State of Affairs at TVET colleges: Tshwane North Technical; Gert Sibande & Central Johannesburg

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed everyone present and indicated that due to time constraints, each college or stakeholder would have to present much quicker than usual.

The Committee had picked up problems with the University of Fort Hare since it had been invited to come and account to Parliament. The Administrator had indicated to the Committee that he would not be present due to commitments which he did not specify. The Committee would not allow anybody to say that they would not come and account to Parliament. If one refused to come, the Committee would exercise its instruments to convene the Administrator.

Briefing by the Tshwane North TVET College Management

The Acting Chairperson of the council indicated that the college had been experiencing challenges for a long time. The college was placed under administration from 2012 until 2019 and the council was fully constituted in 2019. In August 2019, the council met with the SRC in a special council meeting that took 14 hours to arrive to resolutions for addressing the issues which were raised by the SRC. The council continued to monitor some of the issues that were raised during the meeting such as that of NSFAS allowances.

The council and management attempted several times to reach out to the former SRC to engage without success. By early 2020, the council had not received a formal complaint from the SRC but it followed a copy of demands that was submitted to the DHET. Thereafter, council invited the SRC but the invitation was declined. Despite this, the council had a special meeting that was aimed at addressing student demands – those that were submitted to DHET. The meeting was held in February 2020 and the response was submitted to DHET on 25 February 2020. The council was of the opinion that he had responded to all student demands.

The events that had taken place in the previous week left council with no choice but to close the college down. The safety of the staff and students was threatened and this temporary closure would come to pass once stability was achieved.

The principal of the college provided some background and mentioned that she had been dismissed by the Department, and was later reappointed to on 01 April 2017. The current management was constituted between 2014 and 2019. The college had had seven different Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) between 2012 and 2019, and three of those came from the SAICA partnership programme.

Briefing by the Tshwane North TVET College Student Representative Council (SRC)

The SRC President presented the following issues:

-Tshwane North TVET College had failed students for years when it came to the disbursement of their allowance. There were still outstanding allowances dating back to 2017 and as far back as 2014

-Tshwane North TVET College refused to adhere to the guideline of NSFAS

-Anti-poor policies that excluded non-NSFAS students

-The safety and academic performance of students was at risk, as they shared accommodation with drug dealers, prostitutes and alcoholics

-One of Tshwane campuses based in Soshanguve South, which had a student residence, was closed down due to management failure to manage and maintain it

-There were artisan workshops that were not accredited due to management failure to find qualified engineers that must be assigned to the workshops. Engineering students were inconvenienced by this as they exited without having practically tested their skills

-There was a shortage of lecturers

-Appointers were using nepotism unskilled lecturers

Briefing by the Gert Sibande TVET College Management

Ms Portia Mange, Acting Principal of the College, took Members through the presentation and reported the state of affairs at the institution. They were as follows:

• Student registrations took place successfully across all campuses from 13 January 2020
• The college developed enrolment plans and implemented them as planned
• Teaching and learning commenced on all sites from 20 January until 02 March 2020.  All students received learning materials
• Evander Campus experienced interruptions from 30 January until17 February 2020 due to taxi and bus conflict
• From 05 March 2020, there were interruptions at Ermelo and Sibanesetfu Campus due to NSFAS payment issues. This had an impact on first quarter assessments for the affected campuses
• College Officials visited NSFAS to resolve bursary payment issues from the 04-06 March 2020
• The college suspended two officials on 21 October 2019 on grounds of alleged fraud and investigations were underway
• The college received an unqualified audit opinion in the 2018/19 financial year
• The Auditor-General was on site for the FY2019/20 audit
• The team was compiling Annual Financial Statements to be reviewed by the internal auditors and presented to Audit Committee and Council before submission to AG and DHET by 31 March 2020
• The DHET approved R10 203 267.26 for Infrastructure & Maintenance; the Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes were underway (tender closed on 3 March 2020 for Sibanesetfu Campus)
• The college was a centre of specialization for Millwright Trade; the construction of this training centre commenced in January 2020
• The construction of a new campus in Balfour commenced on 11 October 2019
• The college unveiled a new logo and new corporate colours on the 13 November 2019.
• The College Driving Academy and Mandarin class for the transport and logistics students commenced in February 2020
• Gert Sibande TVET College had been nominated as a Centre of Excellence in ICT; this would bring alignment to the vision of becoming a leading college brand in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) dispensation
• University of Pretoria was appointed to conduct a Program Qualification Mix Research on behalf of Gert Sibande College. The final report would be finalized by 30 March 2020; its findings would be evaluated and implemented in 2021

Briefing by the Gert Sibande TVET College SRC

Mr NP Ngwenya, President of the SRC, said that draft policy must first be given to the students so that they could make inputs and that it must be communicated to the students once made official. Registration must commence earlier so that classes could start on time.

He presented challenges and the SRC’s recommendation on teaching and learning; student accommodation; and disbursement of NSFAS allowances.

Briefing by the Central Johannesburg (CJC) TVET College Management

Mr Phumzile Kedama, Administrator at CJC, took the Members through the presentation and indicated that the college was officially placed under administration by the former Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr N Pandor. Some of the reasons that led to the college being placed under administration, after the commissioned phase one investigation, included:

- Poor governance

- Lack of internal controls

- Qualified audit outcomes

- Continuous students and community protests that were disrupting teaching and learning

- A number of disruptions emanating from staff members due to various matters, etc.

He touched on the state of affairs in teaching and learning; student accommodation; challenges on NSFAS disbursements; challenges and achievements.

In conclusion, notwithstanding resistance, significant progress had been made since the start of the administration and there had not been unrest by students nor labour since June 2019. The college was in a stable state, which resulted in several new enrolments during the recent 2020 registration process. The academic performance was gradually improving due to various interventions aimed at assisting students who were struggling, particularly in mathematics and other engineering-related subjects.

The spending on infrastructure improved and refurbishments of selected areas in all campuses were currently underway; a new culture of compliance was embraced by staff.

Briefing by the Central Johannesburg TVET College SRC

Mr Nyakallo Mokoena, SRC Deputy President, presented that the institution’s SRC had now been recognized as an important stakeholder in the institution. The new changes in the Constitution for Student Governance had taken a more direct approach for the requirements of good leadership. Students wanted the SRC to be held to account should they fail to execute their responsibilities.

He also touched on matters around delays in NSFAS disbursements; teaching and learning; accommodation; student governance and challenges of enrolment.

Discussion

The Chairperson mentioned that the matter around the dismissal and reappointment of the principal of the Tshwane North College was not done justice. He felt that more information should have been provided. The council should respond to this, even if it was in writing.

He asked for a status update of the college and the intention of management to facilitate the reopening of the college at Tshwane North. Is management doing anything about harmonizing its relationship with the student leadership?

Mr B Nodada (DA) said that Members needed to agree that the challenges were not light and the sector was in a crisis. The comment about the Administrator at the University of Fort Hare must not be taken lightly. The Committee could hold some of its meetings in these institutions so that when the Minister comes, Members would have a clear picture of the issues on the ground.

There were commonalities of challenges in the sector which had gone for years unaddressed. It was frustrating to sit and listen to the same problems and issues over and over again, such as: the outdated curriculum, oversaturated courses, NSFAS inadequacies, graduates irrelevant for the job market, certification backlog, etc.

He asked the DHET whether the demands that were submitted by the SRC of Tshwane North were expedited and whether the DHET followed up to ensure that the responses by management were appropriate. Secondly, who is responsible for the development of the curriculum of the TVET colleges in the Department? What is the development cycle of that process? Which courses are often referred to as oversaturated courses in TVET Colleges and are they still offered? What role has the Department played in the accreditation of the workshops in some colleges and campuses?

To Tshwane North College, he suggested that council should provide a report on why the principal was dismissed and reappointed. He was alarmed by the number of CFOs that had come and gone. What caused this? Perhaps, this was why there were a disclaimer audits. Is the institution using the Coltech or ITS system? What systemic measures have been put in place to address the system’s challenges and when are you planning on changing to a different system?

Have the February NSFAS allowances been paid? If so, how many have been paid and not yet paid? For students living with disabilities, are the any challenges that the College experienced from NSFAS regarding the disbursement of their funds?

What disbursement systems are used to pay allowances? In terms of the course offering and curriculum, what courses do you believe are oversaturated and need to be scrapped? Regarding infrastructure and maintenance, is there internal capacity to manage infrastructure and maintenance of the buildings?

Mr P Keetse (EFF) was unhappy about the absence of the political leadership. When Mr Sizwe Nxasana was removed from NSFAS as the Administrator, Members were told that there were improvements. However, the very same system that was used during Mr Nxasana’s tenure was still being used which was why the same issues were happening every year. Apparently, there were only two fellows at NSFAS who knew how the system works and if they were not at work, no disbursements could be done.

He asked about the nature of the stakeholder relation of the TVET Colleges. College principals were very hostile against political formations within institutions. Some of them went as far as not allowing student movements on campus.

He encouraged the management of CJC to allow political structures to contest freely during SRC elections. In addition, management should engage with the student community appropriately and must be honest with the students about issues that could be resolved and those that could not be resolved. Reasons must be given why certain issues could not be resolved. Students were reasonable if management if were transparent and honest.

Mr B Yabo (ANC) sought clarity on the strike at Tshwane North College. He saw a clip where the Regional Student Leadership in Tshwane was addressing students and mentioned something about the principal of the college running it with her “Ben 10”. This was worrisome because students were claiming it was true. However, this was not mentioned in the SRC presentation. The Committee wanted to understand the facts around the allegations that were made about the principal. There had to be substance to these allegations; people could not throw around innuendo, ruining people’s reputations.

The cooperation of TVET Colleges and various SETAs, the Gert Sibande SRC mentioned that there were students that went through vocational training but came out of it without any field experience. Is this a common experience amongst the TVETs? If it is, what causes the disjuncture between what the college is supposed to do and the outcome for the students? If the curriculum did not produce what it set out to, then we would have a deeper problem. There should be an in-depth analysis of the vocational training space in relation to those who plan, provide and receive the training.

Ms J Mananiso (ANC) said that the colleges all lacked uniformity. TVETs needed to find each other in terms of sharing and exchanging good practises.

There were no specifics and details on gender representation and demographics, amongst the beneficiaries, in all the colleges.

The Department had a number of vacant posts within various TVETs. This needed to come to an end; we could not expect these colleges to perform if critical posts remained vacant.

NSFAS seemed to have made progress but so much still needed to be done. The team should utilise the 4IR to wipe off all systematic challenges faced by the scheme in its disbursements of allowances and funds.

Ms D Sibiya (ANC) asked Tshwane about its 94 dysfunctional toilets and what was being done to fix them. What are the issues caused by members of the staff in the college? What progress has been made to fill in the critical vacancies at the college? Students had complained about safety and security as well as accommodation.

The Chairperson indicated that he had received a formal complaint from the principal of Tshwane North College against Mr Lesego Makhubela, a Provincial Legislature Member, for incitement of students at the college. The complaint was also sent to the Minister and the Deputy Minister.

Mr T Letsie (ANC) commented that there was a need to review the systems that were being used at the TVET Colleges. The majority of the existing problems stemmed from the curriculum and perhaps the Minister should convene all the stakeholders in the sector to determine the curriculum that would be relevant at this stage. Students were educated and trained for the streets because the job market could not absorb them. A Ministerial Task Team should be commissioned to revise the curriculum in the TVET sector.

The TVETs did not mention anything about the infrastructure grants, and there was about R1.6 billion that remained unspent. Why are the colleges not spending the allocated money to make learning conducive?

The Chairperson indicated that due to time constraints, the Committee would have a follow up session with the council and management. He encouraged management to allow SRC and political formations to take place because those spaces allow free participation of everyone within those institutions.

Further responses must be provided in writing due to time constraints.

The meeting was adjourned.