“Worst two SETAs” fail to dispel Committee’s concerns

At a meeting with the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) and the Local Government SETA, who were both placed under administration over the last two and half years, the Committee for Higher Education and Training expressed concern that both SETAs were not fulfilling their duty to advance the skills development needs of the country. Each SETA (of which there are 21), is responsible for managing, and creating learnerships, internships, skills based programmes and apprenticeships.

Chairperson of the Committee, Ishmael Malale, said “the worst two SETAs” had been deliberately asked to present together. He was particularly concerned about the service providers who the SETAs had paid millions to.

The Services SETA recently came out of administration in July2013 after being placed under administration for two and half years because of the costliness of their achievements. For example, one year’s learning for one learner cost more than three years of university education. The audit report for 2012/13 showed R292m could not be accounted for. A whistle blower who had sent anonymous emails was being investigated for not following the proper channels. Fictitious learners were also being investigated.

The Committee expressed concern about the Services SETA’s latest presentation, with the ANC’s Zondi Makhubela saying that it “had not changed” and that “as a juristic person, the Chair of the Board should be blamed”. IFP Member, Alfred Mpontshane, also hoped that the presentation was not a display of ineffective good intentions. The ANC’s Sbusiso Radebe went as far as to say that the Department of Higher Education and Training should be blamed for not monitoring the SETA adequately, and that the Board should be blamed for “not getting on top of the situation”.

The Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LG SETA) has also recently been placed under administration in March 2013. The Auditor-General’s 100-page report indicated that virtually every transaction had something wrong whether trivial or substantial. The SETA had failed to submit Annual Financial Statements, a Performance Report or Annual Report, in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.

ANC member, Nomalungelo Gina, noted that the LG SETA’s Human Resources turnaround strategy was “troublesome”, with fellow ANC member, Radebe, adding that although there had been some improvement in the SETA’s performance, there were still critical skills gaps within the entity that needed to be filled. He added that if LG SETA employees were resigning because they were “running from disciplinary hearings”, this should be followed up too, and legal action had to be taken against “bad apples”.

Overall, the Committee was not allayed by both SETAs assurances of good intentions. MPs asked questions about administrator remuneration; criminal and disciplinary investigations and sanctions against those found guilty; quality of training; the number of fictitious learners and their costs; timelines; ensuring corrupt Service Providers face consequences; the names of the service providers who had received millions; and the oversight role of the Department of Higher Education and Training. It requested regular written reporting to the Portfolio Committee.

Find the full report here.

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