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Over the next four years, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) will invest over R84 million in the Walter Sisulu University’s (WSU) Accounting department through its National Skills Fund (NSF).

Minister of Higher Education and Training (DHET), Dr Blade Nzimande, said this during his keynote address at the launch of the WSU- South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) Accountancy Re-accreditation programme at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital Resources Centre in Mthatha today.

The investment will ensure that WSU receives a South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) accreditation which will enable WSU to offer the B Com (Accounting) degree, while at the same time maintaining teaching and learning standards that are consistent with the demands of the Chartered Accountancy profession.

“In an environment where we have a shortage of over 5 000 CAs, and the public sector has a vacancy rate of over 40% in the financial fields, government has no option but to invest in these kinds of interventions,” Minister Nzimande said.

The initiative has been made possible through a partnership with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, the University of Cape Town and other industry partners. SAICA will provide administrative support, while the University of Cape Town will provide the academic support to ensure that WSU gets re-accredited for the qualification.

“It is very encouraging that the re-accreditation of Walter Sisulu is happening within a context where there is an insufficient number of black Chartered Accountants in South Africa, with only 6 668 of the 34 418 Chartered Accountants in South Africa being black and the accredited universities having already exceeded their capacity and ability to train more CAs (SA),” Minister Nzimande said.

In total the DHET, through NSF, has to date invested over R320 million towards effecting improvements and growing the accounting profession.

“It is even more exciting that this transformative programme is being launched at one of our rural universities because there is a real need to reach more rural learners than the currently accredited universities can reach, as that will greatly improve particularly the number of African CAs, which currently stands at just under 2 500,” he said.

Of the total number of 34 418 CAs in SA, only 1 100 are African female and 1 339 African male (2439), 468 are Coloured female with 478 Coloured males (946), 1 347 are Indian female with 1 936 Indian male (3283), 7 768 are White female with 19 852 White Males (27619) and 130 not yet classified (unknown).

The DHET’s relationship with SAICA dates back to 2002, at the onset of the skills development framework when through the NSF the department piloted a programme in the Eastern Cape which led to the accreditation of the University of Fort Hare in the same programme.

This was followed by further work in the KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo provinces, which also led to the University of Limpopo achieving SAICA accreditation for its B Com (Accounting) in 2011. Over a nine year period, the DHET has invested over R236 million into this programme through NSF grants.