Cayden Nel matriculated at a school in KwaZulu-Natal in 2012 but is still waiting for his matric certificate.

He needs it to continue studying at Pretoria University.

The university allowed him to complete the first year of a social work degree last year on the basis of temporary documents he produced.

But now it is insisting that he produce his matric certificate to prove that he has met the requirements for university admission.

Without it he will be unable to register in a week's time.

"It's getting close," he said.

Pretoria University spokesman Nicolize Mulder said: "In order to comply with legislation, as well as university regulations, students must submit an original national senior certificate verifying that all requirements have been met."

Nel is worried that he will lose his scholarship from the Department of Social Development.

"I'm loving studying at Pretoria. We need more male social workers in South Africa," he said.

Nel, a South African, completed most of his schooling in the UK, returning to South Africa in 2010. He finished his last three years of schooling in Newcastle.

Because he could not speak Afrikaans he applied for immigrant status, which would exempt him from studying a South African language for matric.

He had studied Spanish in the UK but his Newcastle school did not offer it as a subject and instead of studying a second language he took biology.

KwaZulu-Natal department of education documents given to Nel before his final exams show that he has "immigrant status".

After receiving the documents his school told him everything would "work out fine".

In March last year, still without a matric certificate, Nel went to the department's offices, where he was given a document listing his matric marks.

But it is endorsed: "This is not a senior certificate but meets the requirement for promotion."

The university will not accept it as a qualification for university entrance.

His former school has worked to resolve the issue, resubmitting his documents to the department of education in the middle of last year when it asked for them.

"All the department need do is reprint my certificate with the correct wording," Nel said.

He was given the telephone number of someone in the department but each time he phones her she again asks for his name, ID number and other details.

"She kept forgetting who I am. This has been a back-and-forth struggle for over a year."

He risks losing his scholarship and residence fees, which have been paid by the Department of Social Development, and will have to repay the money if he cannot get a corrected matric certificate.

Neither the KwaZulu-Natal nor national departments of education had responded to questions put by The Times by the time of going to print.