Legalbrief Today reports as follows:
“The SA Qualifications Authority (Saqa) has been forced to operate at limited capacity due to funding constraints, which could leave thousands of prospective students and employees in limbo. Saqa, which falls under the Department of Higher Education, Science & Innovation, recently had to offload more than a third of its 170 employees. This is amid a cash crunch caused by the Covid-19 crisis and a cut in government funding. Saqa said it faced closure if it did not act to reduce its personnel costs. “
“‘Due to the recent retrenchments and the transitional period we are going through, we anticipate some delays in processing applications,’ Saqa CEO Julie Reddy said in response to questions from Business Day. Saqa has informed applicants through its website about the expected delays. ‘We have also ensured that we have cross-functional teams that are assisting to minimise the delays should they occur,’ Reddy said. Saqa had a government grant of R72.5m in the 2020/2021 financial year, which was subsequently cut by R1.2m as the government scrambled to save SAA. Overall, the R117bn budget of Saqa’s parent department was cut by R1.1bn, as the state moved to drastically reduce expenditure across the board to claw back fiscal stability.”
