The South African Nursing Council (SANC) would like to reaffirm that all nursing practitioners have to pay their annual practicing fees, like all other professionals working in other professions in the country, to enable them to practice nursing legally in South Africa.
However, unlike other professionals, nursing practitioners have six (6) months to pay their fee (i.e. from 1 July to 31 December every year). The fees for this year were published in the Government Gazette in June 2016 already and communication by way of circulars and sms messages were sent to all nursing practitioners as well as employers, reminding them about the payment of these fees since August 2016.

The payment period and payment methods are also well explained at the back of the Annual Practicing Certificates (APC) sent to nurses.

Says Ms Sizeni Mchunu, Acting Registrar of the SANC: “Practitioners can pay their annual fees at any FNB branch in the country. In addition, the SANC in 2016 like in previous years, also undertook several outreach programmes as from July to December 2016 in all nine provinces where practitioners could pay and receive their certificates immediately.”

The SANC normal annual practicing fees have been kept very low as per previous years, and for 2017 are:

	Registered Nurses and Midwives: R590.00
	Enrolled Nurses and Midwives : R360.00
	Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries : R250.00.

The restoration fees, however, are regulated under the Regulations Regarding Fees and Fines Payable to the South African Nursing Council, Regulation R. 170 as promulgated on 8 March 2013, which is legislated by Government and is a fine for late payment. These fees are thus higher than the annual practicing fees. It should be noted that if nursing practitioners pay their annual fees within the six (6) months’ allocated time as described above, the practitioners would avoid being fined with a restoration fee.

In addition, payment prior to the deadline means that the practitioner’s certificate (APC) will be posted ahead of time and not over the Christmas period which is the busiest time for the South African Post Office.

“The SANC has full understanding of the challenges facing its members on a national basis, and therefore has made an eRegister available to employers. The eRegister is sufficient proof for an employer to check if all nursing practitioners are registered for the relevant year if they did not receive their physical APC as yet due to postage delays. Using this service would make it unnecessary for nurses to travel from all nine provinces to pick up the physical APC from the SANC offices in Pretoria. The eRegister is available on the SANC website at www.sanc.co.za/eRegister.htm,” says Ms Mchunu.

As for the closing period of the SANC during December 2016, the SANC did not close as from the 16th of December 2016 but from 23 – 30 December 2016 which corresponds with the normal closing period for the SANC every year between Christmas and New Year. This closing period was communicated well in advance to all nursing practitioners, reminding them about the options available to them to make payment to the SANC during the closing period as well as the impact it would have if the SANC did not receive their payment by the deadline of 31 December.

ENDS

Issued by:

Mrs. Adri van Eeden
Senior Manager: Marketing and Communications
South African Nursing Council 
E-mail : [email protected]
Website: www.sanc.co.za 
Tel : 012 426-9542

Official Spokesperson and person to be quoted:

Ms S Mchunu
Acting Registrar and CEO: SA Nursing Council

For more information or to arrange for an interview with the Spokesperson, please contact Mrs. Adri van Eeden on Tel. (012) 426-9542 or email: [email protected]