Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Mimmy Gondwe is appealing to parents not to fall for bogus colleges that prey on desperate students seeking tertiary education after failing to find a space at public institutions of higher learning. Due to space constraints in public institutions such as universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, many people look for private colleges so they can continue to pursue education – however, not all private colleges are legitimate. Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Dr Mimmy Gondwe is leading four intergovernmental campaigns that have uncovered serious issues with unregistered private colleges that offer non-accredited programmes that do not meet the standards of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), the Council on Higher Education (CHE), and the Quality Council for Trades & Occupations (QCTO).
During an oversight visit to the University of Western Cape (UWC) on Monday, 26 January, Daily Maverick asked Gondwe about bogus colleges. She warned parents and students to be cautious. “This time of the year, they (bogus colleges) tend to prey on desperate parents and students because they know that there isn’t enough space [in public institutions], so they prey on them, but I want to just appeal to students and their parents to do that bit of due diligence, do that bit of homework, such as visiting our website.
We have around 146 registered institutions, private colleges or private institutions of higher education on our list. See if the one you want to enrol in is on the list. If it’s not, avoid it,” said Gondwe.
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In March 2025,eNCAreported that bogus colleges in Durban had left a group of students questioning the legitimacy of their qualifications and demanding a refund of their fees. Gondwe said there were several ways to spot a bogus college. She emphasised that parents and learners needed to be on the lookout for the following: While the primary victim of a bogus college is the student, the state has discovered that these institutions often serve as convenient fronts for broader illegal activities.
Dr Gondwe explained during the oversight visit that, “We do that because we’ve picked up that the operational existence of some of these bogus colleges is coupled with other acts of criminality, such as flouting of immigration laws and labour laws. I’m even told about money laundering,” said Gondwe. In November 2025, the DHET posted on itsFacebook groupthat Gondwe had shut down the Mhlabuhlangene School of African Medicine in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, after finding that it was operating without DHET registration and offering unaccredited qualifications. The institution had been offering a range of unaccredited programmes, including:
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