Services Seta bought 20‚000 exam pads at R214 each: Outa

The Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) allegedly paid R214 for an exam pad‚ R166.50 for a lanyard and R167 for a single flash drive.

These are some of things the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) claimed on Thursday to have uncovered in the “damning evidence” they received‚ which allegedly shows “gross wasteful and irregular expenditure” at the Services Seta.

Dominique Msibi‚ Outa’s special projects portfolio manager‚ claims that the Services Seta bought:

• 20‚000 exam pads at R214 each;
• 30‚000 lanyards at R166.50 each; and
• 30‚000 flash drives at R167 each.

“A quick online search will reveal that basic flash drives can be bought for as little as R59 and lanyards for as little as R3‚” said Msibi.

“It is not known on what basis and for whom these items were purchased.”

Outa added that the invoices for the exam pads‚ lanyards and flash drives were all paid to the same supplier.

“It also concerns us that despite the income of R28.9-million on this deal alone‚ the company in question does not have a VAT number and that no VAT is charged on each invoice‚” said Msibi.

Outa also found in their preliminary investigations that the necessary tender procedures had not been followed.

They will report the information to the auditor-general of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).

The Services Seta was contacted by TimesLIVE for comment but had not yet responded at the time of publication.

“It is not known on what basis and for whom these items were purchased.”

Outa added that the invoices for the exam pads‚ lanyards and flash drives were all paid to the same supplier.

“It also concerns us that despite the income of R28.9-million on this deal alone‚ the company in question does not have a VAT number and that no VAT is charged on each invoice‚” said Msibi.

Outa also found in their preliminary investigations that the necessary tender procedures had not been followed.

They will report the information to the auditor-general of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).

The Services Seta was contacted by TimesLIVE for comment but had not yet responded at the time of publication.