Speaker 1:

No experience required as training will be provided on the following jobs: waitress, waitresses, bartenders, chefs, cashiers, housekeepers, and child care.

Speaker 3:

It all starts with an advert in a newspaper, promising students jobs. Puseletso is one of those who had high hopes that when she finish her training, she'll be placed in a job immediately. She stays with her mother. No one in the family works. They survive by selling fruit and cool drinks. It took them two months to save enough money to send Puseletso to Loritz Training College. Her dream? A future indicator in industry.

Puseletso:

[foreign language]

Lebohang:

[foreign language]

Puseletso:

[foreign language]

Speaker 3:

We found Loritz Training College in the centre of Johannesburg. This is where many students like Puseletso to end up. Unskilled and unemployed and desperate. Loritz Training College promises to place you in a job, once you finish your training. This has proved to be an extremely marketing tool. Private colleges like Loritz fall under fair education and training, or FET. Fair education colleges are not required to register with the Department of Education. They provide schools and training to those who can't attend technikons and universities. So, many come here. And every Monday, new students can register for a four week training class.

You can choose to train as a waiter, bartender, chef or housekeeper. Or just learn basic competent skills. To get a certificate, you need to 280 rand to register. 150 for the uniform and equipment. Pass your exam, then you should be on your way to join the world of work. But for many, this is not the case.

Speaker 6:

After training, you will get a job but we don't get a job.

Speaker 7:

[foreign language]

Gift:

Everybody here, I'm promising you, is going to get employed. If you actually, you got a dedication in yourself. It's your heart and your [inaudible] that makes you to be employed. But if you always negative, you'll also not get employment. That's also at work. You need to be positive as well.

Speaker 9:

I don't think that's ... it's what I want to hear. What I want to hear is why do you have to advise ... advertising the newspaper that job assistants.

Gift:

Yeah, job assistants-

Speaker 9:

[crosstalk] you know that you are going to pay doing that.

Gift:

Clearly, from your [inaudible] job assistance, it doesn't mean that the employment is there. Job assistant means that you have to be assisted in getting a job. With the present unemployment rate, if we leave you there in the street, we are doing more harm to our community than the harm that we have done to bring you here.

Speaker 9:

Can I tell you something? I've been looking for a job with this certificate.

Gift:

Yeah, that's ... [inaudible] certification. That's right.

Speaker 9:

You know what they say? This is not a qualified certificate. That's why they're taping me. I've been with AB Job Creations.

Gift:

The certificate cannot qualify. It's you who qualifies. If the certificate qualifies, then ... I mean, the qualification doesn't come from the certificate. It comes from you. You cannot say a certificate is qualifying, but you have got to be qualified yourself. If you ask your person, "Can you set me a table?" You will show that you can actually do the table setting. Then you are qualified, isn't it? Not the certificate.

Speaker 3:

An amendment to the FET Act was signed by the president in 1998. It states that with regard to the registration of private fair education institutions, all are exempt from registration with the Department of Education until a date set by the minister of education. This means an unregistered private provider is not committing an offence by providing FET programmes until the proposed date of first January, 2004.

Khetsi:

The numbers that you have present now is that there are over 900 private providers across the country that are providing short programmes to much more longer programmes. So that's a much more larger [inaudible] that we're dealing with. And we had to ensure that we set processes and procedures in motion that are not going to be challenged through the courts of law.

Gift:

There was no [inaudible] that was put for what in terms of actually of private colleges. The way that they should be approved with the education department or education, until a standard document was put forward and all private colleges were compelled to do that. So, the process is so slow that when we send our application, it's taking us so long.

Khetsi:

There are a number of private providers that are taking advantage of the fact that we still busy with the process of registration, which are exploiting the enthusiasm of our people to continue to learn, to acquire the necessary skills, to create for themselves opportunities to enter the world of work.

Speaker 3:

Loritz Training College argues that if an [inaudible] is not registered, its qualifications are proved by international and local borders. There prospector shows that they do not only offer short courses, [inaudible] FET programme. They also advanced diplomas for courses like computer programming, information technology, even travel and tourism. According to law, any private college offering these advanced courses should be registered with the department. If not, they are operating illegally. Loritz says they are still applying for accreditation.

Gift:

Our certificates, most of them, they come from London. They will be written City & Guilds of London. Those are [inaudible] our diplomas and certificates. So they are not actually given by us.

Speaker 3:

Pitman City & Guilds monitors [inaudible] the quality provided by these colleges. They are not a learning centre. They set up standards for any private provider registered with them. This means they will then monitor and [inaudible] the quality of any course they have approved. Students can write the Pitman's exam to get an internationally recognised qualification.

Dumisani:

Loritz is approved to offer the information technology programme. They are approved for City & Guilds. They are approved to offer the IT exams. And they haven't put through a number of students to sit for exams. In fact, if you go through their files, between 1996 and now, there are less than 15 students who sit for a City & Guilds exam. What they do in practise becomes irresponsibility by all the players, not just by one individual player. By all the players to ensure that the game is playing within the rules.

Speaker 3:

Colleges like Loritz manage to lure students from all over South Africa. They come from as far [inaudible] as Lesotho, Swaziland and Cape Town. Nombeko Makana is from Cape Town. She too saw the Loritz advertisement in newspaper with a promise of a job placement. This for her was the first step to building a secure future. Loritz told her all she needed was 280 rand for training. 250 rand for accommodation. After that, she'll be working.

Nombeko:

I'm interested in waitressing, so I phoned them. Then they said they have a training of one month which is four weeks. You just pay the 280. They come in to subsidise you and after that four weeks, they place you in a job. Immediately after the course, they place you in a job. So I'm here because I'm getting a job. They said they have accommodation, and the accommodation is 250. You just bring your blanket and your clothes. Everything is there.

Speaker 3:

The accommodation that Loritz promised Nombeko, the place that had everything, turned out to be this flat. She informed us that after arrival, she was taken to Loritz's offices. There, she gave them her rent and the 200 rent deposit for training. Little did she know that she would end up sharing this one bedroom flat with 15 other students.

Nombeko:

It's very expensive to stay here, if we were [inaudible] four or five, it was going to [inaudible] going to say now it's [inaudible] 250 a month. But 16, if we count that many, one of us will be paying at least 80 rand. One student. No hotel accepts Gift's students, because we are not trained. We know nothing. We know nothing. There's nothing like silver service. We didn't know anything about silver service. We didn't train for it. We have nothing. It's like what [inaudible] certificate from someone?

Speaker 13:

[foreign language]

Speaker 3:

This letter from Loritz states that there were fully furnished kitchen. Despite repeated requests, they wouldn't let us film it.

Nombeko:

I'm 30 years. I'm looking for a job. I'm not looking for a school. I have an illegitimate son at home, which I am supposed to be feeding on my own. So, for me to go to technical and stay for another three years or four years is quite a lot. By the time I'm out of this school, they say, "No you are 35. We can't take you."

Speaker 3:

After failing to get a job, many students from Loritz go back home. Others like Nombeko Makana turn to private employment agencies such as AB Job Creation. For three weeks, Nombeko has been walking this road desperate to find a job. Many have put their trust in agencies, but AB Job Creation says it is different. It claims it has an association with the Department of Labour. Nombeko is so determined to get a job, she's willing to pay extra money to be trained all over again by AB Job Creation.

Lynette:

This was an employment place, all right? All we did was find people jobs, okay? Then I came across the problem where I find a person a job. Now this, she's seen on her own. I find someone a job. I send them down. They get there, it's either they can't do this or can't do that. You understand me? Then I had a couple of students come to me and ask me if I could train them, you understand? Now, if I train you, the only thing I can train you is in theory and just a little practical.

Nombeko:

I left home. I said I'm getting a job at 30, training. And I really need a job because I have a kid to feed. So what I came here for is to get a job.

Lynette:

If you look at an ad in the paper, once the ad says jobs, jobs, jobs, you don't phone that ad. Once an ad says no experience required, you don't phone that ad, because that ad's got no job. I will never hire [Yumbo] to be my receptionist if you've never worked as a receptionist before. Hell no.

Speaker 15:

[foreign language]

Speaker 3:

So [inaudible] you were told to pay 220 in which account?

Speaker 15:

At AB Job Creations [foreign language] under Department of Labour.

Lynette:

If I make the certificate, you cannot receive your certificate before I take it down to the skills development [inaudible], to the Department of Labour. You understand me? Whereby, she's gotta search and make sure that even when I mark your paper, I can't give you your paper. I'm supposed to send it down to them to double check the paper first to see that I didn't mark right is wrong, and wrong is right.

Speaker 3:

AB Job Creation offers its classes in a single office. Training and practicals are done in an empty kitchen. For these, students pay 220 rand, but AB Job Creation denies this.

Lynette:

I don't make them pay 220. This is what I do. I find them space to get hands on training in different types of hotels. Example, [inaudible] Hotel. Now, when you talk to a hotel, and you tell them, listen ... Another example is [inaudible] Grand Hotel. When you talk to those guys and you say, "Listen, I got guys that want to do training in waitering", then they give a price.

Other words, you have to know-

Speaker 3:

Many students say they're to pay their fees into an NBS account belonging to AB Job Creation. AB Job Creation also claims that the Department of Labour approves, regulates and monitors their tuition and their [inaudible] papers. The Department of Labour denies this. They also state that they have never contracted AB Job Creation to do any training for them. They're registered as a private employment agency only, as such, they cannot charge a registration fee of more than one rand per person looking for a job.

Lynette:

They don't think I'm providing them a fair service, then, that's another thing. As far as I'm concerned, I think I am. I definitely think I am. And so far, I think I'm the best in Johannesburg.

Speaker 3:

There are many private colleges that promise to provide students with skills in a short space of time. This is [Sheffield] House in Johannesburg. In this building alone, three colleges are operating. One of them on the sixth floor is Merryland Business College. They offer diplomas and certificates courses on anything from computing to secretarial skills to accounting. MBC College functions in this single room. Reception, lectures and practicals all ake place here. [inaudible] offers a choice of 28 diplomas and certificates but there are only eight computers. Attended a course for two days, pay 150 rand, and you can walk away with an Internet certificate. Busisiwe Tshuma is a Microsoft programme lecturer. She took several one month diplomas at [Thompsonville College] in Soweto. She says she's qualified.

Busisiwe:

Yeah, I do believe I have the quality, the qualification that I can teach someone. It's not really about having the paper that makes you capable of teaching someone. It's about how you deal with people and whether you know the job. And most of the student, they write under Pitman.

Speaker 3:

She claims that all their qualifications are regulated by Pitman. Pitman City & Guilds say they have never heard of Merryland Business College.

Busisiwe:

It's not really about the size of the building or how fancy the building looks like. It's about what you get at the end of the day. What you learn at the end of the day, that really counts.

Khetsi:

Government has an obligation to create the conditions to ensure that our people are not exploited. What I'm also trying to communicate simultaneously is an appeal to our people, to say when they want to further their education and training, they've got the rights to information that tells them about the programme. They've got the right to inspect the premises of that institution that claims is going to give them those qualifications. And if somebody refuses to do that, then you don't register. So we can't allow ourselves to be ripped off on the basis that government has not registered.

Speaker 3:

This is Witwatersrand College in [inaudible] Street, Johannesburg. It offers diplomas for many courses, from information technology to tourism. From accounting to mining engineering. Diplomas start at 6,000 rand per course. This college has eight branches in South Africa, including those in Cape Town, [inaudible], Pretoria, and Johannesburg. These are all former students of Wits College. Special assignment got them together to tell their stories. They have diplomas in fields such as information technology, personal computing and engineering. Now, they want their money back. They said they were misled by the colleges named Wits. They thought it was affiliated to Wits University. The college has since changed its name to Witwatersrand College. It, too, is not registered.

Precious:

We saw an ad go [inaudible] and most of us here [foreign language]. So what happened is your course [inaudible] with Wits College, get work and you'd upgrade to Wits University as time goes on. And it'd be easy for you to go into Wits University if we [inaudible] Wits College, because it's part of them. You know what I'm saying? That's how some of us got into this whole thing.

Speaker 18:

[foreign language]

Speaker 3:

The director of Witwatersrand College did not want to interview. However, when we tracked him down to a restaurant, he did speak to us briefly. He was adamant that he was not doing anything wrong, and that he was not required to register. He promised to allow us to film him inside his colleges. Till today, he has not fulfilled his promises, despite repeated requests.

Frank:

We all applied in, I think, 1999. That's when we all applied.

Speaker 3:

And you got given permission to function?

Frank:

They give us reference. Numbers meaning we are good operators. We have everyone. Some don't have. We are right. Some don't have that preference.

Speaker 3:

And your teachers?

Frank:

The teachers are qualified.

Deriek:

If an institution is using our nickname, we object to that. And secondly, we are concerned for the students that go to those institutions, because the qualifications that they're getting, if they've not been registered by the Department of Education, are not worth the piece of paper that they are printed on. So, from our particular perspective, they are problematic in that they mislead the public, and they've potentially affect our good name.

Frank:

These questions should be asked-

Speaker 21:

[crosstalk]

Frank:

Should be asked to the Department of Education. The ones who allow us to operate.

Khetsi:

If you go into an institution that claims to be teaching engineering, and there are no workshops, I mean that institution has to be closed.

Yukile:

Wits College of Engineering. Certificate. This is to certify that Yukile Ndlovu [inaudible], student number JCEPCE 005, successfully completed her diploma course in PC Engineering. Signed by B.F. Turi, 14-12-2001. And my statement. With B's and A's.

Lekaba:

[foreign language]

Yukile:

Come on, we're not doing this for ourselves. We are doing it for [foreign language] she has to go to school.

Precious:

[foreign language], you understand? [foreign language], you understand? And only to find [foreign language]. It's going to kill her soul.

Vathiswa:

[foreign language]

Speaker 18:

[foreign language]

Speaker 3:

You won't tell your parents?

Speaker 18:

No. [foreign language]

Precious:

Because it's obvious, if we had money, we wouldn't go to one year diploma college, you understand? [inaudible] but we would go to a technikon. [foreign language]. And for me to go to school again, chances are slim, you know? I'm already wasting, what? Six months now. I'm still doing [inaudible]. I'm walking around going to interviews, [inaudible] a place with a fake diploma.

Khetsi:

We [inaudible] those students who are going through [inaudible]. All what I am saying is that as government, we're going to do our best to make sure that we clean up the system. And we are in the process of cleaning up the system. I'm equally saying that South Africans, as citizens themselves, have to take the responsibility of being vigilant when it comes to this matter.

Speaker 3:

So, we decided to be vigilant. We went back to Witwatersrand College to try one last time to gain access. We hoped that this time they would respond to students allegations. Once again, we're met by a closed door and we had to leave.

I'm from [inaudible] from SABC, and we're actually coming here to ask for an interview and access to this college [inaudible].

Speaker 25:

[foreign language]

Speaker 3:

Sorry?

[inaudible] tells us we got to finding answers to students allegations about teaching standards and infrastructure was a letter from the college director. It claims that 50% of his staff have relevant degrees. The rest have one year diplomas. He also states that they too, have the necessary infrastructure.

Speaker 26:

I'm confused because if I leave this college, [foreign language]

Speaker 27:

[foreign language]

Khetsi:

The issues that we spoke about today are not acceptable. And I think we as government, we need to ensure that the matter receives urgent attention.

Speaker 3:

But it's not urgent enough. The proposed state for registration of these colleges is the first of January, 2004. For now, the game continues. Until the Department of Education regulates this industry, it will remain an industry with no rules. Where anybody can do what they want. In the meantime, those desperate for an education will continue being exploited.