Hawks target 10 companies in R5 billion Skills Fund graft probe

A criminal investigation by the Hawks is underway, into corruption and fraud by 10 companies that received millions from the National Skills Fund (NSF) but never delivered the services.

Department of Higher Education and Training deputy minister Buti Manamela and NSF bosses briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee after the damning Nexus forensic report and that of the Auditor-General, which found that R5 billion of the entity’s funds were unaccounted for in two financial years.

Manamela said the investigations, including that of a ministerial task team appointed by Minister Blade Nzimande last year, saw some implicated senior officials resign from the department.

“We are quite confident that after the implementation of the two reports, we will see a turnaround of the NSF in terms of governance and various interventions recommended in the reports.

“Since the receipt of the Nexus forensic report, we have interacted with the SIU and the Hawks have also begun investigations.”

Nothing to show for public funds paid

Head of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) Advocate Andy Mothibi met with the department’s director-general Nkosinathi Sishi last month, where the scope of engagement on the NSF was discussed, said NSF acting CEO David Mabusela.

The SIU is seeking to recoup NSF funds from the service providers through civil litigation, mostly contracted for teaching and learning, that fleeced millions of rand from the entity.

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Some of the companies used the monies for their own operational costs.

The following are the projects and companies named during the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation session on 29 March 2023, implicated in offences including corruption, fraud, money laundering and theft:

• Ikhonalakho Woman and Youth Primary Co-operative Limited  (KZN)
• Dithipe Trading Enterprise (Limpopo)
• ADA Holdings (Eastern Cape)
• Dzunde Farming and Rural Development (Limpopo)
• Passionate About People (Western Cape)
• Ekurhuleni West TVET College project
• Gqeberha TVET College project
• Rubicon Communications CC (Gauteng)
• Emanzini Staffing Solutions (Gauteng)
• Center for Education Policy Development (Gauteng)

Suspensions

As Nexus was preparing its forensic report in 2021, former director-general Gwebinkundla Qonde was placed on precautionary suspension after an AG disclaimer opinion that found that R25 billion could not be accounted for.

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Subsequent attempts by Qonde to fight his suspensions failed in the Labour Court.

The Nexus report was handed to Nzimande in March 2022.

According to Mabusela, five NSF officials and two others at the Ekurhuleni West Tvet College have been suspended and charged.

The charge sheets were compiled by former NPA head Advocate Mokotedi Mpshe‘s law firm. The seven senior officials’ hearings, headed by a legal panel, will get underway this week.

Regarding the AG report, work streams have been created and are working to correct NSF systems and near-failure governance that marred the entity, Sishi told the MPs.

“We are leaving no stone unturned in turning around the NSF. The current system no longer tolerates non-compliance or the vilification of officials trying to do their best to meet the NSF mandate.”

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