RECAPITALIZATION REPORT: KWAZULU-NATAL COLLEGES

INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Recapitalization Programme came at the right time when colleges have been restructured from different historical backgrounds. The restructuring/merger of FET colleges came with different challenges in areas of human resources, infrastructure administration system, curricula and management etc. FET Colleges add significant value to the improvement of quality of life of citizens. Most of the FET Colleges in KZN cover the deep rural areas of the Province.

There are nine FET colleges in KwaZulu-Natal. They are:

Coastal KZN, which covers part of south Durban and stretches towards the south coastal belt to Umkhomazi. This college covers the rural areas of Umbumbulu and Umkhomazi.
Elangeni, which covers the areas of Hammarsdale, Kwanyuswa, Pinetown, KwaMashu and Ntuzuma.
Esayidi, which covers the coastal belt of KZN from Umkhomazi to the border of the Eastern Cape and stretches to the border of Lesotho. This college covers mainly the rural areas of Port Shepstone, Exobho, Umzimkhulu, Umzumbe and Shobashobane, etc.
Majuba, which covers the areas of Newcastle in the north middle KwaZulu-Natal
Mnambithi, which covers the areas of Ladysmith, Bergville, Colenso, Greytown and the Drakensburg, etc.
Mthashana, which covers the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal ranging from Vryheid, the deep rural areas of Nkandla, Nongoma, Ngwanase and Mbazwane, etc. It stretches to the borders of Mpumalanga Province, Swaziland and Mozambique.
Thekwini, which covers the greater Durban
Umfolozi, which covers the areas of Empangeni, Richards Bay, Esikhawini, Mandeni and Kwa Dukuza(Stanger), etc.
Umgungundlovu, which covers greater Pietermaritzburg areas

1.2 These colleges differ in size in terms of the number of full time equivalents (FTES). The head count that took place in 2005 produced the following results:

	NAME OF COLLEGE	HEAD COUNTS (2005)
1	Coastal KZN FET College	15338
2	Elangeni FET College	2293
3	Esayidi FET College	10745
4	Majuba FET College	10957
5	Mnambithi FET College	2175
6	Mthashana FET College	3591
7	Thekwini FET College	9431
8	Umfolozi FET College	10519
9	Umgungundlovu FET College	4923
TOTAL		102845

1.3 The main faculties offered by these colleges are Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Arts, Agricultural Studies, etc. the spread of faculties among the colleges is as follows:

	NAME OF COLLEGE	FACULTIES(2005 BEFORE NEW CURRICULUM)
1	Coastal KZN FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, etc.
2	Elangeni FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Arts, etc.
3	Esayidi FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Arts, Agriculture, etc.
4	Majuba FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Agriculture, etc.
5	Mnambithi FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Agriculture, etc.
6	Mthashana FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Agriculture, etc.
7	Thekwini FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Arts, etc.
8	Umfolozi FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Agriculture, etc.
9	Umgungundlovu FET College	Engineering, Business Studies, Utility Studies, Arts, Agriculture, etc.

2. ALLOCATION OF RECAPITALIZATION FUNDS TO KZN FET

COLLEGES

All nine FET Colleges have been allocated re-capitalization funds for the period 2006/7 to 2008/9. Before the funds could be released to colleges, it was required that colleges submit annual operational plans to demonstrate how the allocated funds would be utilized. These operational plans are also important for monitoring progress.

The strategic areas targeted by re-capitalization funds for the next three years are:

1. Human resource development to support the delivery of new and modern programmes.

2. Development of systems and procedures to run new DoE programmes from 2007 and to support increased student enrolment

3. The upgrading / alteration / refurbishment and modernization of classrooms, laboratories and workshops that will be used for the teaching of new programmes. This may include conversion of existing buildings into libraries, study/resource centre, Internet cafes etc.

4. The upgrading of college sites

5. The buying or building of new classrooms, laboratories, offices etc where there is clear evidence of need

6. The purchase of equipment to support teaching and learning

7. Curriculum development and support to deliver new programmes


		KWAZULU-NATAL

Funds allocated for 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09 are as follows:

NO.	KZN COLLEGE	06/07 to 08/09	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9
1	COASTAL KZN FET	55,000	18,000	19,000	18,000
2	ESAYIDI FET	49,615	14,000	15,000	20,615
3	MAJUBA FET	49,100	16,000	17,000	16,100
4	MNAMBITHI FET	22,530	3,000	6,000	13,530
5	MTHASHANA FET	30,180	2,000	10,000	18,180
6	SIVANANDA FET	41,715	10,000	11,000	20,715
7	THEKWINI FET	25,400	3,000	9,000	13,400
8	UMFOLOZI FET	54,000	15,000	18,000	21,000
9	UMGUNGUNDLOVU FET	40,390	9,000	10,000	21,390
TOTAL		367,930	90,000	115,000	162,930

OPERATIONAL PLANS FOR THE CURRENT FINANCIAL PERIOD (2006/7)

During the current financial year, KZN Province has the approval of the following line items and the budget for recapitalization:

Name of FET College	HRD	Systems	Upgrade of Existing	Equipment	Curriculum	Upgrade of	Buying of	Total
Name of FET College	HRD	Systems	Infrastructure	Equipment	Curriculum	Sites	Buildings	Total

Coastal KZN	R 900,000	R 500,000	R 12,700,000	R 2,100,000	R 1,500,000	R 300,000	R 0	R 18,000,000
Elangeni	R 500,000	R 500,000	R 2,949,991	R 1,450,009	R 750,000	R 0	R 3,850,000	R 10,000,000
Esayidi	R 800,000	R 500,000	R 6,935,000	R 4,265,000	R 1,500,000	R 0	R 0	R 14,000,000
Majuba	R 1,000,000	R 500,000	R 0	R 3,600,000	R 900,000	R 0	R 10,000,000	R 16,000,000
Mnambithi	R 250,000	R 500,000	R 708,000	R 787,000	R 500,000	R 255,000	R 0	R 3,000,000
Mthashana	R 0	R 500,000	R 0	R 0	R 280,000	R 395,000	R 0	R 1,175,000
Thekwini	R 600,000	R 500,000	R 270,000	R 730,000	R 500,000	R 400,000	R 0	R 3,000,000
Umfolozi	R 600,000	R 500,000	R 0	R 0	R 500,000	R 0	R 13,400,000	R 15,000,000
Umgungundlovu	R 450,000	R 500,000	R 2,120,000	R 2,095,000	R 1,315,000	R 750,000	R 1,770,000	R 9,000,000
TOTAL	R 5,100,000	R 4,500,000	R 25,682,991	R 15,027,009	R 7,745,000	R 2,100,000	R 29,020,000	R 89,175,000

3. ACTIVITIES / SUCCESSES

Our main successes are that the whole senior management in KwaZulu – Natal Department of Education has a buy into the recapitalization programme. There is common understanding between the colleges and the head office. This atmosphere facilitates support from and to the colleges where the actual operations are taking place. Another success was that the funds were transferred to colleges immediately they were clear by our finance section.

The following activities are symbolic to the successes the Province of KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Education has achieved:

3.1 Operational plans were approved in March 2006

3.2 The first transfer of recapitalization to colleges was made in May 2006

3.3 The visit of the National Department of Education to assess the state of readiness is planned to take place on 19, 20 and 21 June 2006. Three colleges viz. Thekwini, Mthashana and Mnambithi were visited on these days.

3.4 Most of the upgrade and building projects have been started:

· Ritchtek Campus (first phase) has been completed, renovation of

· Esikhawini College(first phase) has been completed,

· Mandenini Campus Training Center has been initiated,

· Sundumbili has been initiated,

· Enseleni has been initiated,

· Ezakheni Campus has been initiated,

· Kwamashu Campus, Qadi Campus, and Pinetown Campus have been initiated.

· Emandleni Campus, Nongoma Campus and Vryheid have been started.

3.5 The new curriculum has been launched by National Department of Education on 30 May 2006

3.6 Colleges are preparing for the implementation of National Curriculum Vocational (NCV) under the following aspects:

3.6.1 Teacher training. A team of teachers has been trained by National DoE on 12-15 June 2006.

3.6.2 Learning teaching support materials procurement

3.6.3 Upgrading and building up infrastructure

3.6.4 Improving the administrative systems

3.7 Most colleges have appointed project managers to manage all the recapitalization programmes as a symbol of commitment to the programme

3.8 colleges have established recapitalization committees that will deal with the issues of procuring for the recapitalization programmes

3.9 services of consultants to train the members of the recapitalization committees have been secured by colleges

3.10 an appointment of the manager at head office to manage recapitalization funds has been made

3.11 identified campuses for the programmes to take place

3.12 Identified the equipment needed for recapitalization programmes

CHALLENGES

There are quite a few challenges in the implementation of the recapitalization programmes. The challenges are:

4.1 Institutional capacity. Interviews for portfolio managers and campus managers are being concluded. This has implications for training of newly appointed personnel

4.2 Procurement. The staff will need training on procurement procedures since this is the first time for them to procure for building and upgrading of systems, etc.

4.3 Approval of plans is a lengthy process while tenders for building cannot be advertised before the approval of plans

4.4 Recapitalisation project does not cater for the appointment of staff, e.g. project managers, which makes it difficult for the colleges to manage such a big project. Colleges that cannot afford the project manager fees may not be successful in this programme

4.5 The alignment of programmes in the FET Colleges such that all the demand of the Province is met fairly.

5. KWAZULU-NATAL CONNECTIVITY PROJECT

Although this project is not funded from recapitalization funds, it is very important for the implementation of the recapitalization programme. It is an enabler to the success of the recapitalization of colleges. This project commenced in February 2006 with phase culminating in May 2006. It will facilitate consultation and communication between colleges and head office as well as between colleges themselves. The sharing of valuable information will be facilitated by this connectivity project. Phase 1 of this connectivity was launched in May 2006. This project will be completed by 30 November 2006.

6. CONCLUSION

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education takes the recapitalization programme in a very positive way since its strategic areas cover issues that are congruent to our strategic vision of a literate and skilled society capable of participating in all democratic processes and contributing to the development and growth of the people of KwaZulu-Natal. The whole Senior Management has a buy–in to the recapitalization programme which therefore facilitates support to the FET Colleges. A manager has been appointed at head office to manage the recapitalization funds as an indicator for its support. Staff from head office monitors progress in colleges in all the strategic areas covered by the recapitalization funds.