'We are proud of UFH's achievements
South Africa is in desperate need of African, coloured and Indian chartered accountants [CAs(SA)]. Of the 39 864 CAs(SA) currently registered, 3 933 (9.8%) are African, 1 352 (3.4%) are coloured and 4 378 (11%) are Indian. The rest (29 959) are white.
Although still comprising a small percentage of total membership, the number of African and coloured CAs(SA) — as per the March 2016 membership statistics of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) — are nevertheless a vast improvement on those of the days before Saica embarked on its Thuthuka Education Upliftment Project. This project has the singled-minded objective of transforming the demographics of the profession to reflect the demographics of the country, by providing educational support to African and coloured learners and students for the benefit of the profession, while simultaneously uplifting communities.
Thuthuka leads the way
Saica’s Thuthuka project was first launched in May 2002 in the Eastern Cape, where it was funded by the department of labour’s National Skills Fund through Fasset, the Seta (sector education and training authority) for finance, accounting, management consulting and other financial services.
“We launched Thuthuka in the Eastern Cape for three very good reasons. One, because the province has the highest number of schools in South Africa. Two, because the province’s population is trapped in structural poverty that negatively affects the province’s socioeconomic profile, as well as its ability to help its learners escape poverty. And lastly, because it is the provincial home of one of South Africa’s first historically black institutions: the University of Fort Hare (UFH),” explains Lwando Bantom, project director of transformation and growth at Saica.
“UFH is one of the most historically significant universities in sub-Saharan Africa — a seed bed for African leadership and intelligentsia with no less than five heads of state as well as other major contributors to the leadership of South Africa among its alumni.”
‘We could not be prouder’
Chantyl Mulder, senior executive of nation building at Saica, adds another reason why the Eastern Cape was the perfect place to launch Thuthuka: “By starting here, we were able to start addressing two of Saica’s prime goals: the transformation of the profession by discovering and developing the wealth of talent and skills in previously disadvantaged communities, and to create and sustain profound growth in business leadership so as to equip South Africa’s economy with the leaders of the future.”
UFH’s student population mainly consists of students from the rural areas of the Eastern Cape. These students are targeted by Saica’s Thuthuka project at school level and then aided by both Saica and UFH when they enter their university studies. In so doing, both institutions provide assistance to students who often find it difficult to access the accounting profession and become CAs(SA).
As the first previously disadvantaged university to be accredited by Saica 10 years ago, UFH has produced over 400 African, coloured and Indian students through the CA(SA) undergraduate and postgraduate pipeline — students who now have the potential to become fully qualified chartered accountants, a feat that requires a minimum of seven years.
“The success of the graduates who recently wrote and passed the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) examination — the first of two professional examinations aspiring CAs(SA) must pass to qualify — proves that our efforts in the Eastern Cape and at UFH are continuing to produce black CAs(SA) to follow in the footsteps of Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, the first ever African chartered accountant who achieved his BCom degree at UFH,” concludes Mulder. “We could not be prouder.”