What should Damelin students do to get refunds if they have already paid their tuition?

The long answer

The Damelin situation is certainly a most damaging mess, and given the many cries for help from students and their parents, which have been disregarded by Damelin thus far, it does not look encouraging.

The Higher Education Act of 1997 (amended in 2002) says that students are protected by the Consumer Protection Act, 2008, (CPA) which came into force in 2011. The CPA affects all transactions and interactions with consumers for the provision of goods or services. This includes students:

“7.2 As a general rule, universities are not permitted to have a blanket ‘no refunds’ policy. Subject to the reasonable charges for cancellation, students are entitled to a refund of all monies paid for services which have not been rendered or goods which have not been supplied.” 

“Consumers may seek to enforce any of their rights under the CPA or in terms of a transaction or agreement, or resolve any dispute in the following ways: 

(1) filing a complaint with the National Consumer Commission (the Commission);

(2) referring a complaint directly to the National Consumer Tribunal (the Tribunal);

(3) referring the matter to the relevant accredited ombud eg: Ombud for Consumer Goods and Services.”

A consumer law expert, Trudie Broekman was quoted in an article by The Citizen as saying that as the colleges could not provide educational services to the students after being deregistered, students who had already paid their fees for the year would be entitled to claim back a portion of their fees for the period that the services would no longer be provided. 

She said that students would have to provide written evidence of the loss they had suffered as a result of the deregistration, and submit a letter of demand to the institution with a deadline of 14 days from the delivery of the letter for payment, and submit their bank details for payment. The payment could include the amount they would need to pay to another institution to complete their course or module.

If there was no response within 14 days and the demand was less than R20,000 or less, the student could submit it to the Small Claims Court nearest to the institution. An attorney is not needed for the Small Claims Court. You would need to take a copy of the letter with proof of delivery to the Small Claims Court and a clerk would walk you through the process of issuing a summons. If the claim was higher than R20,000, you would need an attorney to apply to the magistrate’s court. Broekman also encouraged students to appoint a consumer law attorney to submit a claim to the National Consumer Tribunal.

But as I will explain below, the situation became more complicated:

In March 2024, when the four Educor colleges (Damelin, City Varsity, ICESA City Campus and Lyceum College) were deregistered by the former Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande, for failing to submit annual audited financial statements and tax clearance certificates since 2020, he made it clear that the colleges must refund the students’ fees and give them their academic transcripts.

However, the provisional reregistration of these colleges by the new Minister of Higher Education, Nobuhle Nkabane, in September 2024, “on purely humanitarian grounds” seems to have muddied the waters as far as these refunds go.

One parent who had paid R35,000 upfront for a course costing R46,000 annually, was quoted in a Sunday World article on 22 October 2024 as saying, “When the minister deregistered them, I went there to request my refund, and they promised we would be paid. They have since changed the tune and are saying we are breaching a contract, so there won’t be a refund.”

But in spite of the provisional reregistration of the colleges, staff have not been paid for months; your assignments have not been marked since July; the November exams have been abruptly cancelled, and students have been instructed to transfer to other colleges.

So, actually, in spite of the reregistration, Damelin has closed and thus you should be able to claim some of your fees back in one of the ways mentioned above, but it has made it more difficult. 

And one more unfortunate circumstance must be mentioned, as it will have a direct bearing on whether it will be possible for you to recover the fees you have already paid: The company’s property arm, Educor Property Holdings, is facing 10 liquidation applications relating to loans that Nedbank has filed against it in the Durban High Court. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has a 42% stake in the company after investing R755-million in 2015.

But if the Leo Chetty Group is liquidated by Nedbank, students may not receive refunds, because of lack of cash flow.

I will list contact details below for the various bodies who may be helpful in getting at least some of your fees refunded, but before contacting them, you are required to prove that you have tried to resolve it with Damelin.

Damelin says that it has an Online Academic Department Office which can mediate to resolve the dispute. It provides these contact details for this Online Academic Department Office:

Email: customercare@damelinonline.co.za

Tel: +27 10 880 8274

1. To lodge a complaint with the Higher Education Dept: contact the Call Centre (0800 872 222) or email customer care (centre@dhet.gov.za). They say you must be sure to get the call centre agent’s name, leave your contact details and be provided with a reference number.

2. The Consumer Goods and Services Ombud (CGSO) is a free, compulsory ombud scheme for the consumer goods and services industry which can help resolve consumer disputes. If you've lodged a complaint with a supplier and it hasn't been resolved, you can escalate it to the CGSO. The CGSO must attempt to facilitate a settlement between the parties, address each complaint in an unbiased manner and make recommendations as to how the dispute should be settled.

Phone: 0860 000 272

Email: info@cgso.org.za or complaints@cgso.org.za

3. To lodge a complaint with the National Consumer Commission (NCC) against a higher education institution, you can: 

• Call the NCC at 012 428 7000 

• Email the NCC at complaints@thencc.org.za 

• Visit the NCC in person at Block C, South African Bureau of Standards Campus, 01 Dr. Lategan Road, Groenkloof, Pretoria 

• Call the NCC's Contact Centre at 012 065 1940

When you call the NCC, you'll need to have your ID book ready and you’ll be given a reference number that you can use to interact with them in future. The NCC will analyse your complaint and consider:

• Whether they have the power to address your complaint

• Whether there's a violation of the CPA or its regulations

For disputes on a contractual agreement, you must contact the Office of Consumer Affairs in your region or the office of the National Consumer Commission (NCC) at 012 761 3000 or complaints@thencc.org.za. 

4. A complaint can be referred directly to the National Consumer Tribunal (NCT) in South Africa in the following circumstances: if the parties have tried to resolve the matter through Alternative Dispute Resolution (like mediation) but have failed to resolve it. Alternative Dispute Resolution includes:

• Referring the matter to the relevant industry ombud

• Obtaining a recommendation from the ombud

• Referring the matter to the NCC if the matter is not resolved

A complaint can also be referred to the National Consumer Tribunal (NCT) if the National Consumer Commission (NCC) issues a non-referral notice. 

Telephone: (012) 663 5615

Email: registry@thenct.org.za

Wishing you the best,
Athalie