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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West previously reported on the 39 students whose three-year apprenticeships from the Ikatisong School of Governance to study with the Denel Technical Academy was terminated without any explanation.

Shortly after the students came forward raising their concerns, the Premier’s Office was summoned by the Portfolio Committee in the North West Provincial Legislature to explain the situation. The Committee directed that the matter must be resolved within 72 hours.

Now, two months later, students have been sent to a new learning centre to continue with the program, but with the following challenges that needs to be addressed urgently:

-The students completed their first year at Denel and were on a 12 months On-Job Training in their final year of study when the program was terminated. The service provider now requires them to start the program afresh, which does not only mean a year and 9 months of their time wasted, but also that funds already paid would be considered as fruitless expenditure.

-The Apprentice-Sponsor Contract, which is to outline the obligations and responsibilities of all parties involved, has not been signed.

-The students’ stipends that have not been paid since January 2020, is still outstanding even after the Portfolio Committee ordered it to be paid in full.

The students’ attempt to raise the above matters and to discuss a way forward in an email sent to the Premier and senior managers, was simply ignored.

We will write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for the Office of the Premier, Aaron Motswana, to urgently summon Premier Mokgoro, Mr Buti Chuma, DDG Institutional Development Support and the  Students Representative to a meeting to address the challenges and lay the matter to finality.

The DA believes that this matter should have been dealt with within the 72 hours recommended by the Committee.

The Office of the Premier should immediately pay the students their stipends owed from January to date in full. The contracts with the sponsor must be concluded as a matter of urgency and the students must be credited for the study years that they completed with Denel.

Students should not have to suffer because the Office of the Premier's inability to meet its own commitments.

Issued by The DA