Some of the students registered with Damelin Nelspruit are accusing the institution of closing down without informing them beforehand. They have raised their concerns about being left in the dark; that the institution allegedly demanded payments but had not rendered the services it had promised.

A month ago some of the students protested at the building at 1 Ferreira Street. According to these students, the college continued to invoice them for 12 months when they had not attended any classes. They say orientation was postponed in February, then in May, instead of the campus opening, online classes were introduced. It is alleged that in August the school was closed, yet no one informed them.

The students created a WhatsApp group in which they shared their grievances and solutions.

Damelin College offers a wide range of higher education, further education and training qualifications. One of the students, who wished to remain anonymous, told Lowvelder that he acknowledged the closure of the local institution, but that it would be fair if he got his money back.

“I have forwarded various emails to different stakeholders seeking help, but we are not getting anywhere. I feel the college intentionally robbed us.

They know they have big lawyers that can help them win the case, so they are not taking us seriously. If we try to fight them in court we will lose a lot of money, because we will need to approach big firms. I went on Hello Peter and I saw people complaining about similar issues that we are facing here in Nelspruit.”

He said on his quest for proper communication, some members of the campus management laughed at him. Another student said she wanted a refund because the school had failed to deliver.

According to her, they wasted a year of her education and she will never recover it. “Some of our parents struggled to raise the money to pay for our studies and some took loans. We are now without the services that were promised us. Some of us have tried to approach the management, but they keep telling us different stories and some do not receive a response at all. We did not get our certificates and now it is as if I never attended classes in 2019,” she said.

In Damelin’s response to the newspaper’s queries, Michael Thurley, the COO of Edcor Holdings (an education group of which Damelin is one brand), said Damelin Nelspruit would like to directly and formally address the issues raised by the students with them, but this is not yet possible as it appears the relevant students have not formally raised these concerns directly with the institution.

However, the newspaper possesses emails that some of the students sent to Thurley, and his responses to some of these.

Thurley said, “On September 30, 2020, all Damelin Nelspruit students were issued with a letter highlighting the change in the building ownership. It is possible that this communication may have caused some confusion among the parents, students, guardians and sponsors, and on which they based an assumption that the campus was closing. “Like all campuses nationally and the whole of the national education sector, we were forced to comply with the national regulations and lock the campuses down as per the directive issued by Minister Blade Nzimande by the close of business on March 17, 2020.

During this time of lockdown and in the subsequent declaration of levels which followed, the guidance provided by the Department of Higher Education and Training was strictly adhered to. The Nelspruit branch currently only offers NATED and ICB qualifications. For the purpose of safety the Nelspruit campus was not permitted to operate, and students were encouraged to continue to access all study materials, additional learning activities and the virtual class timetable which was available to all students online,” he said.

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Following an enquiry by the newspaper, the local students confirmed they received a communication on March 15, 2021, advising them that the campus would reopen and all classes would be offered in the blended mode. With all this said, some of the students are still adamant that refunding their money is a better solution.

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The newspaper contacted the Department of Higher Education and Training and by the time of going to press it had not yet responded.