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GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - About 140 construction students of Africa Skills College are in a crisis after not receiving their March stipend. Up until today, 24 April, the relevant Construction Education and Training Authority (Ceta) has failed to make the payments.
Speaking to the newspaper during a mass gathering of highly upset students at the college in Thembalethu, Phumllani Gqozana, trade leader for the plumbing students, said after their stipends were not paid in at the end of March, they were promised that they would receive it by 18 April, which did not happen. The Ceta then promised that payment would be made by 24 April, but this did not happen either.
Some students are not able to pay rent and some have already been evicted by their landlords. One student said he had resigned from a previous job to enrol for training at Africa Skills and he is dependent on the stipend for his survival.
The college site manager, Ron Stevens, said Africa Skills has nothing to do with the payment.
Africa Skills College site manager Ron Stevens says payment of the stipend is out of their hands. They have submitted all the required registers and documentation to the Ceta.The money comes directly from the construction training authority. "We are supposed to submit all the registers, which we did. Every time we speak to the Ceta about the money there are excuses. We spoke to them again this morning and were given the assurance that the money would be paid out today. The problem is that some of the banks keep the money for a longer period. It is standard procedure. It is out of our hands."
Sipho Masombuka, the contract manager at the Ceta, could not be reached for comment.
The media communications department required the newspaper's enquiry to be sent via e-mail and promised to respond.
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