Parliament, Wednesday, 26 March 2025 – The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education is deeply concerned that Motheo Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in Bloemfontein is failing to address cases of sexual misconduct. The committee is in the Free State as part of its oversight into post-school education institutions in the province.
Members of the committee noted with concern Motheo TVET College’s lack of urgency in dealing with sexual offences where lecturers are alleged to have sexually harassed or had sexual relations with students.
The committee Chairperson, Mr Tebogo Letsie, said: “The college needs to accept where they have gone wrong. Its worrying that there are people who are accused of sexual misconduct but are still in the employ of the college. And this is a triple jeopardy to students who have suffered sexual harassment and who now have to see these people every day on the premises and as lecturers. Once a sexual offence has been registered, you can’t take more than 90 days to finalise that case. If you do that it means you do not have or understand polices that govern sexual harassment in the work place,” he said.
However, the committee was happy with Motheo College’s infrastructure, including lecture rooms, which speaks to proper maintenance and care of government infrastructure. However, the committee is concerned that the infrastructure is being underutilised, as the college has a low student population on its campuses.
Mr Letsie said, “There must be deliberate efforts to market this place. You can’t have this much space with so much potential. All that is needed is rigorous marketing to make the TVET college more attractive to students.” The committee further urged the National Financial Aid Scheme to fast track the accreditation of student accommodation, especially those in Qwaqwa where Motheo has a campus.
Motheo TVET College cited a moratorium on filling vacancies as a critical barrier to their operational efficiency, with two vacant deputy principal posts and three unfilled campus manager positions. The committee noted that all the colleges it has interacted with in the past couple of months have echoed concerns about hiring restrictions. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) must resolve this matter urgently, Mr Letsie said.
Despite these challenges, the committee applauded Motheo college’s innovative textbook retrieval system, which saved the college over R1 million in 2024. The committee commended the initiative and said the sector could benchmark it as best practice for other institutions to adopt.
Today the committee is meeting with Goldfields TVET College and the Free State Community Education and Training College.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION, MR TEBOGO LETSIE.
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