Bonile Khanyi
Deputy minister of higher education Buti Manamela shut down an alleged bogus college in Johannesburg on Friday morning.
In a video published by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) on Twitter, Manamela was seen confronting the owner of the Johannesburg City College in Braamfontein and ordered him to shut it down with immediate effect. The college was not registered with the department to operate as an institution of higher learning.
Deputy Minister @ButiManamela ordered Johannesburg City College to shut-down with immediate effect. The college is not registered to offer any higher learning programmes #NoToBogusColleges pic.twitter.com/vg7WRYIWqt
— HigherEduTrainingZA (@HigherEduGovZA) January 19, 2018
Speaking to Inside Education, Manamela said this was part of his nationwide public awareness campaign aimed at enforcing compliance with the relevant legislation in the private college sector.
“We shut down the college this morning because it is not registered with the department of higher education or with any of the Skills Education Training Authorities (Sete’s) or with Umalusi,” said Manamela.
“This is part of an overall campaign that we are running as a department to alert particularly the poor and the working class, people who are the most taken advantage of by these colleges,” said Manamela.
Manamela urged students to be careful when applying for a course at an institution of higher learning.
“We urge students and prospective students to find out from the department whether or not the college has been registered and the programs that it offers have been accredited.”
Manamela said the department opened a case against the owner of the college over a year ago.
“We have since opened a case about a year or two ago with the police against the owner of the college, the matter is before the court and we hope that we’ll be successful in court because we do not believe that this college should be operating,” Manamela said.
Also on Friday morning, Manamela found Sandton Technical College was running illegally too after inspecting its documents. He gave them “a certain amount of time to comply with the rules and regulations of the department” or ship out.
We are now at Sandton Technical College, Johannesburg CBD campus college. The college is not registered and it’s operating illegally. Deputy Minister @ButiManamela is confronting management of the college #NoToBogusColleges pic.twitter.com/Cu4GS0qbrt
— HigherEduTrainingZA (@HigherEduGovZA) January 19, 2018
Deputy Minister @ButiManamela inspecting Sandton Technical College, Johannesburg CBD operating documents. The college has been given certain time to comply with rules and regulations of the department #NoToBogusColleges pic.twitter.com/KExPVWZOvy
— HigherEduTrainingZA (@HigherEduGovZA) January 19, 2018
The minister also said the campaign would be extended to the rest of the country under the #NoToBogusColleges after a twitter user asked him to raid institutions of higher learning in Durban Central.
#NoToBogusColleges will also be raiding Durban, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. Do report abt suspicious College on 0800 87 2222 https://t.co/dBxyB92Azb
— DM Higher Education (@ButiManamela) January 19, 2018
