Some 129 932 technical and vocational education and training graduates will have to wait several more months to receive their certificates.
The State IT Agency (SITA) says the backlog of certificates owed to graduates will be cleared by January 2016.
SITA has been tasked with issuing graduate certificates for the period 2007 to 2011. However, instability of datasets submitted by SITA to Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in education, resulted in delays of the certification process. The outstanding certificates are owed to candidates who completed their qualification across more than one examination cycle.
On Wednesday, the government IT services provider announced it has revised its deadline to clear the backlog of graduates' certificates from one year to six months.
Committee chairperson Yvonne Phosa says SITA would like to see the backlog of certificates cleared as soon as possible and to have zero certificate backlogs thereafter.
"We are all sharing the same sentiment that a zero certificate backlog will be in the interest of the country. We must commend SITA for actually implementing the resolve of the committee to reduce the period of clearing the current backlog from 12 months to six months," says Phosa.
In June, SITA CEO Dr Setumo Mohapi said the agency would clear the backlog within the next 12 months.
Blame game
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) claimed inadequate IT systems at SITA and the allocation of insufficient human resources resulted in delays.
At the time, Mohapi revealed SITA has limited project management capacity and will have to employ a service provider to assist in clearing the backlog.
However, Phosa explains SITA has been working closely with Umalusi and the DHET to ensure they meet their new January 2016 deadline. "Their realignment is key in making sure they don't work in silos but move in the same direction."
As part of the plans to clear the backlog, SITA will submit monthly reports to the committee showing its progress.
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