According to Mpilo Royal College chief executive Mduduzi Moyo, former students have been threatening to harm workers at the college for delaying to hand out certificates for at least two years. Picture: Facebook According to Mpilo Royal College chief executive Mduduzi Moyo, former students have been threatening to harm workers at the college for delaying to hand out certificates for at least two years. Picture: Facebook
Johannesburg - Workers at a Joburg nursing college live in fear, following delays to the issuing of certificates to former students.
According to Mpilo Royal College chief executive Mduduzi Moyo, former students have been threatening to harm workers at the college for delaying handing out certificates for at least two years.
However, Moyo said it wasn’t the college’s fault that the certificates were delayed. He said the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSeta) was the one to blame.
“It is the HWSeta’s fault that students have not received their certificates. On our side we have done everything that needed to be done. We have trained students, but issuing certificates on completion, that’s HWSeta’s job. They have been delaying to issue the certificates since 2017,” said Moyo.
The delays have resulted in former students not being able to have their names registered with nursing authorities.
Moyo said the delays started when the education, training and skills development authority migrated into a new management information system, in 2017. The migration was supposed to last six weeks but, nearly two years later, students and colleges are still in limbo.
“HWSeta has placed us on a time ticking bomb. Students come here and tell us that they have guns and will kill us. When we try to explain to them about the matter they tell us that they did not register with HWSeta but with the college, therefore, they want their certificates from us,” he said.
The college principal Dickson Ncube claimed to have received death threats through text messages from some students earlier this month.
He said: “One of the learners said he was coming to the college and wanted to find his certificates when he gets here. He hasn’t come yet. I don’t know if he chose not to come anymore or whether he is still coming.
“We are looking over our shoulders every day.”
Earlier this month, students from the college complained about the delays. They said they have paid a lot of money to get education, but the delays were hampering their chances of getting employment.
Moyo said they never had challenges until the migration into the new system.
“The group that enrolled in 2016 completed in February 2017, but were only issued their certificates in May last year. The other group that enrolled in 2017 are still waiting for certificates to date,” he said.
Moyo said HWSeta’s regional and head office were aware of the situation, but were doing nothing about it.
He said they had to stop student intakes this year enrolling under HWSseta, but only enrol students under Quality Council For Trades and Occupations.
HWSeta learner achievement manager Hlamalani Ngcobo said they were not aware of the threats.
Ngcobo said the process was affecting all HWSeta skills development providers and employers.
She added that the process of
certification of the students waiting for certificates was at the last stage, and that the certificates should be issued within the next two weeks.
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