PFTC serves QCTO and SASSETA with an urgent interdict application
We find ourselves in a situation where our industry has once again been purposely omitted from stakeholder consultation, and decisions have been made on our behalf that affect our industry and our training centres – without any consultation.
For those of you who have been active in our industry for longer than 10 years, you will lay testament to the tremendous growth our industry has achieved. Many may not know that the PFTC was the second professional body to be recognised in South Africa when Professional Bodies were brought into ‘legislation’.
The establishment of professional bodies has been the mechanism put in place to recognise ‘members’ within a specific industry as professionals and awarding them professional designations. There are now more than one hundred registered professional bodies.
We have worked tirelessly as an industry to meet all the requirements laid out by the regulatory bodies to both earn and maintain these designations and to have the firearms training industry recognised as a professional one.
The PFTC has fought and will continue to fight to ensure that this hard work does not go to waste, ensuring that the standards in our industry are upheld and continue to stand up against international comparability studies and that the rights of our training providers and learners are upheld. We have earned the right to be called professionals, and we expect to be treated as such.
Unfortunately, this was not the case last week when I received a call from the PFTC offices requesting that I attend an urgent meeting with the QCTO “in the next 40 minutes”. This was an unorthodox request as no previous correspondence had taken place surrounding this meeting or any other meetings for that matter. I was unable to attend the meeting as I was traveling out of province.
I was then simply informed that a decision has been made by the QCTO that they will no longer work with non-regulated statuary bodies such as the PFTC nor any other professional bodies. Therefore, they have decided to cancel our mandate for quality assurance (delegation) and revert back to SASSETA who had previously held this mandate. I informed and reminded the QCTO, that the PFTC have a delegation agreement that has set terms and conditions.
The qualification is registered until 30 June 2023. The terms I am referring to are as per the below extract (Delegation agreement dated 5th April 2013): c) This delegation commences on the 01 April 2013 and expires once the qualification listed is reviewed and replaced by a qualification developed and registered on the Occupational Qualifications Framework (OQF) or until the qualification reaches its registration end date and teach out periods or when the qualification is withdrawn by the QCTO.
It was apparent that an agreement had already been entered into with SASSETA without any written notification, transparency, consultation, or stakeholder participation prior to this decision being made.
After consultation with Martin Hood our attorney, we agreed that we would not attend any meeting until this new agreement has been withdrawn and proper procedures are followed as prescribed in The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 2000 (Act No. 3 of 2000) (PAJA).
The intention of this Act is to change the way in which Government interacts with the people it serves.
PAJA seeks to protect the public from unlawful, unreasonable, and procedurally unfair administrative decisions. The PFTC therefore consider this decision null and void and will continue with business as usual.
Based on the above, we requested that the agreement entered into by the QCTO and SASSETA be cancelled within 48 hours, or we will seek and serve them with an urgent interdict to prevent them from doing so.
The 48 hours cancellation was not complied with, and we are therefore in the process of serving the parties with notice of an urgent interdict.
Depending on urgent court availability this first matter, we hope, may be heard by end of this month, thereafter we can begin with the next steps of ensuring that decisions such as these are not made without stakeholder consultations. I.E. allowing us having the opportunity to ask questions, obtain clarity, make suggestions and ultimately object as is our right as a professional and a professionally mandated body.
This withdrawal of our agreement with QCTO can have dire consequences not only to us as the firearms training industry but to the firearms industry at large. Consider the potential delays in the processing of firearms applications while applicants await certifications etc. We can only speculate about what the future would look like with SASSETA as the “quality assurer”.
The challenges we previously experienced would almost certainly recur, including a complete breakdown in industry consultation and trust.
The PFTC is first and foremost a Professional Body and is the largest representative of firearm training industry stakeholders. The PFTC needs to do what is best for all stakeholders in our industry with careful consideration for the firearms industry at large. I ask that we all remain calm, focused and deal with this “malfunction” as we would any other, in other words lets assess the problem, find a solution, and fix the problem.
Please bear with me, the NEC and the PFTC office. We have shared all the information that we currently have. We will keep you updated and informed as this process continues to play out. I thank each and every one for the support given to the PFTC in this matter, it is going to be needed and is greatly appreciated.
Mac McGuire, Chairman: PFTC
“Taking the mandate away from the South African Professional Firearm Trainers Council (PFTC) and giving it over to the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA) will be a huge mistake.
Firstly, it is unlawful as the PFTC still have the contract until 2023 and secondly, the PFTC has set a high standard that SASSETA just won’t be able to achieve. This will not only affect people in firearm training but will have a ripple effect on gun shops and gun owners. SASSETA is just not capable to handle a task of this scale and it will end in absolute chaos.”
The Gunmen firearms instructor, assessor and moderator Nicole Murray
Extracts of PFTC industry notice: 8 October 2021
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