South-West Gauteng & Northern Cape Urban TVET Colleges: overview & gender equality

Meeting report

The Chairperson said that when the Committee received a briefing on the recommendations of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) Report on Gender Transformation Investigation in TVET Colleges and its work in TVET colleges, the Committee resolved that some of the colleges investigated would be called before the Committee. Two of the colleges that CGE worked with have been invited – South-West Gauteng and Northern Cape Urban TVET colleges. The colleges will provide an overview of governance, management, teaching and learning and progress in implementing the CGE recommendations.

DHET opening remarks
Mr Sam Zungu, DHET Deputy Director-General: TVET Colleges, said in the areas where the Committee has visited, some improvement has been seen. We will continue to improve and we have been working closely with Higher Health on gender-based violence to strengthen advocacy and information sharing to ensure that people are capacitated in dealing with GBV. This matter would require resources as well as the implementation of policies by DHET to effect change.

To ensure students with disabilities were also accommodated as required for an inclusive TVET sector, DHET through its infrastructure efficiency grant has ensured that each college has an allocation - around 10% of its allocation - dedicated to infrastructure. Resources are not adequate.

In the DHET five-year Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan, we have a target to establish disability units on every TVET campus. This is an ongoing process and several colleges have been visited to conduct due diligence and assess the state of readiness of the colleges. There are initiatives that have commenced but the speed at which it is done is slow, but progress is happening. A comprehensive report will be compiled on the work done with Higher Health and provided to the Committee.

South-West Gauteng TVET College
SWG TVET College Council and Management
Mr Joey Monyamane, Acting Principal/CEO at South-West Gauteng TVET College, took the Committee through the presentation which covered college profile; mission and vision; council composition and functions; gender demographics in management and governance structures; finances; NSFAS disbursements for student allowances; student housing and infrastructure; college’s partnerships with industries for work-integrated learning (WIL); MOUs; accreditation by SETAs; partnership through the National Skills Fund; student success, drop-out and throughput rates, causes and measures put in place to address them; implementation of CGE recommendations and academic report.

Student Representative Council: SWG TVET College
Mr Samkele Mokoena, SWG SRC, provided background on the SRC and spoke about the challenges of the SWG students. Some students are still facing NSFAS late responses and payment and rejections while they qualify and it is difficult for such students to get hold of NSFAS Contact Centre due to its centralised system. Since Covid-19 pandemic, teaching and learning require E-learning however SWG is not capacitated to offer E-learning and students have not been provided with data to learn online. The college has "missing middle" students who are not funded by NSFAS and when NSFAS students receive laptops, missing middle students are not yet catered for by the college. We are currently engaging college management. Students who are required to be in a weekly workshop are given PPE once-off and some campuses have not been issued PPE.

There is a concern that repeating students on occupational programmes and internships have been shown favouritism. Most students who just completed N6 are complaining of not being assisted due to those who are repeating and doing internships for the 3rd and 4th time without allowing others a chance. There is victimisation of student leaders by lecturers; some lecturers threaten the students and SRC who speak against them and are told they will fail if they continue to speak out against the lecturers. We have noted that such lecturers do not even follow the SACE code of conduct. College admission policy is not followed and as such it creates inconsistency.

A challenge at the college was the lack of transfer across streams in the education system. Enabling students to move from one stream to another for a better career path whichever entry they take is not getting much support in its enforcement. TVET resources are very limited, Equipment from previous investments is left idle due to no capacity to repair the imported equipment and few know how to use it. Some equipment was already relics of previous industrial requirements. TVET does not respond to the demands of the market and the needs of the industry. Many of those leading the TVET system look at industry not as partners but as a source of funds. They have no desire to develop partnerships with industry beyond funding. Many TVET lecturers lack industry experience. TVET colleges cannot really hire trainers from industry as their fees are much higher. Often they must hire graduates from government teacher training institutions.

SWG TVET College Organised Labour
The labour unions covered concerns about governance structures, management, administration in and labour affairs. They lamented the processes for the filling of vacancies at the college.

Northern Cape Urban TVET College
NCU TVET Council and Management
Management provided the same overview as requested by the Committee on governance and management, finance, gender demographics, NSFAS allowance, student housing, work integrated learning, drop out and throughput rates.

On the CGE recommendations, NCU forms part of the public service whose remuneration is totally based on the post and not race or gender. Therefore, staff doing the same work on the same level, are equally remunerated. Transformation remains a critical priority. All employment adverts encourage applications from persons from previously disadvantaged groups and those physically challenged. Sexual harassment is not tolerated at NCU and annual training and education are done on this. Its harassment policy was reviewed approved and implemented in December 2021.

NCU College currently does not have human and capital resources to accommodate students with hearing and visual impairment. However, it notes the recommendation on reasonable accommodation. DHET is currently busy with assessments across the country. Infrastructural changes are underway to accommodate persons who are physically challenged.

Leave and sexual harassment policies are in place.

NCU has a zero-tolerance against GBV awareness and undertakes to regularly speak out and create awareness on the matter.

NCU students are paid their student allowances via NSFAS E-Wallet, therefore NCU does not do direct payments of allowances. The college received R13 038 187 for tuition fees in 2021. This amount was for 3 496 students.

NCU TVET College SRC
The SRC noted funding and certificates as challenges for students. It discussed mental health, the fourth industrial revolution, enrolments and resolutions.

The College should source external funding because it is dependent on NSFAS funding, which is sitting at about 98%. There are cases of students that qualify and perform well but still do not get funded, due to registration data not being sent on time by the institution. Funding will forever be a problem, so the SRC has come up with an initiative called #THUSAMOITHUTI. This initiative is to help those students that applied for NSFAS but because of registration data not being sent on time, they do not get funded and must pay registration fees.

Students are struggling to receive their graduation certificates. DHET has to communicate why there is a hold up in receiving certificates. College management should be sent to DHET to address the seriousness of this challenge.

NCU TVET College Labour Unions
Mr J Komazi from South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) presented on behalf of all labour unions. His presentation covered governance and management; administration; teaching and learning; and CGE report implementation. The unions appealed to NCU and DHET for the revival of the college forums and for a forensic investigation into NCU governance, administration, recruitment and finances. Should the investigation report warrant, NCU must be put under administration.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked if DHET was aware of the concerns raised by NCU College workers. The workers are calling for a forensic investigation of the college. Secondly, he asked NCU management to clarify staff members who are funded by the college versus those who are funded by DHET as some staff were not informed about that. DHET must also indicate how that transition is supposed to unfold and how it was supporting colleges in managing those dynamics.

There seems to be a disjuncture between NSFAS and the institution. DHET must facilitate a session between the two and should be present to monitor it closely. In Committee meetings, we have found that institutions often cast blame on NSFAS and when NSFAS is here, it casts blame on the institutions.

Listening to both presentations, SWG gives a bit of confidence but the NCU gives great concern for its budget stability and sustainability. The Committee will reiterate its stance on increased funding for TVET colleges. The workers have claimed that there is inadequate resource support given to workers – there is one computer available for remote or hybrid methods of teaching and learning. Is this due to funding constraints or a matter of incompetence by the institution in aiding teaching and learning?

Collectively, we need to advocate for stakeholders outside of the institution about how they invest equally in the sector. The SRC president claims that the Premier’s Office does not avail bursaries for TVET college students. This is contradictory to the commitments of the Premier’s Office. We need to encourage and implore stakeholders to invest in the sector. This must include industries and the private sector. This must be spearheaded by the sector itself.

DHET should bring the Committee into confidence on how it is responding to infrastructure challenges and student accommodation.

The Chairperson said the SWG Acting Principal noted student arrests as the reason for students not returning to the college. Is this a challenge in the sector? If so, we need to respond to it.

Ms C King (DA) was impressed with the SWG College engagement with the SETAs and other institutions to ensure that students receive bursaries. This was a progressive way of thinking to meet NSFAS halfway. However, she was concerned about the qualification of lecturers per course. This information should be provided by both colleges to the Committee to assure it that lecturers are properly skilled to administer the courses.

Various reasons were provided for the drop-out rate but more should be done to ensure that TVET colleges are functional. Some time ago she had asked how many NSFAS students at TVET colleges fail and it was alarming to hear that 88 000 TVET college students failed. We need to assess if this stems from the programmes taught in these colleges.

NCU students and workers indicated that the equipment they use was not suitable to fulfil their work operations properly. Perhaps, we should obtain the lifespan of the equipment to ascertain this. Some of the equipment is old and not updated with current technological advances, which in turn makes it difficult for students to be employable.

NSFAS has provided a report about its ICT challenges, but ICT is also problematic at these colleges. The systems are not communicating with one another. Colleges submit the student registration schedules after the deadline. We should look at when these colleges present their registration schedules.

She has been involved in a group of TVET college students since 2018 who have done their work-integrated learning but had not received their certification. It takes two to three years for them to get these certificates. They are struggling to get help from DHET. She asked both colleges what the timeframe is for certification that they state is given "on time". How is work-integrated learning linked to the courses or qualifications that students study?

When was the sexual harassment policy introduced at the NCU College and when will it be reviewed with workers? The NCU SRC has a great programme to acquire funding, is it looking at crowd-funding initiatives or how is this being done? A lot has been raised about the NCU staff but we need an understanding of the outsourcing of the human resources function and the cleaning contracts – what do these cost? On post-provisioning norms, what is the NCU lecturer-student ratio? Why is NCU not keen to use the Pastel Payroll system to ensure it has an updated list of employees? Is DHET aware of the worker grievances and how is it going to address these?

Ms J Mananiso (ANC) said that some of the NSFAS concerns should be responded to in writing to the Committee. In both colleges, there was a slow pace of transformation and low levels of employment equity compliance. Attention must be given to the transformation agenda, employment equity and gender equality.

SWG was doing well in its operational plans but she asked if there were certification backlogs. She asked if the agricultural programmes were fully registered and accredited given the bogus comments that had been made before. She asked both colleges to provide in writing their plan to fill the vacant posts, when these posts will be filled and how long the acting persons have been acting in positions. She asked them to submit the job adverts to the Committee to check if people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Disability is not limited to posts but it is also about accessibility in the institutions. A full account must be submitted to the Committee.

It is worrisome that the SWG SRC has alluded to victimisation by lecturers. Have cases been opened in such instances? Workplace victimisation is a crime.

She asked both colleges to submit in writing who they were partnering with for student experiential workplace learning. Is this applicable to all programmes or specific programmes? Secondly, what are the challenges of outstanding certificates?

She asked the NCU SRC for details about outstanding certificates and how the SRC was assisting in addressing this. Has it also assisted students with mental health issues? What is the working relationship between the NCU and the Office of the Premier on bursaries and other matters?

The NCU union should provide a full account of concerns in the institution – victimisation should also be indicated along with any open cases related to this.

Mr T Letsie (ANC) said that it was clear that TVET colleges continue to have policy challenges. Some institutions did not have policies in place for serious matters and others are in the process of reviewing the policies. Perhaps, DHET should look to partner with CGE to compile a sectoral review of the colleges on the transformation status quo in colleges. DHET is encouraged to set aside funding for this exercise because the CGE has limited funding.

NCU SRC reported outstanding certificates but at the 23 March 2022 Committee meeting, SITA and Umalusi reported a 99% certification backlog reduction. Can NCU confirm how many certificates are outstanding and from which exam centres? What has been done to assist students to receive their certificates? Are there certificates that have not been collected by the students?

There were only two NCU employees with disabilities and one was a temporary employee at the time of the CGE hearing in November 2020. Can NCU confirm if progress has been made in the representation of people with disabilities? How many people with disabilities have since been appointed? Did NCU see an increase in applications from persons with disabilities after that hearing? CGE noted NCU lacked policies on employee wellness, succession, staff retention, retirement planning, promotion and remuneration, breastfeeding, flexitime and a work/life balance policy – are these policies now place 18 months later? If not, why not? The NCU principal must also respond to the many allegations made by the unions against him.

SWG union leaders left him confused as he was not certain they were presenting on behalf of management or the workers. Concerns of the workers were not raised unless there are no general concerns at the institution. CGE resolved that it could not engage SWG College fruitfully because the college submitted handwritten notes instead of the required documentation. The college was dismissed from the CGE hearing because of a lack of documentation. The conduct of the SWG representatives at the hearings undermined the CGE mandate. Has SWG submitted the required information to the Commission? We must be mindful that the CGE is not adequately funded. If the submission was done, when was it made? How long have the SWG positions of principal, deputy principal of academic affairs and the chief financial officer been vacant? What progress has been made to ensure the filling of posts – both DHET and SWG must respond.

SWG College has six campuses and it is commendable that four of the six campus managers are female. There is fair gender representation.

One staff member was expelled for sexual harassment conduct. Does SWG have a sexual harassment policy for both staff and students? If so, can this be shared with the Committee?

Mr Letsie congratulated the SWG SRC elections and for Council organising training and induction.

Ms N Marchesi (DA) asked NCU about the significantly small student numbers who enter in-service training. How many students get the opportunity for in-service training? What happens to the students not absorbed into in-service training programmes? NCU intends to spend R4.5 million on generators. This was a lot of money – has the college considered solar panels? The generators will require diesel to run them and that is an additional cost.

R12.5 million is being spent on NCU Entrance at the Moremogolo campus – is this a priority given its student accommodation is inadequate? Infrastructure in rural areas for student accommodation is extremely concerning and this should be the priority. How does NCU accommodate students with disabilities and are these students supported, especially those that struggle academically?

Ms Marchesi asked both colleges how many students can enrol at full capacity.

SWG students receive in-service training for 18 months; what happens after the 18 months? How many students get absorbed after in-service training? How does the SWG College deal with GBV cases and does it have a sexual harassment policy? How do both colleges introduce their sexual harassment policy to their new students?

Ms N Chirwa (EFF) asked why the SWG College academic board does not have a fair representation of black women. It is embarrassing that the only SWG governance structure with a fair gender representation is the SRC and campus management. Why has this not been addressed because one cannot wait for vacancies to address this? Transformation is urgent. The CGE recommendations had timeframes. NCU has challenges of absorbing persons with disabilities and SWG has representation issues. NCU seems satisfied with 40% but that is not accepted. It is not a fair take because it would not be if it were a race matter. The gender binary is so behind – higher education institutions (HEIs) are hubs of political and social discourse that should be leading. We should be talking about LGBTQ representation but we are stuck in the binary of men and women. It is a disgrace for an institution of higher learning to be regressive on this.

What was the reason for Ms Gurumbi (spelling unconfirmed) resigning from SWG? How are GBV issues handled when reported? Is there a specialised unit for this; if not, why? When is transformation in the SWG top management structures going to be addressed?

When a sexual harassment case is reported, what is the process? Does the person continue to work until the investigation is completed? What is its relationship with the South African Police Service? If institutions do not have the capacity to deal with GBV cases, these should be referred to SAPS.

Can the Committee be informed of the CGE recommendations that were not implemented and the timeframe given for those? What are the interventions to address the outstanding CGE recommendations? CGE is a Chapter 9 institution and it has the power and recourse to enforce its recommendations through the courts.

The Chairperson noted that SWG stated that there is a Wi-Fi connection on campus and data is also made available to the students when necessary. She asked about the SRC concern about resource support when students are off-campus. She referred to slide 36 and asked for SWG to confirm if the interventions outlined were after the CGE enquiry? Do both institutions have gender-responsive policies?

South-West Gauteng TVET College responses
SRC
Mr Mokoena replied about victimisations on campus and said that the SRC has sat with the Senior Management Team (SMT) to discuss this. He had just received a response from SMT during the meeting. The College has advised that those experiencing victimisation should report to the relevant structures and SAPS.

It is indeed true that there is Wi-Fi at all campuses but the challenge is mainly about data for students who are off campus.

The SRC has organised a GBV march and before that, we went on a GBV drive to all six campuses where a prayer session was held. Students have been encouraged to report GBV matters. The Anti-GBV march took place in Soweto. The SRC is now attempting to forge relationships with SAPS in other areas that are close to our campuses. Before marches and demonstrations, the SRC meets with management first to ensure that the institution and its infrastructure is protected.

Management
Mr Monyamane noted the recommendations and concerns raised by the Committee. It is true that we had challenges with the submission in the first encounter with the Commission. SWG was provided an opportunity to return and this was done. A full submission was done to CGE and it indicated that it would assist the college with several policies. We also wrote to it that we are willing to bear the costs. We have not yet received a response from CGE yet but we will get a consultant as an alternative.

The management structure demographics have been noted. We do encourage people with disability to apply and they are prioritised. Even during shortlisting, we do take into consideration women and persons with disability first but we cannot control the outcome of the interviews because they must be fair to everybody. The college unofficially also developed a pool where it encourages or invites females and persons with disabilities to serve on the many college structures so that when posts open, those persons can also compete fairly. The college will note the demographic representation on the board.

The lecturer qualifications will be submitted to the Committee.

As for programme and qualification mixes (PQMs), the SWG College is spread over different locations. When choosing those programmes, it considers the needs around the campus location, provincially and nationally. The college also looks into avoiding replication. The design of the programme is given by DHET.

The reason to have the new business development is to deal with non-ministerial approved programmes to augment whatever is lacking in the programme. Through the findings the college receives, it augments those programmes to ensure that the students are learning what is updated in the labour market. This is how programmes are chosen, phased out and augmented. For the skills programme, we receive funding from different SETAs.

On the low level of interns, we are constrained by the number of posts for women and people with disabilities. Once college posts are filled, it is difficult to replace people for the sake of transformation.

The progress made by DHET on certification is commendable and recently there was a mop-up exercise. Campuses are receiving certificates and we ensure that even if the student owes the college, the certificate is not withheld but the college would follow up through its debt recovery mechanism.

The primary agriculture programme is an accredited programme. It is a National Certificate Vocational (NCV) and it is a competency of the Department.

Several of the vacant posts have been advertised. The recruitment and appointment process will commence soon. A full report on access for people with disabilities will be submitted to the Committee. All the SWG campuses are disability-friendly. It also ensures that during the exams these students are provided with support scribes to write on their behalf. The college provides hearings-aids and visual magnifiers and blind students are provided with the necessary equipment.

On SRC victimisation, a meeting was held recently to give the campus managers a marching order to ensure that these lecturers are addressed and to encourage the SRC to report these matters. If these matters are reported to management, there is action without fear or favour.

It is noted that there is said to be recycling of interns during intern absorption. However, some of the interns would get funding elsewhere and then come back to the college for training. Management will ensure that all college units share their intern slates and that all interns are recorded by the college.

The college is able to register full time up to 22 000 students per annum. There are also part-time classes for those who want to upgrade their qualifications. Lecturers are appointed to do part-time lectures. The college has a sizeable number of part-time students.

The college has not yet embarked on a record keeping of where students are placed at the end of their internship. Management is aware of a few students and those are students who come back to update us about where they are employed after the internship. The college will consider creating a database of students who are absorbed after the internship so the college is aware of where students end up.

Fortunately in all the sexual harassment cases that have been reported, the college has never experienced rape. Whenever these matters are reported, they are dealt with by management. The reported cases are different in terms of the language, the signs and relationship between the student and lecturer. To date, there are five cases of sexual harassment that are being dealt with. When this is reported against a staff member, the staff member will be suspended until the case is completed. We ensure that the case is completed within six months. During student induction at campuses, students are also inducted on sexual harassment and GBV. There is also a sexual harassment campaign – every year in September we host staff wellness to address these issues.

Gender transformation is ongoing and when there is a vacancy, management ensures that it prioritises women and people with disabilities.

On the two cases of sexual harassment, one case was the head of department against some of the lecturers that serve under him – this case is at the final stage and it could be completed at any time, perhaps by June. The second case resulted in a dismissal and that person has lodged a dispute. The college has a good relationship with SAPS. We offer a programme called “Safety and Society” on one of the campuses and since its inception, the students have visited several police stations for student training and in-service training. We have never experienced a problem with reported cases or been given the run-around by the police. We forge ahead any matter that has been reported receives the attention it needs.

The college was not given a time frame by the Commission. It has submitted its report to the Commission but there were still struggles with some of the policies. Management has decided to take the consultant route to assist with this.

The college will send a full report on the certification backlog. There is no crisis now about this. This has been significantly reduced and DHET created a platform where queries can be uploaded by whoever is affected.

There is quite a number of vacant posts in the college but these are not older than two years. The principal post was advertised, the interviews have taken place and the college is now waiting for DHET. Enquiries were made about the CFO position and it was told that this was at the final stages. The Acting Deputy Principal: Academic ascended to this position two years ago. If he goes back to his position, someone will have to fill the position he is acting in currently.

The college is equipped with good laptops in laboratories and libraries. When students are at the college, they have access to these laptops but we do not give students data or laptops; however, we are working on making the website zero-rated. The college was now in discussion with the SRC about the assistance provided to the 'missing-middle' students.

Mr Zenzele Dlamini, Council Chairperson, said the Acting Principal has covered everything. The Council ensures that everything presented comes to fruition, especially on governance issues. We are focused on transformation and ensuring that the college is focused on the major stakeholder, that is, the students. As Council Chairperson, he would never tolerate the exclusion of students and the victimisation of students is dealt with. Since we started three years ago, things have been going well and the policies have been reviewed. Some structures have been introduced such as a Council Sub-Committee on ICT. The person appointed to chair this sub-committee has a legal and ICT background. There is consideration of establishing a subcommittee that will deal with student issues. Students are the biggest stakeholder and they should have subcommittee representation in Council alongside the SRC.

We are happy with the SMT and the SRC. We had challenges with the SRC constitution last year but that has since been sorted out. The constitution needed to be reviewed and the SRC induction was held a week ago. The new SRC understands its roles and responsibilities and we are confident that we will take this college to greater heights. This college operates in Soweto and we know the history of Soweto. We want to ensure that we elevate this college and increase its throughput. We want to ensure that whatever we do talks to the stakeholder – the student.

NEHAWU
Ms Nomusa, NEHAWU Official, referred to the presentation by SADTU and said it must be known that NEHAWU is the majority union and there was no prior discussion between SADTU and NEHAWU. It received the message in the morning and could only do three slides in the presentation. The challenges that the union has are shortage of resources, HR policies and service providers at the college. The shortage of resources includes classrooms as there were not enough to accommodate both NATED and NCV courses. The classes must be exchanged – some attend in the afternoon and others in the evening. We have a shortage of mobile classrooms that were promised by the institution but we are still waiting.

Secondly, we are short of laptops, printers and interactive boards. Thirdly, we have a shortage of air conditioners, and chairs and it is cold these days and there is low classroom attendance by students. We are faced with the slow pace of training of lecturers to adapt to new methods.

On the disability unit, at Dobsonville campus, we have never seen that software and the ones in the college are not working. The voice recorders for the deaf students are not on campus.

On HR policies, the college does not comply with proper recruitment policies and DHET also contributes to this because it takes a long time to fill the position of principal, as a result, the positions are inherited. The Deputy Principal post was not advertised properly. People were requested to fill in for the position of campus manager at Technisa campus but proper recruitment processes were not followed. The appointment of the former employee as a consultant is a concern for workers.

Lecturers are concerned that the students have challenges with their diplomas because when students are applying for jobs they are rejected. It concerns them because it means that the end product is not good enough and means no job for the students.

We also have challenges with the service providers who are not following labour laws – we requested a meeting with the service provider for campus security but there was no response to our request and employees were dismissed without following proper procedures.

The Chairperson noted the new issues surfacing from NEHAWU and suggested that management respond to these in writing as they cannot be ignored.

Northern Cape Urban TVET College response
Workers
The Union Official replied that the HR department is on a drive to recruit but under no circumstances were unions invited to be part of the recruitment process from the development of the advert to the appointment. On victimisation, no case has been opened by our members to date. There was a case where contract staff were laid off but they won the case in court but management said it would appeal the decision. After the judgement, those employees were to report for duty on 5 November 2021 but the college has refused to allow those workers to return because it claims that it is appealing the matter.

On the inconsistent timetables, one of the campuses runs a flexi-timetable which causes some of the lecturers to work late in the day. When this was raised by the union, it was told that it was the management style of that campus.

Senior lecturers posts were advertised some time in 2020 but for the whole of 2021 nothing has been done about these. During the first semester of this year, people received notification to come for interviews and no union was present.

Tools of trade for lecturers are not available. We are living in dire times here. We are in the fourth industrial revolution but lecturers do not have tools of trade.

The discontinuation of programmes is also a concern, but we do welcome the introduction of new programmes. However, there were programmes that have been scratched that have yielded results.

SRC
Ms Fatima Yasfar, (name not confirmed) NCU SRC Deputy President, replied that mental health programmes by the SRC are in the pipeline. Previous South African Further Education and Training Students Association (SAFETSA) members were still engaging with the Office of the Premier and SAFETSA was engaging on behalf of the college. The students that do not have textbooks are students that have lost their textbooks.

We do not have the exact number of students without certificates but former students from 2019 were complaining about the certificates. As the SRC, we will be bringing this matter to management to address swiftly. It is not true that the classes were disrupted by students even though NSFAS did not pay student allowances on time.

The NCU SRC Treasurer-General commented on the sourcing of funding by the SRC and said that it decided to take a portion of the SRC budget to kickstart the fund and grow it from those funds. We will engage with the private sector and other stakeholders for funding assistance.

Management
Ms Ayanda Mhlauli, Deputy Principal: Corporate Services, replied about the filling of posts that for all advertised posts, the college does invite the unions and these invitations are sent to their constituency offices and per agreement. The constituency office delegate will be part of the interview process. It must be noted that for numerous interviews we had representation from NAPTOSA, PSA and SADTU and proof can be submitted of that. Delays in filling in these posts do exist, but it must be noted that recruitment is a process that is not handled by one person. In the past, we have had disagreements with DHET on the interpretation of the 63% threshold within which colleges can appoint staff. We are hopeful that this will change since we are now following the TVET Colleges Post Provisioning Norms (PPN) model but this is a phased-in approach. There are various phases in this model that must be followed. We will continue to invite unions to be involved in the positions advertised.

On staff redeployment, as an institution, you continually look at the operational needs in how the institution is functioning. We are a small institution with a limited number of staff. Due to lack of staff in all positions, management must ensure that it works towards filling the gaps with the current staff and utilise their skills in other areas to ensure services are not interrupted. There have been engagements with staff and they were informed that restructuring will be done without infringing their rights. Various staff members have since been moved and relocated. Some of them are obviously not pleased with that but the objective is to continually engage with staff and ask staff members to be open to the change.

On the 37%, there have been numerous engagements on the matter – it has been dealt with by the affected staff and management. When there was dissatisfaction with management, it was elevated to council. This is a historical matter that the current council inherited. It was a matter from 2009 and as an outcome council instructed management to pay the affected members. They were paid the money albeit there were those who were not satisfied with the outcome.

It must be noted that when we started with the PPN as early as October 2021, engagements were conducted with the affected staff and staff were told that some of them might be migrated from council onto Pastel Payroll to alleviate the financial burden on council. The staff was also informed that there might come a time when they are paid by both council and DHET whilst we are awaiting appointments. Council did not want to disadvantage the staff by not being paid. The staff were also informed of the eventuality that they must repay the college if they were doubled paid. Lo and behold, it happened that staff were doubled paid and they were requested to repay the funds that council desperately needed.

In terms of the contravention of the DHET circular on appointments, a ruling was made on this but this matter is currently in labour court and we are all eagerly awaiting the pronouncement. As for the number of skilled lecturers, Mr Komasi is correct because NCU had employees who might have the specialist qualification but did not have the teacher qualification, which warrants the licence to teach. NCU also had some lecturers that did not have matric but they were part of the system and the institution sat with the responsibility to figure out what to do. Every year the institution encourages its staff members to further their qualifications and apply for internal bursaries. The new cohort of lecturers that came in all have the required qualifications and teaching qualification. We are willing to give the Committee evidence of this.

On the outsourcing of HR, it must be noted that our current labour relations competency is outsourced. This is a temporary solution because the HR function in the college is severely under-capacitated. The positions have been advertised.

NCU does not have a designated unit that focuses on harassment but it is catered for internally in the college. We do not tolerate any bullying and harassment in the institution. We encourage staff to come forward should they experience such.

We note the point about people with disabilities in senior management positions. The appointment of senior managers is the responsibility of DHET and it has its own employee equity targets. We are eagerly awaiting the labour court pronouncement on that.

CGE recommended four policies that NCU must introduce which were sexual harassment; leave; breastfeeding and campus security. The former two are in place - council has reviewed the policy on sexual harassment and the leave policy has just been concluded by DHET and it is approved and in operation. On the breastfeeding policy, DHET has recently advised that it will look into this policy and once the framework has been received, it will be either adopted as is or changes might be made by the council. Council is currently reviewing some of its other policies.

The wellness and capacity interventions are conducted twice a year and we are looking forward to having a positive relationship with both the staff and the students.

Mr Nkosinathi Jacobs, NCU College Chief Financial Officer, replied about the prioritisation of the generators. This was a request from the chief directorate as part of compliance but the college is also exploring solar panels. Secondly, on the costs associated with the entrances, the campuses are based in the middle of locations which raise security threats and give problems when there are strikes.

On procurement, we have inherited a situation where we have printers with different service providers and this was one of the challenges drying up the financial coffers of the entity. A tender was advertised to have one service provider. It was now with the bid committee.

The college had planned to procure the laptops but funds needed to be shifted for Covid-19 expenses. As things stand, the acquisition of the laptops was currently underway.

Mr Brian Madalane, NCU College principal, replied that the diploma certificates are always sent by DHET and it is only for students to come and collect them. We agree that if the SRC can provide management with the list, management can verify which students have and have not received certificates. The backlog of certificates is a matter of ‘kgomo ya moshate’.

When NSFAS requests the student registration data, it is provided to NSFAS.

The 4IR issue requires that as an institution we get the right products for students and lecturers. There is no need to rush and do a messy job and then have to rectify the issue.

On concerns raised by the union – some of them were addressed by the SRC who were at the campuses. Recruitment has been addressed by Corporate Services. The dissolution of the committees is because some of them were already dying a natural death and people were no longer interested in them.

The closure of the hostel stems from the renovation project NCU is undertaking. The college council visited all campuses which took the whole week. Council went into every lecture room on campuses assessing the state of the buildings and the entire infrastructure. Council decided to close the hostel for renovation.

It is true that centralisation of IT Support has been done because we need to manage the few resources that we have. There is nothing wrong with staff submitting a job card about what is wrong with their computer so that an IT technician can be deployed to address this.

On "termination of contracts", contracts were never terminated – they came to an end. These were fixed-term contracts.

The college had mobile projectors, which "grew legs" and left the college. Even lecturers who took them from the campus manager could not account for them.

On the timetable – the last person on campus will be around 16h30 and not beyond that. Working hours were never increased because it would be illegal for us to do so. However, lecturers do request to host extra sessions and classes for exam preparation to ensure the syllabus is covered. This is allowed because the objective is to improve the results of the students.

Support to students is not enough. As indicated by DDG Zungu in our meeting, colleges must build their student support. Across the board this does not exist really but colleges must be given resources for this. Absenteeism is being addressed. There have been protests on campus because of NSFAS; yet the SRC claims that there were no strikes commissioned by it.

The hybrid teaching and learning model is challenging because students are expecting the devices from NSFAS. We are still waiting for NSFAS to conclude this matter.

NCU also applies for the SETA bursaries for its students especially the performing students who do not meet the eligibility requirements of NSFAS funding.

We want to believe that curriculum transformation was not malicious. We had to look at our Programme and Qualification Mix (PQM) and DHET does not pump money into programmes that are not responsive. Almost every college offers an HR course or administration course and we are flooding the market with these students. Some of them end up working in supermarkets as tellers or packers. Is that what they were being trained for? In replacing these courses, we looked at drones, Mandarin and e-commerce. As part of what we inherited, tourism was discontinued and we had to bring it back. We are also trying to bring back hospitality. A number of workshops were closed but we are trying to bring them back as we have the facilities for these courses.

It is true that there are staff members that teach subjects they are not qualified in – this is part of the inheritance but we are addressing this. The results in civil engineering were not good at all but the enrolments were inflated. We had too many repeaters from N1 to N3, as far back as 2010/11. This is not allowed as per the admission requirements.

On the deployment of staff, when the decision was made to close the hostel, all cleaners were deployed to other campuses to assist. It must be noted that the college has a limited staff complement for cleaners. The campuses must be cleaned to maintain the attraction of our clients, which are the students and our lecturers. The priorities are long but we need to start addressing those that are affordable. The acting position was the acting campus manager and that post was filled by DHET and the person will commence on 1 June 2022.

We are trying our best to ensure that the facilities meet disability requirements and we do have ramps on the campuses. DHET also does not have full capacity to address some of these issues. The council will walk hand in hand with the SRC on the mental health programmes that it intends to implement. We will not interfere with its work but we will provide support where it is needed to ensure that this programme is realised.

The interdict was sought during the time when there were strikes and disruptions and property was destroyed. Throughout the country, this deterrent measure was utilised because we had been engaging but no common ground was reached. Among the issues was NSFAS and there were lecturers leading that to ensure there were disruptions. Some of those staff members were brought to book and some decided to leave the college before disciplinary processes could start.

When we arrived in 2018 there were lists and lists of certificates outstanding that we sent to DHET. We went to DHET and within a month or two, we had more than 300 certificates; of the 300, not even half has been collected. We have been trying by announcing this on radio but perhaps we will now call people out by their names to come and collect their certificates. We are not saying there are no other certificates outstanding – but we are still pushing that with DHET.

We are placing fewer students now for in-service training. This happened during Covid-19 because the industry was sceptical about accommodating a lot of students at the same time. They decided to accommodate fewer students, and this is delaying students acquiring their certificates. Within the Northern Cape, there are few employers who can accommodate these students for their internships. The strategy in engaging with employers within the student hometowns is that it will push economic growth within their towns as students would be spending their money in those towns. We will also be addressing migration to cities which ultimately adds to the social ills.

The generators were procured for the exam requirement "for when Eskom goes off". The disabled students include slow learners. Therefore, the pace tests come in handy because they can determine the speed at which a student responds and can determine which programmes are suitable for them. This tool is not used to discriminate against a student, but to assist in determining aptitude.

The assets at the college must be protected. People take equipment from the college to their homes, and we call upon the unions to engage with employees about their members doing this.

The Council Chairperson remarked that recollection of certain things may vary from person to person. She was pleased with how the unions and the students have been able to raise their issues. Hopefully, as stakeholders in the college, we must work on relationships because we cannot have a situation where things become dysfunctional because of disagreements. The college will try its utmost best to ensure that systems are in place that is responsive to its policies.

The college will submit a comprehensive report on the issues that are still outstanding. This will include a detailed report on the equipment needed at the college and how much it is going to cost.

The Chairperson requested the NSFAS officials present that it respond to the matters related to NSFAS in writing.

DHET response
Mr Zungu replied that the inputs from the Committee were a guiding map for DHET and the colleges. When we go back, we need to address the deficiencies that were raised. DHET monitors engagements with social partners and stakeholders in the TVET sector, although it was not regulated for some years. In 2016, the Department issued the Labour Relations Circular No 4 of 2016, which was to establish labour forums where platforms are created for engagement between organised labour and management. Hopefully, the leadership in labour utilise these platforms and does not wait for matters to get to the boiling stage. Management and the institutions must be encouraged to use these platforms. Part of the concerns brought to our attention deal with the TVET branch but most of them go to the Corporate Services branch that deals with HR and labour-related matters.

DHET does facilitate NSFAS engagements with the colleges. Colleges are funded on an 80/20 basis – the 20% is what the colleges need to source from outside the government, but most colleges are struggling with that. There are allocations for infrastructure through the Capital Infrastructure Efficiency Grant (CIEG) but we can establish how those funds are utilised.

The partnerships that have been forged by SWG are impressive. We are encouraging this across the board of TVET colleges. The Minister has requested DHET to host a College-Industry Partnership Summit. We are now awaiting approval from the Director-General, and we hope to hold the summit in early July 2022. Partnerships with industry are encouraged and mechanisms are being put in place to have engagements to forge these partnerships.

We note the partnership we need to forge with CGE. The DG has already directed that an engagement with CGE is held to discuss areas or gaps that exist and seek guidance on how the policies can be implemented.

On the diploma applications, monitoring must done when students go to workplaces to ascertain if the duties they are assigned are the correct ones. This must be monitored because in some instances you find a student making tea instead of doing what they are there for. They must do what is in their logbooks but it must be monitored to ensure it is in accordance with the logbook.

The Chairperson said that there seems to be a disjuncture between what was presented by the institution and its stakeholders. Based on the workers, it looks like we have a crisis. At SWG, it is important that management go back and "find each other" – with the stakeholders. The Committee would like to be apprised of what was shared in that meeting within the next 14 days.

CGE had presented the work it has done with the colleges to the Committee. CGE wanted to open a legal case against the NCU because of information that was not provided to it. It raised concerns when the Committee was told about that.

DHET is providing oversight on the CGE Report implementation to see where across the sector institutions can be strengthened to ensure that policies protecting stakeholders at these institutions are in place and enforced.

We have made great strides towards Day-Zero of the certification backlog but we need to keep this ongoing to avoid future backlogs. She implored NCU to consider hosting campaigns to get students to obtain their certificates. The SRC should come up with initiatives and innovative ways to encourage students to come and collect their certificates.

The Chairperson asked NSFAS to respond within seven days on the matters raised by the Committee. It must also meet with the NCU to address the concerns and the SRC should also be present.

The Committee would need a breakdown of the equipment available in the sector. We need to assess how many resources are required to update the outdated equipment. Public-private partnerships are also encouraged by the Committee.

Meeting adjourned.