Hon Chair and Members of Parliament, on 29 June and 1 July the committee went to the Medical University of South Africa, Medunsa, campus of the University of Limpopo, and an institution that falls under the auspices of the Department of Higher Education and Training called the Institute for the National Development of Learnerships, Employment Skills and Labour Assessments, Indlela.
We noted a few things at the University of Limpopo. Since the merger of Medunsa and Turfloop there has been no harmonisation of the conditions of employment of the workers of Medunsa and those of the University of Limpopo.
I think we have all noted that now, in the next 12 months, there is going to be a demerger of Medunsa and the main campus.
During our oversight visit, it emerged that there are inadequate facilities in that institution, despite the fact that they've got a very wonderful library. When we looked at their residences, we saw that they were in serious disrepair. We want to recommend to management of the university that, within their current pecuniary resources, they should upgrade and refurbish those facilities. They even use a sports complex for exam purposes! We think that that environment is not warranted.
We also noted that the university had committed itself to ensuring that they fast-tracked the demerger process within the next 12 months. However, we felt it was very important for them to look at the concerns that had been raised by workers, particularly from the Medunsa side. We met organised labour, but not the entire union. The only component that we met was the workers at Medunsa. They said they were very happy with the demerger process, because apparently they had not initially been upbeat about the merger, and so on.
The other issue that we dealt with was Indlela. This is the only state- owned institute that deals with moderation and quality assurance for artisans. We have 600 private trade centres in the country.
Now, in this institution we noted that the department instituted investigations in which about 30 officials were implicated in corrupt activities and maladministration. We recommend that the department expedite disciplinary action against those implicated officials, and they must also go beyond disciplinary action. They must, in fact, institute criminal charges against those officials in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA. We are not happy with only the disciplinary process that they mentioned to us.
The other element which we also recommend in the report is that two institutions, the National Artisan Moderation Body and the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations, which are under the auspices of the department, have been in an incubator for too long. We want to recommend that we expedite their operationalisation so that they can do their work of moderation and quality assurance in our quest for increased production of artisans and technicians in the country.
Other details will be found in the report. We, as a portfolio committee, would like to urge Parliament to adopt these recommendations so that we can allow an opportunity for improvements. I thank you. [Applause.]
There was no debate.
House Chairperson, I move:
That the report be adopted.
Motion agreed to.
Report accordingly adopted.