Pretoria - As desperate school-leavers battle to find a spot at higher education institutions, police on Wednesday vowed to get tough on criminals who masquerade as principals and directors of illegally-registered colleges.
In a statement released by his department, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said police would ensure that culprits were apprehended and that they received the harshest punishments.
Over the years there have been students who are caught out by so called fly-by-night colleges operating mainly in the greater Johannesburg area.
"We are in that season where some criminals would want to prey on unsuspecting students by promising them a brighter future when in fact they are destroying their lives. As government we shall not allow this to happen and I have accordingly tasked the police to double their efforts in uncovering these scoundrels," said Mthethwa.
He said police operations to uncover illegally-registered colleges began in May last year, mainly around Gauteng, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. Scores of unregistered Private Further Education and Training (FET) colleges have since been shut down.
In the latest operation, police visited 80 private FET colleges around KwaZulu-Natal. Only 12 were found to be correctly registered with the Department of Higher Education. Six of them have been closed down and their directors or owners arrested.
To date, 48 suspects, including amongst others South African, Nigerian, Congolese and Zimbabwean nationals have been arrested countrywide.
"What was even more significant is that the majority of those arrested were denied bail. We are confident that even this year, as we work closer with our Justice and Constitutional Development and National Prosecuting Authority counterparts those we arrest will not get bail instead will receive the harshest sentences," added Mthethwa.
During the seizures, police confiscated various fraudulent certificates, computers, fax machines and exam results of various students.
After the students "passed" their exams they were issued with false certificates which are not recognised by the Department of Higher Education. Any person found guilty of contravening the Act faces 10 years imprisonment or a R250 000 fine or both.
