Shoddy Service and Poor Communication

On 01 September 2022 I sent a DSAR08 form to *** requesting that I be sent a copy of my academic records from when I studied through UNISA. On this form I selected the option where you request the records to be emailed to you, requesting that they be sent to this email address.

On the 07 September 2022 I received a response to the above email from Mr. Matshaba Rachapo, who requested that I email him a copy of my ID and Marriage Certificate / Decree of Divorce. I responded to his email that same evening and sent him a copy of my South African ID and my Decree of Divorce.

Since I had received no reply from him, I emailed Mr. Matshaba Rachapo again on the 10 October 2022 to confirm whether he had received my documents and to ask when I could expect to receive my academic records.

On the 24th November 2022 I had still not received any response from Mr. Matshaba Rachapo, so I emailed him again asking when I could expect to receive my academic records.

On the 25th November 2022 I received an email from MRS M MTHEMBU (***) who claimed that due to the POPI act my academic records could not be sent to a private email address and that I needed to collect them from a UNISA office or via the MYUNISA portal. I responded to her email and explained that I was in the UK and that there are no UNISA branches in the UK according to the UNISA website, and that I had studied at UNISA long before MYUNISA was created, so there was no way for me to register an account on the portal.

When I received no response from her I sent an email of complaint to *** on 11 December 2022. On 20 January 2023 I received an email from Mr James Kruger who said that I must use the following link ( https://myadmin.unisa.ac.za/services/forgot-studentnumber-app/#/search ) to access the information I had requested. I attempted to do this and received the same error reading that I had received when previously attempting to access any information from the UNISA website and portal. I rep**** to him on the 25th January 2023 explaining that since I had studied at UNISA before their online courses had been introduced I was not registered on any of their electronic services. When I did not receive a response I emailed him again on 16 February 2023.

It has been almost six months and I have still not received my academic records. I would like to know why a person has to send eight emails literally begging for documents that they are legally entitled to, and why the DSAR08 form provided on the UNISA website clearly allows for one to request that academic records be emailed to them, and even allows one to fill in their prefered email address, if the POPI act prevents this.

Very unprofessional UNISA!!!!