Students turn to CCMA over late stipend payments

Eastern Cape students enrolled in government-sponsored learnership programmes have approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for help in accessing their stipends.

Some 150 students from Dimbaza enrolled for a business skills learnership course developed by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

They say they have not received their R2,000 a month stipend for two months. On Monday they officially lodged a complaint against the UIF and service provider Khunjulwa Marketing Services (KMS).

In March, higher education and training minister Blade Nzimande said skills development providers had to stop training activities, but would continue paying stipends to students during the lockdown.

Speaking on behalf of the students, Luxolo Witbooi said they were given the runaround by both parties.

“This is not the first time we are experiencing this problem. In January we decided to approach KMS directly at their office in East London.

“After that, payments were running smoothly until the lockdown started. Then things became worse,” Witbooi said.

“We are suffering because some of us depend on these stipends to feed our families.

“April was a difficult month, and now it’s been two months and we have no other source of income.

“The administrators on site, KMS, are not giving us any information.

“Last week we decided to approach the CCMA and they gave us forms to submit, and on Monday we sent reps to submit that form and then we’ll wait for a case number.”

Phumza Bodoza, of KMS, referred all questions to the UIF as she was not authorised to speak about the programme to the media.

UIF administrator Peter Chauke said all UIF projects had been affected by Covid-19.

The UIF was in the process of back-paying students across the province. “It’s not only in Dimbaza

where there are issues,” he said.

“We have been communicating with the learners that we can’t pay from the project’s funds, but we’ll be paying them from the Covid-19 [relief] funds which have just been made available to us,” Chauke said.

He said the funds from the project’s coffers could only be accessed through an attendance register. “There were no classes so there is no register, but now our submissions [to pay learners] have been approved by the government.

“We are now preparing to pay learners and we were informing them. They will be paid for April and May, but I’m not sure about the dates,” he said.

All UIF projects had been affected by Covid-19