MPs have slammed the country’s sector education and training authorities (Setas) for dishing out bursaries to dead students and to those under the age of 15 or over 65.
While thousands of unemployed youth are battling to get funding for studies, more than 10,000 received financial aid from “multiple” Setas for different programmes at the same time.
These were among the damning findings by the auditor-general after a detailed analysis of data from the country’s 21 Setas.
These state entities, which provide learnerships and bursaries, are responsible for skills training in specific industries.
Schooling is compulsory for pupils between the ages of seven and 15, but the AG’s report found that the Setas made payments to 140 beneficiaries who were either under the age of 15 or over 65.
Other findings include:
- 11 pupils reported as deceased on the Home Affairs system;
- 236 recipients of bursaries from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme also received bursaries from the Setas;
- 53 pupils received Seta bursaries as well Funza Lushaka bursaries that are awarded to those studying to become teachers;
- 454 of the same pupils received funding from Setas over different years;
- 17 pupils had identity document numbers that were either invalid or were not reflecting on the home affairs’ database; and
- 76 people, who were employed, benefited from learning interventions meant for the unemployed.
At least 87 companies doing business with the Setas were also either deregistered or being deregistered.
A total of 2,318 pupils out of the 10,006 who were benefiting from programmes from “multiple” Setas were from the National Skills Fund (NSF), while 748 were from the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing (FP & M) Seta and 634 from the manufacturing, engineering and related services Seta.
Zamahlangu Mditwa, a senior manager in the auditor-general’s office, said the deceased pupils “would have passed away even before the learning interventions actually started”.
“This would pose the question: where did the funds go?”
She said they identified pupils in a number of Setas where the same group got “a skills intervention” from different Setas.
“Is it the intention to be investing in the same individual also bearing in mind the limited fiscus?”
She said there were also instances where the same pupil was funded by different Setas over different years.
“We are investing in the same pupils. Could it be intentional or that it’s the limitations that are posed by the nature in which the Setas are operating in terms of working in silos? Each Seta is doing its own thing.”
The AG’s office described the audits of the NSF, as well as several setas, as a “concern”.
“It is still a concern that the NSF has not addressed the deficiencies noted around the skills development funding. The absence of adequate project management processes and expenditure approval processes continues to be a challenge at the institution. This has been communicated in past audit cycles, but the entity is slow in addressing this.”
The report also found that the NSF approved and paid for three modules for a security officer learnership programme twice “which resulted in a financial loss”.
Last month the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) denied higher education minister Blade Nzimande’s request to keep a damning forensic report into the NSF under wraps.
Nzimande appointed a forensic company to conduct a probe into the financial affairs of the NSF after just under R5bn could not be “properly accounted for over two financial years”.
Meanwhile, the AG’s report also noted that “poor project management processes” at the Construction Education and Training Authority (Ceta) “results in them not being able to track the status of contracts with service providers”.
ANC MP Bafuze Yabo asked parliament “how it was possible to have one person studying or being an intern or having a bursary from multiple Setas at the same time”.
“What manner of irresponsible administration is that from the Setas? The number of 10,006 pupils identified is staggering. It’s incredulous and unbelievable that 10,006 human beings are picked up across multiple Setas.”
Said Yabo: “When a pupil who is older than 65 exits, where are they going to move? What value are they going to add? You fund a 65-year-old to do what?”
Another ANC MP, Tebogo Letsie, who described the statistics as a “horror movie”, said: “What are the 15-year-olds kids, who should really be in school, doing in the Setas?”
Nzimande told parliament that he has organised a special ministers’ management meeting to discuss “fully” the AG’s report.
“As much as the AG’s report doesn’t look good, it’s not all the Setas that have been implicated. Some have done great work in terms of training, giving young people opportunities and in supporting workplace training.”
Prof Labby Ramrathan from the University of KwaZulu-Natal told TimesLIVE Premium that while the Setas were introduced as a transformative initiative to skill the masses, “clearly from the report, it is being abused”.
“A national database of awardees would, if well-maintained and updated regularly, prevent such occurrences. Senior managers should be doing risk mitigation checks and balances.”
He said very little will emerge from the report’s findings “largely because corrupt activities are not done by individuals alone but in teams to cover up and, as such, blame is diverted consistently”.
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