Endlovini informal settlement resident Siyabulela Qwesha has accused a Khayelitsha-based security training academy of refusing to submit his results to the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA) board so that he could be authorised to work as a security officer.
The 30-year-old said he paid R1 050 for a three-week security course at NGR security training academy, in Ilitha Park. He claims to have completed the course in June, but some of his course results were not submitted to PSiRA for approval.
Mr Qwesha said he completed Grades C,D and E, but the academy only submitted his Grade E course results. He said he received the approval certificate from the board in August.
A visibly emotional Mr Qwesha said when he enquired about the results, he was informed that he needed to pay another R270 for the academy to submit his results.
Without asking too many questions, he said, he paid the required amount in August, but a few weeks later he still did not receive the certificate from the board.
Despite having completed the training, Mr Qwesha can only work as a security guard once he has been approved by PSiRA.
In September, he said, he again visited the academy to find out what had caused the delay. He said he was shocked when they informed him that he needed to pay an additional R180. Because he needed his certificate, he said he immediately paid the money. But until now he has not received his certificate.
The key role of the board is to verify the results and issue a certificate stating that he is a qualified security officer.
Without the board’s approval of his results, he cannot work as a security officer even though he has received his certificate from the academy, he said.
Mr Qwesha argued that security companies no longer employed people with Grade E only.
Over the past five months, he said, he has been going up and down appealing to the academy to submit his results, but his attempts had been fruitless.
“I don’t know why they are not submitting my results when I have paid for the course. My life is at a standstill now because I can’t find employment even though I have been trained as security officer. Why are these people messing up my life? When I enrolled for the course, I wanted to lift myself out of poverty, but it seems that they are the ones who are keeping me in poverty.
“What hurts the most is that the other people whom I trained with from other academies are now working,” he said.
Mr Qwesha said he visited the offices of the board in Cape Town at the beginning of the month to plead for assistance and they advised him to file a complaint via email to the board and they would investigate the matter.
When Vukani contacted NGR security academy, the owner, Dalibango Ndingiswayo, said one of the instructors responsible for submitting the course results to the board had been mistakenly labelled as no longer employed by NGR when he went to submit the results.
As a result he could not submit the course results to be processed. He added that he was in the Eastern Cape for three months and he recently returned to sort out the matter.
“The issue of money he has paid, I will investigate that and he needs to come with proof of payment. I would urge him to come to me and look how can we solve the matter,” he said.
Communication manager for PSiRA, Sizwe Zuma, said they will be investigating the matter.
“In order for the authority to have all the facts relating to the case, we will need a maximum of seven days excluding the weekend for proper investigations,” he said.
