June 2021


The chill in the air is a reminder of how quickly time is flying. This month’s issue of eFacts features updates about our activities as well as our plans for the near future.

I am particularly excited about the new addition to our team who are quickly adapting to the Fasset life, with its mix of challenge, camaraderie and achievement, please join me in welcoming our new staff members to the Fasset Family.

The first quarter of the 2021/2022 financial year has flown by with a flurry of grant applications and excitement. It’s also Youth month and this year marks the 45th anniversary of the Soweto uprisings. Today we still reap the benefits of a strong legacy of quality education which the Soweto youth on June 16, 1976 fought for. As we commemorate the role of all youths played in overcoming the previous regime, I would like us to reflect upon a legacy we want to build for the next generations.

Please join us at the upcoming SSP Update Workshops, which will be taking place on the 6th and 8th July 2021. At these workshops, we will unpack the 2022/2023 updates. The aim of these workshops is to engage, to assist us to plan correctly for future skills requirements responding to the impact of Covid-19; the Government’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP); and to discuss the challenges facing the sector. Please visit our website to reserve your seat.

Please note that for the Adjusted Lockdown Level 3 Alert, only 50% of staff will be working in the office to allow for adequate social distancing, while the rest of the staff continues to work 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


1

Fasset New Appointees

We are pleased to announce the appointments of the following professionals into our staff complement, please join us in congratulating them into their respective roles:

Mr. T. Maphanga - Chief Information Officer Hold a BSc degree in Computer Science and Statistics.

He is a member of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA), The Institute of Risk Management South Africa (IRMSA) and The South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA).

His experience spans over two decades in both private and public sector. Launched his career in the technical environment in financial services industry including banking and insurance. He later moved to an auditing environment with years spent doing ICT Auditing in public sector.

Topics of interests: "The Impact of Digital Transformation in the National Skills Estate" and the second topic is "Using Control Self-Assessment Technique to develop an Integrated Governance, Risk and Compliance Management Framework".

Miss Nokulunga Mthombeni joins the Fasset team as the Corporate Services Director. She hails from KwaZulu-Natal. She has served KZN Provincial Health Department as a Deputy Director: Human Resources Management for several years. She is a season Human Resources professional, she holds a number of qualifications such as a Masters of Commerce in leadership studies – University of KwaZulu-Natal; Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Business Management (HR specialty) – University of South Africa among others.

Ms. Mthombeni specialises in the following disciplines: disciplinary procedures, grievance procedure, dispute resolution (conciliation, mediation and arbitration), hearing procedures, Human Resource planning, Skills Development Facilitation, Employee Assistance Programme, Performance Management. She has served as a Chairperson of Institutional Management and Labour Committee (IMLC) for Tongaat Community Health Centre.


Miss Mthombeni has chaired all HR committees as well as Events committees. She has also served in all bid committees (SCM). She has successfully acted as Chief Executive Officer in different health institutions. Her passion is in strategic management and performance management. Miss Mthombeni has also worked for Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) as a lecturer at Thekwini TVET College.




Advocate Nomhle Ngcobo hails from the then Transkei, Eastern Cape. She has been in the HR field since 1994 and holds a UNISA B Admin in Personnel Management and Public Administration and many other short courses. Her passion is in the Labour Relations discipline and employment law.

She is a candidate Commissioner in Labour Dispute Resolution, admitted Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. She is a member, in good standing of the National Bar Council of South Africa since her admission in 2018. At community level, Adv Ngcobo serves a second term as SGB Chairperson of Ormonde Primary School under the auspices of the Gauteng Department of Education. She is currently appointed as the Labour Relations Specialist of FASSET within its Human Resources Department.





Taurai Nyakunu hails from Zimbabwe, and he joins the PQA department as an Administrator. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting & Management) and is currently doing his Master’s in Business Administration. Taurai’s career highlights include the following: Strategy Advisor for the Tirisano Foundation in Sandton which Provides a high school learner self-development programme in Soweto; Youth Entrepreneurship Projects Coordinator for the Zazida Institute of Entrepreneurship – A Higher Education Training (HET) for youth entrepreneurs; and Junior Business Trainer for the Institute for Management for Leadership & Training (IMLT) – A non-profit developing leadership and entrepreneurship awareness sponsored by DED/GIZ.


We also welcome the appointment of the following interns who will be serving their eighteen (18) months TVET Work-based Experience programme with us; we wish them all the best in their career journeys:

1. Makabongwe Buthelezi

 Finance Intern

2. Thobela Luthuli

 Finance Intern
3. Palesa Modiadie Finance Intern
4. Phemelo Hlongwana Finance Intern
5. Sthandwa Dlamini MarComms Intern – Majuba TVET College
6. Sinelihle Nyatela MarComms Intern – King Hintsa TVET College



2 Support to Non-levy payers

Non-levy paying employers can register with Fasset, and enjoy Seta benefits and incentives, such as attending free training events. Click here to download the registration form.
3

Registering of Learners on learnerships

Employers and/or training providers are urged to make use of the updated Learnership Workplace-based Learning Programme Agreement available on the Fasset website. Please click here to access the agreement when registering learners on learnerships.

The old learnership agreements (dated February 2020 and before) will no longer be considered and will be rejected. All signed Learnership Workplace-based Learning Programme Agreements/Learnership agreements are to be submitted to this e-mail address: learnership.agreements@fasset.org.za with all required documents as below:

Employers are urged not to submit learnership workplace-based programme agreements to Fasset’s staff email addresses but to use the designated email address. Herewith is the list of requirements for the registration of the Workplace-based Learning Programme Agreement/Learnership Agreement:


Document Compulsory Not compulsory
1 A signed and dated copy of employment contract with valid employment dates. x
2 Proof of learner registration with the relevant professional body e.g. CIMA, SAIPA etc.for professional body registration. x
3 Proof that the employer is accredited by the relevant professional body (copy of letter/certificate) for professional body registration. x
4 Proof that the tuition / training provider is accredited by the relevant professional body or SETA, if applicable (copy of letter/certificate). x
5 Proof that the workplace provider is accredited by the relevant professional body or SETA (copy of letter/certificate) for cross-sectoral learnership. x
6 A copy of the learners’ identity document (please ensure copy is clear and legible). x
7 Copies of highest qualifications. x
8 For Previously Unemployed learners, please attach affidavit as proof of previous unemployment confirmation. x
9 Learnership and Workplace Based Learning agreement MUST be submitted within 30 working days of all-party signatures. x




4 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
5

Learners/trainees who are completing cross-sectoral learnerships

Employers who are accredited as training providers are urged to submit their completion certificates, verification and/or external moderation reports from their respective Setas to enable them to qualify for funding as per the funding criteria available on our website, please click here to learn more. Fasset also requires the data to update programme completions as well as reporting to the Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

6 

Fasset’s accreditation process

Fasset has developed training provider accreditation guidelines to assist providers in completing their application forms;to provide additional information in terms of the accreditation process, and to explain relevant terminology that may require clarification by providers. The diagram below is a summarised process flow to guide providers on steps to take when placing their submissions. Please click here to access the full accreditation guidelines. 


7 

ICB qualifications certificates

Please note that ICB is now printing ICB full qualification certificates on behalf of Fasset. Any new or re-issue requests will be issued by ICB; please direct your queries to support@icb.org.za

8 

Professional Body Certificates

We are currently experiencing delays with issuing professional body certificates, i.e. IIASA, ACFE, ATSA etc. due to the team working remotely. We are therefore requesting that all professional bodies issue letters confirming the completion of the qualification to trainees who urgently require confirmation. Please e-mail Berlinda Melamane at Berlinda.melamane@fasset.org.za for further assistance in this regard.
9 

Assessor and Moderator registration or renewal

Potential assessors and moderators are quested to register or re-register online. All assessors and moderators must meet the registration criteria, please click here to get the criteria.
10





11

Meet Jaco Arendse, a passionate Tax Technician from the Ithemba Programme

Jaco’s hometown is Montagu, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, about 180 kilometres from Cape Town in the Little Karoo. He is the only son of a single mother and grew up on a farm living with his mother and grandparents. Jaco has congenital muscular dystrophy and has to use a wheelchair (muscular dystrophy is the name given to a group of more than 70 different neuromuscular disorders causing progressive wasting and weakness of the muscles). 

Jaco is a member of the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation in the Western Cape. Very early in his involvement with the Foundation it was noticed that he has a special talent communicating with and motivating people. His compassion for people, the concern for the suffering of others and the desire to help or guide people made him the perfect candidate to become a mentor. The Foundation asked him to reach out to their community through social media, which he did. He created a platform which he uses to make contact with members to motivate and mentor them. The Foundation sponsors his data expenses.

Getting access to employment has always been a struggle, especially living in a rural area. After he matriculated he completed a work-readiness programme through QASA, the Quadpara Association of South Africa with the hope of improving his chances to find a job.

At the beginning of 2020 he decided to apply for the Occupational Certificate: Tax Technician (Ithemba) programme, funded by Fasset and presented in partnership with The Tax Faculty (TTF) and the South African Institute of Tax Professionals (SAIT). He says that the training is challenging for different reasons; first he had to get back into the routine of studying having finished school ten years ago, and second he had to improve his skills to engage with the online training material.

He states without doubt that one of the reasons why he has been able to keep up with the demands of the programme is the fact that he studies every day, “Maintaining a consistent studying schedule helps me to master the material and complete the assignments.”He also finds the tutoring sessions extremely valuable for someone like him who does not have a post-school qualification in a relevant field.

Jaco says that the value of the programme is that he has learned the “framework for tax” and the “function and management of money”, which he finds very interesting. He hopes that after completion of the programme it will provide him with career opportunities. He realises that if he gains the sufficient technical knowledge and skills, his good interpersonal and communication skills can further enhance his chances to work successfully in the field. 

Jaco pays tribute to the key people in his life who support him in his journey as a person with a disability; his mother, grandmother, grandfather, school teachers, fellow Muscular Dystrophy Foundation members and TTF mentor. His message to future students with disabilities is, “Set your goals, work hard and be positive."
12
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.
13
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.
14
Do we have your correct details?

If any of your particulars have changed, please contact Fasset at 086 101 0001 or via email at fassetcallcentre@fasset.org.za, so that we can update your details on our database.
15
Engage with Us and Win

Congratulations to Wayden Barnes from Pinnacle Consulting, the winner of our website lucky draw competition for April 2021; and Nkululeko Kushane from NWJA Accountants the winner for May 2021. Keep browsing our website and be spotted as our next winner.