Practitioner Registration Delay & Backdating of Certificate

I submitted my registration application and payment (R3910 - which is R2360 for annual fee and R1550 for registration fee) on 23 February 2021 after successfully passing my board exam on the 19 of February 2021. I have called the HPCSA numerous times to follow up and being put on hold for as long as 54 minutes at one time only to be told that my application was still pending over and over. It was only at the point that I sent the head of registration an email to escalate my frustrations (which she responded to on Sunday 28 March 2021). It was on that day at night that my application was approved by her (3 days before annual fee renewals) but even at that point, I still did not receive or have access to my new certificate or registration category. Therefore, my account was still reflecting Intern Psychologist registration category as the one that was still active at the time. However, up until 06 April 2021, I had not received my certificate or practitioner card, therefore I have not been able to start work at my community service post, while some of my colleagues that I wrote the board exam with, did receive their documentation in the first week of March (within 5 -10 days of applying) and were able to start work. This has left me frustrated as the result of HPCSA delays meant that I have no income for March and now it seems it will be the same case again for April.

Moreover, when I called the call centre on 06/04/21 to query the progress of my registration, I was told that I had been allocated the PS number on that very day (06/04/21) and would be able to now download the certificate ONLY and not the practitioner card because I needed to pay the annual fee (R2360) AGAIN though I had not received my certificate before the annual renewal date. Upon querying this information, the call centre agent indicated that "but since the certificate will be backdated to the date that you submitted your documents (23 February 2021)", meant that I must pay this fee or else I won't be able to get a practitioner card meaning I still can't report for duty until I have the practitioner card. This is despite the fact that I was not employed or was not able to report for duty due to not having the necessary documentation from the council on time as it was still pending all along as per the information given to me everytime I called to follow up. According to the call centre agent I spoke to yesterday and the registration head's email that is in my possession I had not been issued with a PS number (meaning my registration was still under Intern category all along) till 14:36 on 06/04/21 when I followed up on my application via email. So, requiring me to pay a fee for a certificate or a registration category that I did not have or was not registered under at that time and was delayed by the council, I must say I find it to be unfair and unjust of the HPCSA to expect such from me when I have even lost 2 months’ salary and possibly will eventually lose my community service placement post as I was expected to start working in March already.

For a council that stands for just and fair practices this delay in my registration & the intentional backdating of my certificate so as to extract an extra fee is coming across as **************** of practitioners who rely on the system in order to be able to practice. Moreover, the backdating of my certificate to a time that I told my placement site and the Dept of Health that I wasn't able to start work due to not having the certificate portrays me as someone who is untruthful which is not a good way to start off in the world of employment. To add on, the certificate that has been generated for me now is only dated to be valid from 23 February 2021 - 30 June 2021. Since I only got the certificate yesterday, this gives me 3 months of validity instead of 12 months as community service placement is a full 12 months programme. This was also communicated to the head of registration, who then requested that I send or drop off the original application forms at the HPCSA office so she can look into the matter, which I did drop them off on Wednesday 07/04/21 at 12:51. I have sent emails to follow up on the matter both to the head of registration and the HPCSA Registrar (CEO), however, I still have not received any further communication with regards to the matter. Instead I have been receiving invoice reminders from HPCSA Finance to settle the second R2360 annual renewal fee.

Since my PS number or the certificate was only allocated yesterday 06/04/2021, how is it fair that I pay the fees for a registration category that I wasn't registered for at the time of annual renewals? If I should pay any renewal fee, shouldn't my renewal fee be that of an Intern category then as that was the active registration at that time (01 April 2021)? Also, shouldn't the actual date of PS number allocation or date of issue for the certificate be a true reflection of what has transpired in the registration process, meaning the date that my certificate was issued and allocated the PS number should be the one that is reflecting? How is it fair that a certificate that was only issued on the 6th of April (6 days after the renewal date) is only valid for 3 months and also attracting a second renewal fee while it has not been an active registration for a period of a year since we are required to renew our registrations only annually? I can appreciate your assistance in taking this matter up and clearing the issue for me so I can be able to start working and having an income to support my family.