The Department of Higher Education and Training recently issued a warning to 2026 matriculants amid a growing surge in bogus and unregistered colleges targeting desperate students. With limited spaces available at South Africa's  public universities, thousands of school-leavers are being pushed to seek alternative tertiary pathways, often without knowing how to verify whether an institution is legitimate. Each year, learners are lured by promises of quick or guaranteed qualifications, only to discover too late that their certificates are not worth the paper that they are printed on. To unpack this Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Dr. Makhapa Makhafola , Chief Operations Officer at the  South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)