Staff in limbo as Educor flouts CCMA order to pay more than R1.3m

Private education group Educor, consisting of City Varsity, Icesa City Campus, Lyceum College and Damelin, has ignored the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration’s (CCMA) order to pay more than R1.3-million to 13 employees who the commission says were constructively dismissed and forced to resign due to their employer’s conduct.

On 9 January 2026, the CCMA ruled that City Varsity and Educor must pay employees before the end of January 2026. This comes after former City Varsity and Educor employees approached the commission, seeking a resolution to a long-standing pattern of late and non-payment of salaries that began in 2022.

The arbitration award, handed down by senior commissioner David Wilson, painted a grim picture of the City Varsity Cape Town campus. Beyond the missing paycheques, staff were forced to work in a building lacking basic sanitation and hygiene materials, including toilet paper. Furthermore, the company had failed to remit Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) contributions to the Department of Employment and Labour, despite deducting them from staff salaries.

CCMA documents seen by Daily Maverick show that employees lodged a grievance in August 2023 over late June and July salaries, escalating by December. The employer cited “cash flow constraints” but refused payment dates. By late 2024 the situation had worsened: the August salary was three months late, only 50% of the September salary was paid, and October and November salaries were completely unpaid.

Daily Maverick has also previously reported that students were unable to apply to other institutions because of missing academic transcripts, while staff had been fighting to survive with unpaid salaries and inconsistent UIF payments since September 2024.

Read more: City Varsity’s Cape Town saga — students lack academic results, staff face UIF battles and unpaid salaries

“I have no hesitation in finding that the thirteen employees involved in this matter were constructively dismissed… The employers failed to take any reasonable steps to alleviate plight of the thirteen employees, and continued to expect the employees to continue to performing their duties despite not being paid,” said Wilson. However, Educor and City Varsity have not paid.

The teachers demanding payment

Daily Maverick spoke to the teachers who described how they struggled due to Educor’s conduct.

Moray Rhoda said he drew his retirement funds to survive after not being paid.

“For months before we finally got to the stage of realising we were never going to get that money, people had to resign. People lost their houses, lost their cars, and I wiped out my entire retirement annuity to just survive and to be there for students, and at some point it’s unsustainable. Not all of us resigned, but the ones who were there (at the CCMA) resigned, and the [CCMA] found in our favour that it was constructive dismissal,” he said.

Another former teacher, who requested anonymity, expressed relief at the ruling but noted that the damage had already been done: “Reconnecting with all the staff one year after having resigned, it’s very clear that people’s financial situations in a lot of ways have not recovered from that moment of having nearly three months of salary unpaid.”

What’s next?

The employees’ legal representative, advocate Vusi Masinga of the United Association of South Africa, said the next step is to receive a writ of execution from the CCMA. “From the minute that the CCMA certifies the award, saying now this award can be executed, we will be sending the sheriff to any of the offices of Educor, where the writ of execution will be executed… That’s how we will be able to recover the money that is owed to our members.”

Educor faces cancellation

The payment crisis coincides with the potential total collapse of the group’s registration. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has moved towards cancellation due to Educor’s financial instability and failure to submit required annual reports.

While Damelin is expected to appeal against its deregistration by 27 March 2026, thec other institutions appear to be shutting down permanently. Matshepo Seedat, spokesperson for the DHET, said City Varsity and Icesa City Campus had requested final deregistration, having effectively ceased operations for more than a year.

Daily Maverick approached the director-general of the DHET to understand how the closure would take place and whether Educor has appealed the decision of closure. No comment has been received.

Daily Maverick sought comment from Educor’s Melvin Munsami and Michael Thurley on the issue of payments and plans to counter the cancellation of institutions. No response had been received by the time of publication. DM