It's time to clean house at the Setas — the future of our workforce depends on it

Daily Maverick

a day ago

South Africa's Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (Setas) were established to address the country's critical skills gaps and to drive workplace training in support of economic development. Instead, many have become breeding grounds for corruption, cadre patronage and unchecked maladministration.
For years, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has investigated and reported on serious governance failures within the Setas, with substantial work done in collaboration with many whistle-blowers at the following three entities: the Services Seta, the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (Inseta) and the Construction, Education and Training Authority (Ceta).
Numerous red flags have been raised and reported about procurement irregularities, staff victimisation, board dysfunction, lack of transparency and poor financial oversight. Time and again, we've seen evidence of power abused by executives and board members who appear to operate with impunity.
We have reported on several highly dubious and grossly inflated multimillion-rand contracts at Inseta, awarded to companies with little to no experience in the supposed work they were contracted to do. We've witnessed how employees who have raised their concerns or got in the way of irregular procurement practices have been suspended or fired on trumped-up charges. Despite the board being made aware of these serious concerns with evidence provided to them, they chose to look away and do nothing to hold the executive managers to account.
Inseta also faces a business damages claim of more than R200-million from the Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences (Gifs), which exposed ghost learners and other maladministration issues. Instead of embracing Gifs for pointing out these problems, Inseta's CEO, Gugu Mkhize, chose to use a dubious report that gave Gifs no right of reply, and to strike it off Inseta's accreditation list, causing catastrophic damage to the company.
For years, Outa and whistle-blowers have exposed the rot at Services Seta, exposing highly inflated tender awards under Andile Nongogo's tenure as its CEO between 2016 and 2019. Nongogo surfaced shortly thereafter as the CEO of the National Student Finance Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in December 2020, and we were not surprised to see a number of his Service Seta suppliers surface in highly irregular contracts awarded at NSFAS.
It took relentless reports of irregularities by Outa and the media to eventually have Nongogo fired from his position at NSFAS in 2023. To this day, the acting CEO and the board at Service Seta have done almost nothing to implement the recommendations of a Werkmans' forensic report that highlighted the irregularities and fraudulent contracts awarded by Service Seta's management. This, in turn, raises questions about their lack of oversight and possible support in covering up the rot by the board of Services Seta.
In the case of Ceta, multiple reports have been presented to the board and the minister about the abuse of power by top management and the widespread fear among staff, some of who have been suspended or fired because they either knew too much or got in the way of irregular conduct by Malusi Shezi, the CEO.
Shezi, who is also in a business relationship with Nongogo, entered into several dubious contracts with the same suppliers that were implicated in the Werksmans report on irregularities at Service Seta.
It doesn't end there. The rot spreads across multiple Setas. The Media, Information and Communication Technologies Seta has made headlines for questionable procurement deals, spending irregularities and high fees paid to its board members. The Wholesale and Retail Seta has also featured in media reports for serious irregularities and audit concerns.
This is a systemic issue that points to a culture of exploitation and political shielding across the Seta environment, including numerous universities, TVET colleges and the National Skills Fund, while Blade Nzimande was at the helm of the Higher Education ministry.
Which brings us to the present. The new minister of higher education, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, has held the power and the responsibility for the past year, tasked with trying to fix this cesspool of corruption and a poorly administered department that has long been broken.
Pivotal moment
With the appointment of new Seta board chairpersons currently under way, the minister has a pivotal moment to chart a different path, one that could see the introduction of good governance and robust oversight, which is a role that many previous boards have failed or refused to fulfil. To do so, the minister must ensure that individuals of impeccable integrity and proven governance track records are appointed to these oversight roles. These appointments should not be compromised or prone to political expediency in any way whatsoever.
The new Seta boards must be empowered not just to look forward but to cast a critical eye on the past conduct of executive managers by investigating historical wrongdoing and holding executive directors to account.
They should also ensure the recovery of funds lost to corruption and the laying of criminal charges against perpetrators. Seta executives who have presided over years of qualified audits and reputational damage should not be allowed to continue in their posts. Accountability and transparency should never be optional.
Many are mindful of the political minefield the new minister has to navigate. Her recent appearance before Parliament to explain the secrecy surrounding the original list of proposed Seta board chairs has raised serious concerns.
Many, as do I, believe that list was influenced by the ANC's Cadre Deployment Committee, an unelected structure that has long eroded good governance in the public sector. Nkabane now finds herself in a precarious position, having been accused of misleading Parliament while most likely trying to protect the ANC from an embarrassing exposé.
Nkabane's reality as an ANC-appointed Cabinet member is shared with others who are finding it extremely difficult to seek reform within various departments that are entangled in networks of patronage and power preservation. But these dynamics cannot be allowed to override the urgent need for credibility, competence and clean governance at institutions tasked with acting in the best interest of advancing South Africa's skills base.
Fortunately, we have seen how effectively this work can be done, following Nkabane's appointment of no-nonsense people such as Waseem Carrim (CEO) and Dr Karen Stander (chairperson) at NSFAS, who are cleaning up and taking a stand by undoing the rot and cancelling dubious contracts undertaken by their predecessors.
The Setas must be rescued from capture. This is not just about appointments, it is about restoring public trust, protecting whistle-blowers and ensuring that the billions of rands allocated to workplace training are used for their intended purpose.
The time for the polite tolerance of dysfunction is over. We urge Nkabane and the political powers in play to act decisively and to stand firm against the inevitable resistance from vested interests.
The future of our workforce depends on it. DM