Fasset e-Facts

July 2021

Greetings to all our esteemed Fasset stakeholders, I hope that you are all keeping safe as we face this difficult period in our lives. I would like to extend my heartfelt best wishes to those who are recovering from Covid 19, as well as sending love to those who have lost a loved one. You are in my prayers.

During the month of July, South Africa celebrates the birthday of the former President Nelson Mandela under the theme “One hand can feed another”. The 18th of July has been declared Nelson Mandela International Day, and this year the call to action for South Africans is for each of us to ignite the embers of Ubuntu and tackle food insecurity by working together. According to Ipsos, almost half (46%) of adult South Africans surveyed in late 2020 said that their households often had to go to bed hungry during the Covid-19 pandemic as they did not have enough money for food. As dire as things may seem, people in South Africa can be proud of their fearless culture of solidarity and coming together to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. When we come together, we can achieve the impossible.

Fasset will join many South Africans to commemorate this day by distributing much needed grocery items at the Oasis Haven Child and Youth Centre in Randburg; and NISAA Institute for Women’s Development in Lenasia. The proceedings of the day will be done under strict Covid-19 regulations. Nelson Mandela once said “It always seems impossible until it's done.”

I am excited to announce that Fasset will be opening Discretionary funding windows during the month of July 2021, please be on the lookout for them.

Please note that for the adjusted lockdown alert level 4, most of our staff will be working remotely.

To find out about what's happening at Fasset, read below, or visit the website: www.fasset.org.za

Kind Regards

Ayanda Mafuleka CA(SA)

FASSET CEO

2021/2022 Projects Discretionary Grants are now open

The Projects discretionary grant window for 2021/2022 is now open, Employers are encouraged to apply by no later than 29 July 2021.

The Projects Discretionary Grants for 2021/2022 currently open are the following:

Learner Employment Grant (LEG) for Unemployed
Bursary Grant for Unemployed
NSFAS Loan Repayment Grant
Non-Pivotal Learner Employment Grant (NLEG)

Please click here to access application forms.

Fasset welcomes new staff aboard

It gives us great pleasure to announce the appointments of the following professionals into our Fasset family who have joined us on the 1st July 2021:

Ms Mapula Thebethe, joins the Fasset team in her capacity as the Company Secretary.

Ms Thebethe was born in Soweto and raised in Kagiso in the West Rand and she holds B.Com and LLB Degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is an admitted attorney by profession with extensive experience in the corporate governance and board administration fields.

She has been in the company secretariat discipline for over 12 years, the majority of which has been in the public sector. Ms. Thabethe has worked both in local and national government sectors in the same field.

We trust that her experience and skills will be of value to the organisation as she ensures that sound corporate governance practices are applied at Fasset.

Ms. Carin Mathibe joins us in her capacity as the Projects Manager.

Ms. Mathibe hails from the deep rural area of Limpopo province in Nebo district, matriculated in 2005 and holds a B.Compt Accounting Sciences Degree with UNISA and a Postgrad Diploma in Advanced Accounting Sciences and a CTA. She has completed her articles with AGSA and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2018.

The ITC programme funded by FASSET in partnership with UJ played a pivotal role in her career progression. Carin was a Senior Manager for the Special Projects unit at Services Seta where she successfully designed and implemented processes and procedures for the learning intervention programmes including rural development programmes. Her passion lies in skills development particularly in rural areas and ensuring that each project achieves its intended objectives.

Ms. Phuti Matsi joins us as the Occupational Health & Safety Administrator, and she comes from Polokwane.

She holds a National Diploma in Safety Management, UNISA, a certified Technical Member of SAIOSH ( The South African Institute of Occupational &Health). Her role is critical to us in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic as she brings her wealth of experience where she has worked for several construction companies.

Ms. Matsi has a firm understanding of health and safety documentation and controls, and she always applies the principles of developing and implementing safe working procedures, as well as monitoring developments, and technical reporting. She also brings her expertise in hazard identification, risk management, training, development, compliance auditing and incident investigation.

Fasset congratulates the ITC candidates who have passed

On Friday 2 July 2021, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) announced the results from the April sitting of the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) and indicated an increase in the number of candidates who sat for their exams, despite the Covid-19 challenges. Fasset is proud of the resilience shown by the candidates during this pandemic and wishes to congratulate them for their dedication and determination.

We note that 2 507 candidates passed, which is a 16,7% increase in the number of candidates who passed when compared to the 2020’s results; the results further show that 983 of those candidates who have passed are Black candidates, which is a significant contribution to the professions’ transformation objectives.

Fasset will continue to support and invest in the skills development and training interventions such as the Thuthuka ITC Repeat Programme in its endeavour to facilitate transformation in the finance and accounting services sector.

To find out how you can participate in the Thuthuka ITC Repeat Programme, please contact Ms. Gugu Makhanya of SAICA at gugum@saica.co.za.

Sector Skills Plan (SSP) annual update process

Skills planning plays a very critical role in developing plans and strategies for sectoral skills programmes. The 2022/2023 SSP draft was submitted to DHET on the 15th of June 2021; followed by a submission to the SSP Committee where workshops will be held in a quest to obtain further information from Fasset stakeholders.

The recent workshop held on the 6th July 2021 saw an overwhelming attendance from stakeholders and it was very informative, it also afforded Fasset management an opportunity to gather the information that could inform its future skills planning.

On the 8th of July, the second Fasset workshop will be held with the stakeholders from the coastal provinces. Fasset is yet again excited that most people have already sent their RSVPs. We are excited and proud of ourselves for being a stakeholder-centred Seta; and the development of the SSP always allows us to interact more. We are confident that the final submission of the SSP on 1st August 2021 will be largely informed by the process that has taken into consideration the views and inputs of our stakeholders at large.

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TVET WBE Programme

One of the big successes for Fasset has been the work that we have been doing in terms of our TVET Work-based Experience programme. It has not been an easy journey at the start of the programme as there was a general perception that TVET learners did not have the necessary skills-level to enter our sector, but we have seen in the placement of the more than 2 000 learners to date that a large number of learners have finished their eighteen (18) months of internship and most have been employed full-time in the professional firms.

Through the on-going partnership with the sector, the professional firms have now identified this huge pool of talent that we did not know was out there. This provides opportunity not only to the TVET learners to start entering the sector; but also, to employers to start saying here is this pool of untapped skill that we were not prepared to look at previously. Fasset is currently hosting seven (7) interns and continues to recruit new ones annually for the duration of 18 months.

Fasset’s continued commitment towards this programme reiterates the importance of looking at the entire talent pipeline and not ‘cherry-picking’ out of the pipeline what we think is applicable to the sector. It also encourages employers to start thinking outside their traditional mind-set.

To get more information about how your organisation can make a difference in the employment sector and participate in this programme, please e-mail Godfrey Maswanganye at Godfrey.Maswanganye@fasset.org.za.

Fasset’s Working Committee is all set up

Fasset ran a call for participation and called for applications from suitably qualified individuals to serve in the Fasset Working Committee: Skills Planning & Learnerships and Circle of Influence. The Working Committee will play a strategic and advisory role to the Governance and Strategy Committee (GSC), which is the Board committee of Fasset.

We are pleased to announce that the working committee members have been appointed, and the first induction meeting is set to take place on the 22 July 2021. We would like to thank all stakeholders who have submitted their applications.

Fasset is broadening the scope and opening formal stakeholder engagement channels once again. This too, bodes well for the future.

Fasset’s Campus Brand Ambassadors impress

The Campus Brand Ambassador campaign was launched after a national recruitment drive. The successful candidates were trained and equipped with the necessary tools to share career awareness information as well as growing the visibility of Fasset in their communities. The very passionate team hailing from different parts of the country contributed positively towards the career awareness initiative. Some of our high performing Campus Brand Ambassadors include Candy Madonsela of South West Gauteng College, Mpoetsi Masitha Motheo TVET College as well as Patrick Radebe of North West University.

Meet our top 3 Campus Brand Ambassadors:

Candy Madonsela (29 years old)

Born in Soweto, Meadowlands, Candy Madonsela was raised by her grandmother in a small town known as Ladybrand in the Free State. She is currently completing her studies in Business Management at South West Gauteng TVET College, Meadowlands Campus.

“I have always been keen to assist others and be a better version of myself by being involved in educational programmes, organisations and committees and through this I have been able to teach others to better themselves. Yes, there are huge challenges which I have had to overcome but I never give up! Despite falling and failing many times, I still believe in an African child’s dream.”

Mpoetsi Masitha (25 years old)

A Financial Management graduate and Accounting Technician student at Motheo TVET College, Mpoetsi was born and bred in Thaba Nchu, Free State. She hopes to one day be able to use her entrepreneurial skills to better the lives of those in her community.

“As a Fasset Brand Ambassador, I have to challenge myself to create awareness about financial and accounting education and opportunities that come with this career choice. To be honest, comparing the accounting field to other professions is difficult as they all need accounting expertise to function. Thus, we can say accounting is the heart of the economy.”

Patrick (Macho) Radebe (23 years old)

“Mr. Macho”, as fondly known on campus, is a B.Com Economics and Risk Management student at North West University, Vanderbjilpark campus. He was born and raised in the small town of Orange Farm.

“As an ambassador I also reiterate the Fasset mandate to increase the flow of new finance and accountancy entrants to employment and the development of relevant skills required in the sector. This will subsequently lead to more young people choosing a career in accounting, filing the skills shortage in this sector as well as bridging the unemployment gap.”

Fasset also partners with Employers and other key stakeholders in the sector in delivering career guidance workshops. To find out how to get Fasset material for your Career Guidance programme, send an email to vusi.mahlangu@fasset.org.za outlining your requirements.

Learnership agreement submissions for 2021

Employers who wish to submit the Learnership and Workplace-based Learning Programme Agreements can do so on:learnership.agreements@fasset.org.za For learnership queries, please contact Simon Mokete and Lulama Mnisi at simon.mokete@fasset.org.za and lulama.mnisi@fasset.org.za . Please only submit queries to these individual email addresses; and agreements to the designated email address mentioned above.

Fasset Success Stories

We always love to hear back from those who have completed Fasset-funded programmes and encourage these stories via email as well on our Facebook page. We would also like to encourage our Alumni to get involved and pay it forward by volunteering their time to give career awareness talks and share their stories of success.

Fasset Tender Bulletin

Fasset procures a number and variety of services in the course of achieving its objectives. All procurement at the relevant threshold according to supply chain regulations is advertised on our website and we advise prospective service providers to regularly check the Tender Bulletin section for new information relating to Fasset's service requirements.

Engage with Us and Win

Congratulations to Mr Johannes Modupo from GIA Business and Accounting Services, the winner of our website lucky draw competition for June 2021. Keep browsing our website and be spotted as our next winner.