Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
31 August 2024 | 14:19 CAT

Educor, the largest private education provider in Southern Africa, owns the Damelin, CityVarsity, Icesa City Campus and Lyceum colleges.

Trade union SAFTU has called on the Department of Higher Education Department to ensure workers’ rights are recognised after the Department decided to reinstate the registration licence of private learning group Educor.

Educor’s registration was cancelled in March this year for failure to submit audited financial statements from 2020.

More than 13 thousand students were left uncertain, and their educational journey was disrupted.

Saftu was clear in its stance, expressing a preference for the nationalization of Educor over a simple reinstatement.

“The current landscape in higher education has demonstrated over time that there is not enough space to accommodate all learners who are graduating from high school,” SAFTU spokesperson Trevor Shaku told Radio Islam International.

Shaku emphasized that the Department’s decision to reinstate Educor should come with a strict mandate for compliance with both financial and labour legislation, ensuring the delivery of quality education to all registered students.

Shaku pointed out several other issues at Educor, including non-compliance with fair labour practices.

Workers were exposed to non-payment of salaries on time; in some cases, workers would go for a month without payment. Their working conditions were also unilaterally changed without consultation, and they were maltreated from one level of management to another.

Shaku argues that these unfair labour practices should end as the staff are providing education to the students. ” A proper labour legislation regime should be established in the company. Workers’ rights are respected, but their rights as humans are respected, too.”

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie and SAFTU spokesperson Trevor Shaku here.