Warm and colourful greetings to all our stakeholders!

We are just one month off into the new year of 2021 and the month of January was a sombre one for us as the Fasset family had to bid a sad farewell to the late Ms Maria Matlosa, Director of Corporate Services. May her soul rest in eternal peace.

Fasset welcomes the 5th State of the Nation Address delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa on the 11 February 2021; we remain committed to the Government's plans to build a new and more equal economy through employment creation and skills development and training of the South African youth. We also look forward to the upcoming budget speech which will be delivered by the Finance Minister Mr. Tito Mboweni; as this will guide us in terms of where to strengthen our discretionary funding priorities and other investments in skills development initiatives.

We are gearing ourselves up for the final month of the 2021 financial year; the teams are focused, and all energy is channelled towards achieving the annual targets set and setting up new ones for the new financial year. There's a wave of excitement and a sense of accomplishment down our corridors and all virtual offices as we are planning for the new financial period.

That all important deadline of 26 February 2021 is just around the corner for stakeholders who wish to apply for the various Fasset discretionary grants on offer.

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.

During this month let us spread and share love, we all need it; but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! I hope you enjoyed your Valentine's day.   

Should you have any recommendations or queries, please feel free to contact our call centre or email us at info@fasset.org.za.

Let's stay alert, control the virus and save lives.

Ayanda Mafuleka CA(SA)

FASSET CEO

It gives me great pleasure to welcome the following staff members to the Fasset family:

1. Nobuntu Gwala - Audit, Risk and Compliance Manager
2. A'eeda Rhodes - Executive Assistant to Research Director, Director Corporate Services and Chief Legal Council.
3. Igor Rivera - Project Manager Development ICT and Systems governance - ICT
4. Sanele Nkululeko Lindokuhle Biyela - ICT Intern
5. Siphokazi Tiki - ICT Intern
6. Siyabonga Mdekazi - Research Intern

We welcome our new colleagues and wish them all the success in their professional journey with us.

Fasset will be hosting the Circle of Influence webinar in partnership with CFO SA on the 23rd February 2021 at 11h00. In this webinar you will be hearing from industry experts from SAICA, IIASA and Setas; debating on issues of ethics in the financial and accounting services sector. Please be on the look out for this invitation.

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:

Employers who have submitted their signed agreements for Learnerships as well as the Workplace-based Learning Programme; and whose submissions are under query are urged to contact the Learnerships department to resolve all queries. Please contact either Simon Mokete or Lulama Mnisi at simon.mokete@fasset.org.za and lulama.mnisi@fasset.org.za.

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.

NLP (Non-Levy Payer) Applications

NLPs are encouraged to apply/renew their NLPs. Employers that have not done so are reminded to apply in order to qualify for discretionary grants once the funding window opens in due course. NLP forms are available on this link and can be emailed to nlp@fasset.org.za

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

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.

Mandatory Grants under queries

Employers who have submitted their mandatory grants by the deadline date and have been issued with query letters are hereby reminded to respond to the query letters as soon as they receive them to avoid delays in their levy payments and possible rejections, which may lead to employers not qualifying for discretionary grants. Responses are to be uploaded on the Portal or on grantapplications@fasset.org.za . Employers who have not responded to the queries by 14 December 2020, will have their Mandatory Grants automatically rejected and benefits for this financial year will be forfeited.

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.