About RAFSA:

RAFSA is an assembly of South African Architects, technologists and professional building designers rejected unjustly by the South African council for the architecture profession (SACAP) and hence left powerless to practise architecture in South Africa as unregistered architectural designers is not able to submit plans to a SA municipality. 

RAFSA was created on 20 February 2007 after my struggle of more than a year to get granted a professional membership from SACAP. 

My story is as follows: 

I am a professional architectural technologist with a B-Tech degree in architecture (Tech. Pta.) with more than 8 years of extensive experience in housing, corporate and commercial projects. Currently I am one of three directors of a very reputable architectural firm in Pretoria. I have been a candidate member with SACAP for about 4 years.  

In 2006 SACAP introduced new legislation whereby all persons practising architecture must be professionally registered to be able to submit building plans SA municipalities. With this new legislation about, I suspect that SACAP had an overflow in applications to become members as for many being unable to submit plans to a municipality means no work. 

I became aware of at least 3 instances (and I suspect there are tens more) where SACAP has granted Professional Senior Architectural memberships in 2006 to candidates without any examinations, or training records submitted and in extreme cases applicants has not even been in possession of a valid architectural qualification. (None of the above is unfounded information, and I can prove all of the above) 

Me, on the other hand, after my membership of 4+ years as a candidate, extensive experience and all relevant qualifications is still not granted professional membership and today I cancelled my membership with SACAP forever. I am truly fed-up with such impartial treatment!

I am remarkably disappointed in SACAP for being an organization with such inconsistent rules and regulations enforced on its members. It saddens me, being our ‘National architectural registration council’, that policies are so poorly imposed that well qualified legitimate candidates go through tremendous trouble to get registered while other new applicants in 2006, without even having the relevant qualifications gets categorized as PR senior architectural technologists instantly without any examinations. 

I think that it is worrying that SACAP has become a national organization with so little credibility and this assembly is dedicated to all persons who have been treated unfairly in this regard. Join our organization today and make a difference ! 

Yours truly,

The President

RAFSA, Royal Architectural foundation of South Africa