Department of Higher Education and Training on its Annual Report for 2012/13

Meeting report

Briefing by Department of Higher Education and Training
Mr Gwebinkundla Qonde, Director-General (DG): Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) began the presentation by laying out the Department’s achievements. The Further Education and Training (FET) student headcount enrolments had increased by 90% from 345 566 in 2010 to 657 690 in 2012. Student headcount enrolments at universities increased by 14% from 837 779 in 2010 to 953 375 in 2012. Two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape were being established. Both universities would open their doors in 2014 in selected academic programmes, using existing buildings. The demerger of Medunsa Campus from University of Limpopo and establishment of a new university of health sciences had taken place. There was a building of 12 new FET campuses and refurbishment of two campuses. There was improved human resources (HR) and financial management in the FET College sector.  

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which was the primary tool to ensure access for poor students to post-school education, had assisted 1.4 million students since 1991, with many NSFAS alumni now playing an important role in the economy and society. The NSFAS student bursary funding at FET Colleges had increased from R318 million in 2010, benefitting 61 703 students, to R1.988 billion in 2013 targeting 222 817 students. The NSFAS student bursary funding at Universities had increased from R2.2 billion in 2010 benefitting 148 387 students to R3.693 billion in 2013 targeting 210 000 students. Expansion and strengthening of teacher education for all education sub-sectors, including pre-schooling, schooling and post-schooling had resulted in an increase from just under 6 000 new teacher graduates in 2008 to 12 999 in 2012.

The 2012/13 Annual Report was the third Annual Report of the Department of Higher Education and Training. For the 2012/13 financial year the Department had a total of 107 planned targets: 62 targets were achieved, 33 targets were partially achieved and 12 targets were not achieved. 11 of the partially and not achieved targets had subsequently been achieved since 31 March 2013. There was implementation of the phasing-in of Vocational and Continued Education and Training (VCET) function shift and other matters. 

Unlike the traditional matric examination, examinations for FET colleges were conducted seven times a year and twice a year for Adult Education and Training (AET), with candidates being assessed and certificated in each of these nine examination cycles. Prior to the establishment of the Department in 2009, certification challenges had already existed in the issuing of National Certification (Vocational), or NC(V), certificates. 22 214 NC(V) in levels two to four certificates had been issued. 16 602 certificates were initially not issued because public FET Colleges owed certification fees to Umalusi Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training. The Department had successfully intervened and ensured that Umalusi lifted this block. Certificates were now being processed for release, but 3 491 certificates had not been issued by Umalusi because of outstanding certification fees owed by private FET Colleges. The Department had contacted each of these institutions to settle outstanding certification debt. 18 106 certificates had not been processed due to data anomalies in the candidate’s datasets. This was the actual backlog. The Department was in constant engagement with the South African Information Technology Agency (SITA) to address these anomalies. SITA was also in the process of sourcing additional capacity to resolve this matter.

With regard to FET College Councils the number of Colleges which had council governance structures had increased to 16. There was a due date for the appointment of Councils. The appointments to the Free State, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo Councils would be completed within the two weeks. Gauteng, Northern Cape and North West short-listing and due diligence had already been completed and appointments would be made during November 2013. Mpumalanga and Western Cape Councils were still in place as they have not yet expired. Eight Colleges were under administration with their governance structure being fulfilled by the Administrators.

In terms of the FET College principal and deputy principal hiring, there were 13 posts that had been advertised for principals: 11 interviews were conducted, two posts were due for short listing, seven appointments were made, three posts were due for re-advertisement, one interview was done and in process of appointment. With regard to deputy principals, 21 appointments were made and 11 posts were vacant and in a process of being filled.  

In relation to FET College Turnaround Strategy the Department needed support on human resource management aspects. 20 human resource generalists had been appointed and deployed to FET Colleges. The South African Institute for Chartered Accountants (SAICA) had deployed Chartered Accountants in all FET colleges with a view to strengthening financial management capacity. A College Improvement Project in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo Province was being implemented. Substantive actions were being implemented in FET colleges in pursuit of improved student performance which included the following: daily monitoring of student attendance, particularly for bursary recipients where travel and accommodation allowance disbursement was linked to attendance; the administration of the student selection and placement test at the commencement of the academic year; and the delivery of academic support programmes. 

FET Function Shift processes were underway to facilitate the transfer of the FET Colleges function to DHET. In order to manage and administer the FET College function shift, funds needed to be shifted from the Provincial Equitable Share to DHET. The DHET calculated and discussed a proposal for an administrative budget to be shifted with officials from Provincial Education Departments (PEDs), Provincial Treasuries, National Treasury and the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC). The National Treasury was requested to lead the process with Provincial Treasuries. A task team led by National Treasury had been established and was required to provide feedback by 31 October 2013 in order to meet the timeframe of the 2014 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget process. It was expected that the Minister of Finance would announce on the function shift during the 2013 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). The Department would appreciate the support of the Portfolio Committee to ensure that the process of the function shift was completed by 01 April 2014.

Discussion
Prof A Lotriet (DA) said that the report was vague. For example, where exhibitions were discussed it was not clear what actually took place. She asked whether it was value for money, was the money well spent, and how many people would be reached? The Department had a massive problem with certification. SITA was not performing and should work much harder in improving the ICT. At one point the Committee had been told that SITA was not going to issue more certificates and a programme was going to be obtained.

The Chairperson said that the Committee had discussed with the Department several times that they wanted qualitative reporting in terms of dealing with disciplinary cases within 90 days. He asked how many disciplinary cases the Department had been able to deal with or resolved in the quarter under review. The report noted that there were delays regarding Indlela cases. He asked how many cases they were referring to. What was the basis for non-approval of the HR plan? Was it because it did not meet the requirements of the Minister or it was not completed?

The Chairperson asked for clarity on the case of an employee who had been charged for breaching a security programme. The Department had not produced a newsletter for three quarters because there was no one to edit it. He found it strange that the Department could not organise an editorial board. Why could the Department not meet the 30 day payment deadline which was a legal requirement?

Ms N Gina (ANC) asked for clarity in terms of slide nine, which dealt with the positions of principals and deputy principals. Slide 14 said that targets had been achieved, yet the organogram of the Department showed that there were posts which had been vacant for some time. She asked if the Department was satisfied that those post were not being filled but also comfortable with its statement that said targets had been achieved.

The Auditor-General report gave no verification of qualifications to people being employed by the Department. How was the Department intending to ensure verification of qualifications and why was it proving challenging?

The attrition rate was alarmingly high, with 112 resignations within the Department. Was the problem with recruitment or retention and what would be done in the future to retain skills?

Mr M Mpontshane (IFP) asked why the HR plan was not approved. Who was responsible for the irregular spending which had been indicated in the report?

Mr S Radebe (ANC) asked for clarity with regard to the meaning of partially achieved in terms of the newsletter as there had been no communication within the Department.

Ms D Chili (ANC) asked why it took so long for the Department to resolve grievances.

Mr Qonde responded that the exhibitions were prompted by a lack of understanding of various career options that the youth were confronted with, which lead to applying incorrectly to various higher learning institutions throughout the country, and also the clogging of the university sector as if it was the only option for further training. As a response to that need, especially by communities in far rural areas and in certain secluded townships in urban areas, the Department had developed programmes to promote technical vocational education and training systems for the entire country, so that the nation didn’t only believe that to be educated and equipped with skills one needed to go to university. They went to deep rural areas to show communities what was available within the post school education and training system in collaboration SETAs, Quality Councils, Universities and FET Colleges.

The Department had also appealed to SETAs to go out and communicate with communities at far outlying areas who had little access to this type of information, and as a result often ended up not accessing any higher education and training facility. These career exhibitions campaigns promoted artisan work, occupations of various kinds in trade, and occupations in the form of technical work, and also demystified the understanding of the entire educational pipeline and landscape in the country. They had reached over 20 000 people so far. This had actually reduced applications to universities because the youth were exploring other avenues. There was increased interest in learnerships, which had previously see interest coming mainly from urban areas. The Department was breaking down barriers so that they were able to communicate directly with those who would benefit from that information.

Impact was related primarily to systems, policies, and matters associated with compliance, not necessarily service delivery. In the process of trying to establish the new Department, policies had been rationalized and conditions of service had been harmonized. Those processes were mainly consultative while they were fazing in new systems. What was said in this process did not hold them back from opening up universities in Mpumalanga or from expanding the enrolment of the medical students in a number of universities. For example, the University of Pretoria’s first year enrolment of medical students had been expanded by 200 people in order to meet targets and the needs of the country. Therefore, to look at this as a determination of how the Department had performed did not give an accurate picture of what actually happened regarding service delivery.
 

With regard to the verification of new appointments, the Department had advertised posts, began the interview process and made recommendations. The verification process was referred to another Department, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and South African Qualifications Authority (SAQUA). Delays were within the control of the DHET. The Department requested guidance on where they should then after the appointment wait for a year or longer before the identified candidate assumed duty or not, as they waited for confirmation from these verification processes. [this was very unclear in the way it was written in the original report – I hope I’m right in how I’ve interpreted it. Does this sound correct?]

Regarding ICT, regulations required cooperation with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA). The Department could not secure IT services without due processes under SITA. The Department felt a sense of urgency and the process was unfolding.

Mr Qonde acknowledged the high attrition rate. The Department was investing heavily in educating and training their staff, and was ensuring that each staff member was assessed according to their performance. Nonetheless staff got better employment offers elsewhere and the Department was not always in a position to make a counter offer. Therefore there was a natural rate of attrition.

Slide nine indicated that 13 posts had been advertised, 11 interviews had been conducted, there were two posts due for shot-listing, seven appointments had been made and no suitable candidates were found for three posts. One interview had been conducted and was in the process of unfolding.

The Chairperson said the report should more clearly state what appointments had been made and verified by SAQUA.

Ms Chili asked why slide nine showed that staff were being hired while slide 14 focused on reducing the vacancy rate in the Department.

Mr Qonde responded that these were two separate issues because slide nine was talking about the appointments of principals and deputy principals in FET Colleges, which were not within the Department.

Ms Mbobo noted that the Department had appointed a company to assist in managing their network infrastructure. Because of the poor performance they had received approval to appoint a service provider, hence there had been improvement on the stability of their network.

Ms Mbobo responded to the question about disciplinary cases. Of the cases involving financial misconduct, three had been finalised, three cases were ongoing, two were the result of postponements and one case awaiting ruling. Two cases of absenteeism were reported in the Department where one was found guilty and the other was given a warning. There was also a case of the misuse of a vehicle where the person was found guilty, suspended for one month and ordered to pay the damages that were caused in the vehicle. There was a case of fraud and theft where the official involved was not found guilty and had to come back to work after he was suspended. One case related to gross negligence and the official was found guilty and dismissed. There was an ongoing case of various kinds of misconduct which was awaiting ruling from the Chairperson. There were two cases of assault which were both finalized, one was given three months suspension without payment and the other was given a final return warning.

The Department had four grievances, two of which they had resolved and all four of which related to performance bonuses. They were in a process of resolving the two grievances that were outstanding. In 2012, they had nine grievances and were all resolved by the end of the year. There was one dispute that was not resolved by the end of the financial year and that dispute had been since resolved in 2013.

With regard to Indlela they had eight cases and managed to charge an official. Three officials  were found guilty, two officials resigned, one was found guilty and then appealed the decision of the Chairperson which was upheld. He took the matter to the Counsel where they were ordered to reinstate the official. Three of those cases were still ongoing.

The Department received a letter from the Presiding Officer who presided on those cases expressing his concern and dissatisfaction with the evidence that had been given to all the cases of Indlela, and the witness from the forensics company was also unable to provide evidence that would enable the Department to successfully charge those officials. As a result of that senior management decided to question whether it was worthwhile for the Department to proceed with those cases, considering the money they had spent on them. A decision was reached with the advice of the prosecutor not to proceed with the case, hence the number had currently been reduced.

The HR plan was approved but was approved late and it had been since submitted to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). It was approved a month later than the 31 March 2013, which was why they did not meet that target.

There was a project in the Department that improved security, which included the installation of cameras, the biometric system as well as the magnetic tape. And there was a whistle blower who alerted the Department with some irregular activities with regard to the contracting of the service provider who was awarded the contract. Immediately after receiving the alert, the DG instituted a forensic audit which revealed that there could had been some irregular activities in that the official could have had a relationship with the company that provided the service to the Department, and the official had been suspended pending further investigation for the Department to prepare the charges.

The Department understood the concern from the Committee that it should not take a year to organise an editorial board. They had addressed that particular matter and there was a Chief Director for Communication which had been appointed in the Department to address that matter.

The Chairperson said that the Committee suggested that the Department should take appropriate steps to implement the recommendations of the Auditor-General, SCOPA and other relevant bodies.

The Chairperson thanked the DG and his delegation and the meeting was adjourned.