By Lebone Rodah Mosima
The Democratic Alliance has asked Parliament’s higher education committee to summon ETDP SETA’s leadership after Auditor-General findings showed serious record-keeping and internal control failures, with R637.6 million in grant expenditure allegedly not being substantiated.
DA Deputy Spokesperson on Higher Education and Training Karabo Khakhau said that the Auditor-General of South Africa’s findings reflected a “shocking failure” of governance regarding discretionary grants at the ETDP SETA.
“According to the Auditor-General’s findings, a staggering R637.6 million in grant expenditure could not be substantiated due to missing records, with auditors unable to confirm the validity of the spending,” Khakhau said.
The funds were intended to support critical skills development programmes, including bursaries, internships and work-integrated learning opportunities for young South Africans.
The DA’s statement comes just days after President Cyril Ramaphosa said at News24’s On The Record summit that the SETA system “must be changed”, with his office later stating that government was working to replace it with a “fit-for-purpose system” that better links training to jobs.
In her statement, Khakhau said the AG report found not only administrative failure, but a betrayal of young people who rely on SETAs to access training and employment pathways.
“At a time when South Africa faces a deepening youth unemployment crisis, such gross mismanagement undermines both economic growth and public trust.”
According to the report, performance targets were not met, with some programmes using as little as 22% of their allocated budgets.
Khakhau said the findings raised questions about whether funds were not only mismanaged but potentially misappropriated.
“Equally concerning is the apparent absence of consequence management,” she said.
“The report indicates that no consistent disciplinary action has been taken against officials responsible for irregular or wasteful expenditure.”
Khakhau further said the alleged mismanagement had entrenched a culture of impunity within an institution tasked with empowering the next generation.
She said the DA would demand full accountability from the ETDP SETA’s executive leadership as well as its board.
“We will push for a comprehensive explanation of how such a vast sum of public money could be spent without adequate records, and what steps will be taken to recover any lost funds,” she said.
Khakhau said the matter reflected the overall problems in the SETA system.
“Increasingly, the entire SETA system looks to be a massive scheme for misappropriation where billions disappear, and ANC cadres are appointed to the highest levels,” she said.
The ETDP SETA was unavailable for comment.
