependent on the support of the historical pool of skilled mentors. To understand the efficiency or lack of mentoring programmes, this research was conducted at six public hospitals from Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng. Within these hospitals, 20 mentors were purposively drawn to take part in the study. Among other things, the main views of the mentors s