Learnership complaints. Learners placed on funded training often feel let down by the system as it’s difficult to get the authorities to respond to their issues.
The Department of Labour and Unemployment and the Department of Higher Education and Training are responsible for the well-being of these youth.
Tell Us Your Story
Those on learnerships, apprenticeships and internships often feel as if they have nowhere to report their experiences to. If you’re a learner or intern experiencing problems with your employer or training provider, send us your story.
Many youth complain about bad contracts and unfair payments, share your issues with Keep Climbing. We post advice and warn the public about any damaging trends. We also address serious matters that violate youth rights.
Keep Climbing believes employers advertising learnerships, apprenticeships and internships must publish the stipend amount in their adverts. Please support us when we take the industry on and force them to comply with the Constitution.
According to the Constitution, everybody is entitled to FAIR labour practices. However, fairness is something we must fight for.
Learnership Complaints: Collect Supportive Documentation
Collect evidence to show you are on a learnership and have the names of the firms you are contracted to. The firms you engage with contractually are the training providers and employers. Proof can be contained in a Whatsapp, SMS, email etc. Names are important, sometimes the guilty party is a bogus college that makes money out of you even if you’re not paying for anything.
The best proof is your contract. Contracts give insight into the values and attitudes employers have towards learners, the poor and the unemployed. When we receive a contract, we believe we’re closer towards protecting the next generation.
No one else collects contracts. Think about why that is. No one will fund a researcher to do this as companies will object and won’t participate. Keep Climbing says Fuck the Unequal Power, let us be the Force that will change exploitation and abuse.
Report Skills Development Problems: Learnership Complaints
Some of the complaints we receive are extremely concerning and the comments posted on this site regularly raise our suspicions. We don’t approach companies and slam them, thereby exposing the victims, but the details about them are vital. We also understand that not everyone submitting their story wants actions that will place them at the centre of attention and prevent a move to a positive future.
Hi Keagan, the best action is to lodge a CCMA complaint. Others have dne the same and cases have been opened. Has a learner rep contacted the MERSETA? Let us know!
I’m in an apprenticeship funded by merseta
The development skills that has been approved to derect us is not giving us enough experience
We started at Ehlanzeni mapulaneg college doing automotive practicals but we’ve never work on a working Car or a working engine everything is old if not broken it has been a year now we are not even registered for UIF they say our money won’t come out if they can register us on labour we getting paid R2500 per month and they said is fix for a period of three years help pls
Now we about to go to the work placed they told us that companies like toyota are refusing to negotiate with them and in that way we will go to other local work shop
Hi!… I’m currently doing learnership program which started 1st of March 2017 and it was suppose to end 28th February 2019 but due to some delays on their side our contract was extended several times, lastest contract expiring on 30th September 2023 but our agreement not reached
We only received level 2 NQF certificate
But Level 3 and 4 they failed to provide
Now we end up doing Trade test via ARPL/RPL which was not our agreement, it’s not part of our contract and the process of ARPL demand service letter, which on the service letter they sent us to sign says we were on service with them from 1st of March 2017 like we have been employed not under learnership program
Now we been forced to sign the service letter so they can apply our trade certificate while during the program we stayed at home several times including the whole year sometimes 6 months doing nothing but the service letter it’s seems we been busy from day 1 until to date
Please help me out how to deal with this situation looking forward to hear from you, please don’t hesitate to contact me for further information
Good day
I’m currently on a short learnership program that enslaved me.
In July 2022 I started a learnership program in a company that promised that we will be done in 3-5 months. We never started with our training until the contract expired and we were give new contracts and still nothing is happening instead we are being used like slaves to do activities that I outside our scope. We don’t even have copies of our contracts.
To cut it short, today I refused to do certain task that I was given and the manager told me that I am dismissed. When he asked his permanent employees to do the same task they refused as if nothing happened.
I need intervention please my email is koenawaka@gmail.com.
Thanks
Can you please help
I’ve signed contract with Core capacity training academy and I haven’t received my stipend for the past 4 months
Hello
I am in an internship (Telecommunication network and operations learnership) which started a month ago but we have not received any stipend yet. its always “the next day, the next day” when we ask about them. Some of the learners in our group come from far and need to pay transport fees or rent a place in Kimberley. we have been getting threats from day one and did not expect to be also dealing with this
there is no empathy from our hosts and my group wants to take a step. how do we do that please send me information on that because we still want to take part in the learnership but will have to if we have to put ourselves in debt or be homeless just to be able to attend.
Your guess is as good as ours! How long is your contract for?
That sounds sooo stupid! How is it going now Rodgers?
What was the outcome Tholoana? When employers show little understanding of your circumstances, you do well to be worried enough to find another opportunity.
I’ve been on a learnership for 3 months now. I’ve only been given to a hosting company now after 3 months. I’ve had issues traveling to my hosting company because they caught me at an inconvient time in the month, where I absolutely have no money to be traveling.
I say inconvient time because it was the 19th of the month and I hadn’t heard from my sponsoring company in 3 months.
Now I fear that after a week of absenteeism, I maybe removed from the learnership or treated unfairly because I missed out on 3 days off work.
Should I be worried?
Hi, we were told that the is no stipend during a learnership zoom meeting and some of us decided to attend regardless of stipend now they tell us that we have to come but they still wait for the total number of people expected to attend hence they send sms saying a learnership is being postponed and the day comes but the number stay the same as they expect 42 people to attend.
Hi is it possible to be paid and don’t have a payslip , because I wanted a payslip ,and the response I got was the don’t have any payslips for interns is it possible?or maybe they are hiding something
Ive been employed as an Apprentice in August 2018, i was given a 4 year apprenticeship contract, it is now June 2022 which means i only have 1 month left of my contract and for this 4 years i didnt recieve any training, i didnt have a mentor/journey man, i was never sent to training centres, i basically just worked as cheap labour. I need advice on how to deal with this situation, who to contact.
Every learner has been paid their statement shows I have been paid but on my statement no money has entered into my account now they ignore my calls
I recently signed a contract with a company called Tusanang and they turned out to a fraud no stipend was received. I recently found out that I am considered as a UMM employee at labour because of them meanwhile I am not receiving any money and when I tell them to terminate my contract they are refusing because they are receiving money using my name.
Hi
My host is forcing me to buy a Device even though I’m done with my theory. Infact they blocked me from the portal and won’t reason with me
when we getting stipend is it coming straight from SETA to a student or does it VIA college?
Hi,i over heard one my project coordinators,saying that i will fail my trade test because i have an attitude problem,he feels that i have a bad manners because i ask questions that one else is willing to ask,the program initially back in 2019 set to run for two years,with 33 learners,somehow we are now 34,since the beginning we have being told way too many lies,we signed a contract with a service provider,we signed a workplace contract with a company that we did not work for,some of us had to look for a workplace for ourselves,there has been no feedback concerning the annual increase stated in the contract,when i contacted the service provider through our organised whatsapp group,my questions where not answered,the leader of the service provider decided to exit the group,when i asked for a referral number of the program,i was given a number that only shows that it represents a fitting and turning apprentice no additional information was given to us,the service provider insists on keeping us in dark,(for our move from the college to workplaces,workplaces to training center),we where moved from Venda to Sebokeng(482km apart) without a destination,the driver did not know where he was taking us,we had to find 2 rooms for that night since it was already late,5-6 hours after i found the 2 rooms thinking that we can divide into genders and share the rooms for the night,the service provider sent a second load that also had to come straight to the two rooms,when i tried t ask the driver who happens to work for the service provider if the company knew who had to pay for the first night since I had to sacrifice and share my room with 26 learners and their bags,toolboxes and blankets
While i was still busy helping my fellow learners with their bags,i over heard the driver telling one of the students that i will fail the program,this was because i asked the driver to call the service provider and request some money to thank my landlord for the risk and sacrifice he took on the night before when taking in 26 learners into 2 rooms paid for by one person (ME)…
…Where do i start? the program runs till end of October,they claim they can train and test 34 learners in two months,to me that became a red flag,what can i do ?
I would like to report a learnership host company called Unconomy_youth in braamfontein 77 juta street. It’s been 3months now learners not getting their stipend. When we ask About our stipend Emily says we are still young we not paying any rent. Can someone help us with this issue
1 was Employed by Bidvest Protea Coin on the the 14/04/2014 and entered into Learner Agreement while still working for GSO Course with Gijima Training Academy in 2019 and EmpoymenEm Contract ended on the 30/09/2020 however the learning program lasted till March 2021 ,I’ve attended a training from Novembe 2020r till March 2021,and I’ve not been paid any stipend to date since then as I’ve been since Unemployed from 30/09/2020 while the learning program lasted till March 2021 ,so where to refer such matter and does it falls under Skills development matter or Sectoral Determination or collective agreement?
Hi can you please help me
I’m doing a leanership that comes from labour which is in partnership with MICSETA and KMS. I stated last year July, we have being receiving stipenf of 2000 each month but from August. The problem is we now haven’t receive any stipend from April up until now. We are now in the third month without Stipend. We as students we are doing follow up to hear as what is holding our stipend for so long but we ain’t getting any answer they are telling us that the are busy with the legal proceedings. We are afraid that this thing it might affect our certificates. Please help us we need our money we also need the certificates.
Good day
I have an complain i am doing electrical apprentice at west coast college atlantis campu funded by LGSETA.we sign the contract stating that we will receive the stipend of R3500 per month after we had started with the program the cumpus manager telling us that we will receive the stipend of R2500 it was an error. So we would like to get a clarification becouse now they are bridging the contract. can you please verify this matter for us
Thank you
Hello,we need help
We signed a contract concerning a learneship then this is what happened,they gave us their word told us tht thy have a space for us it’s just that they needed more people so we told our friends and family about the leanership nd they told us tht they gonna contact us before the end of march 2021 then after a week they told us tht we were unsuccessful and we were about close to 40 people
I will be very grateful if could get back to me and help us get through this matter
We applied for inzalo learneship
we were told to sign the agreement forms and send our cv we did and told to come to the offices to sign the contract and if we have some people who are interested we should come with them we went there we signed the contract form we were told not even to put dates after they told us the stipend is 1,800 rands but in the advertisement it was 3,500 rands and all those who complianed have been dismissed and now we have our on WhatsApp group trying to figure out what to do
Hi, we signed a contract with Pendula group on November 2020 stating that our learnership would be starting that same month
We didn’t receive our stipends till this date. The lady who was recruiting us, Rika. Told us in December that we will start our learnership in January and with regards to our stipend?
She wrote as follows: Good Afternoon All, your November and December stipends will be paid as back-pay at the end of January 2021. Your January stipend will be paid as normal. We hope to see you all back in January 2021 to start your journey to SUCCESS!
And then now she says this: Hi julle, ek weet nie wanneer julle betaal gaan word nie
We are experiencing very difficult problems of our stipends not paid for 2Months and we’re approaching the third month MTL TRAINING AND PROJECTS And EWSETA are giving us difficult times during lock down we don’t even know who to report such no one explain to why such a situation is always on us.
Hi, I have a problem can you please assist.
I hace started my In Service Training in the Department of Education in EC, Butterworth in October 2019, they told me they don’t give out stipends and most of the other trainees there get stipends ftom their former schools but mine says they don’t give out stipends too, so what do.I do now?
Because I need transport to go to work, and I can’t just quit I need my Diploma.
The matters are not resolved we still under the same condition. Our qualification ( ICT Technician Internship). Our officials accused us to sent sensitive information when we report these matters for help.
Thank you
Our matters are still not resolved and the officials are still mum about our situation . Our qualification is ICT INTERN TECHNICIAN . The exploitation is very because we are accused of sending sensitive information when we report to get help.
Please let me know if this has been resolved and which qualification you are doing.
Please help us we doing in service training at Kokstad Kzn Department of Education but we don’t get stipends.Since January we are not getting anything.
Thank you.
I am doing a learnership with Mathew Goniwe school of learnership and governance. My problem is that me and all of 400 interns we don’t have : payslip, persal No and training provider. We really need help
My concern is the same as that of Tshepo,we are renting yes we should have got our stipends of the 24th, imagine who can stand for more than 10days without us being tenants not paying I was sent packing around July with the same they always says water and sanitation didn’t pay for our stipends to be processed to our accounts
Hi Diopelo
Unfortunately this kind of confusion happens often. There are times when there isn’t a stipend and there are times when there must be a stipend, I’d need to see the contract before answering your question. Please email me on leonieprojectnomad (at) gmail (dot) com
🙂
Leo
We have never received a stipend since the begging of the learnership which started on the 2nd of March 2018. The reason we stayed was because they promised to hire us in less than 2 months period. But now we are being presented with the papers that should we quit, we would be required to pay. Is it really possible to have a learnership with no stipend at all?Thank you
Can I have your email Leonie
Hi Tshepo, I’ll drop you a mail and tell you who to contact.
Leonie
I m in learnship war on leaks the programme it’s for 3yrz nd we sign to get stipend on 24 every month but now we get it after that they send sms on pay day that say we won’t get money. Other thing is the promise us good thing abt the program but now they don’t care about us
I was doing learnership at labour witbank, we started on may 2017 now they saying it ends . End of March 2018 n we Neva have experience . Actually we dnt have skills. They didn’t pay us end if March.we dnt have contracs
i would like to be contacted on 0781494014