On Tuesday, the Damelin College campus in East London abruptly shut its doors and left hundreds of students and staff members in the cold.

The campus had sixteen employees who were permanent and some on contract, including lecturers, administrators and cleaners. Twelve of these employees have lost their jobs. Only three lecturers are retaining their jobs to teach virtually. 

In March this year, former Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande announced the cancellation of registration of all Educor institutions, namely City Varsity, Damelin, Icesa City Campus, and Lyceum College. They had not submitted their annual financial statements and tax clearance certificates for the 2021 and 2022 years, as proof of their financial viability.

One of the lecturers who spoke to Elitsha on Thursday, Irshaad Gangat-Duvenage said miscommunication from Educor and a lack of clarity from Minister Nzimande about the reasons for de-registering the college had led to their perilous situation. “De-registration has played a significant role in how we had campuses closed. The closure of these campuses is definitely linked to the financial losses by the company. The minister did us wrong in terms of not clarifying what we were de-registered for because accreditation comes from different bodies.”

He said the non-payment of salaries has left them unable to pay bills and car installments. They were waiting for seven days to lapse, he said, before taking legal action against Damelin for failure to pay their salaries.

‘We heard from students
the college was closing and
retrenched two days later’

Another staff member who spoke to Elitsha on condition of anonymity, said they heard from students last month that the campus was going to shut its doors. “On the 20th of August, students received messages informing them that the campus will close. A day after we also received communication and the retrenchment process started immediately on the 22nd August; we were served no notice. We were informed that we will close at the end of September.” 

Unpaid salaries a nightmare for employees

“Since October last year we have not been paid our salaries on time. For instance we received June salary at the end of July, at the end of August last week we were getting paid for July, we have not been paid for August and we do not know when we are getting that salary as the doors close on Tuesday,” she said.

The employees refused to be named as they fear that they may not get paid. On Thursday, they were seated outside the campus for hours hoping to meet management to discuss the matter.

A final year civil engineering student, Lwazi Nwachukwu, said over the years they had struggled to get their results on time and sometimes would receive incorrect marks. He fears that he may not get his certificate: “I was not aware that the campus was closing, I heard from other students who received messages. I am worried I may not be able to get my qualification certificate and be able to get a job as they have closed. Over the years they would every time issue out incorrect marks, resulting in getting final results late.”

The staff members said the failure by the college to pay their salaries from last year has frustrated them. One employee said, “I am not from East London, I live with my five-year-old son, a niece with a one-year-old infant, we are renting. I couldn’t pay my rent in June and July because we got paid late. I was almost evicted Tuesday because the landlord was tired of Damelin and my excuses. I had to plead with my landlord not to chase me and my kids out. They had locked the room and we were left with nothing, not even clothes.”

After begging for her salary, she got paid at 16h30.

“When I got paid I had to take my entire salary to settle my two months outstanding rental, I was left with R86.00. I have school fees and a lift club to pay for my son, we have a helper for the one-year-old baby for me to be left with that amount,” she said.

Three of the employees we spoke to said they have been with Damelin since 2014 and are walking away with nothing. “Damelin has no package or benefits, we are walking away with nothing after all these years. I asked in our meeting: as we are permanent, what were we going to get? They said they are not terminating contracts; this is all temporary. They refused to pay even our leave days saying they can’t afford to,” said another staffer.

Both the student and staff at the East London campus, said that when news broke about the imminent closure of Educor institutions earlier this year, nothing was communicated to them by the college. “We heard about the de-registration of the college from TV; the students were concerned and kept asking us about it; remember there are students who paid fees for the whole year who had a right to be concerned. We asked the management to formally communicate the matter with the students but nothing was said or done,” the employee said.

Educor had not responded to questions by Elitsha at the time of publication.

Conditional reinstatement of Educor colleges

The staff of Damelin’s East London campus thought their jobs were saved when the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) announced last month that it was going to provisionally reinstate the four Institutions, on condition that:

Educor comply fully with the Council on Higher Education (CHE) accreditation requirements before commencing any teaching and learning activities.

Educor submit comprehensive monthly reports to the department. These reports must include, detailed financial statements, student enrolment statistics, and progress updates on compliance with CHE accreditation standards.

The department’s decision to provisionally reinstate Educor is made purely on humanitarian grounds, says the DHET, “with the primary aim of minimising the disruption to the education and future prospects of the students… This decision does not, in any way, imply that Educor has met or addressed the compliance failures that led to the initial cancellation of its registration,” reads the statement.

Minister of Higher Education, Nobuhle Nkabane has provisionally reinstated Educor under strict conditions. Photo from GCIS website

In a News24 article, Educor’s chief operating officer, Michael Thurley was quoted as saying that he welcomes the reinstatement and that they will ensure that they meet the regulatory standards required of them. So the sudden closure of the East London campus came as a shock to staff and students.

Calls for Educor to be nationalised

Trade union federation, Saftu also called for the DHET not to abandon students, but for them to nationalise these colleges and absorb the workers permanently. “Saftu demands the department not to dump students who were mid-way in pursuing their studies and the workers who worked at these institutions, from cleaners and security to lecturers and admin staff. 

“After all, public higher education institutions do not have adequate capacity to absorb matriculants and learners who want to pursue further education and training. It is only befitting to nationalize Educor institutions as part of expanding its capacity. This is in addition to our demand that they build new colleges and universities,” says Saftu.