Forensic audit report of Construction Education and Training Authority; Department of Higher Education and Training on its Quarter 2 & 3 performance

Meeting report

Mr Anele Kabingesi, Committee Secretary, announced that he had received apologies from the Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, and the Deputy Minister, Mr Mduduzi Manana,had stated that he would arrive late for the meeting,

University stability: Department of Higher Education and Training update
Mr Gwebinkundla Qonde, Director General, Department of Higher Education and Training, gave the Committee an update on the situations on the different university campuses. He said the University of Fort Hare’s Student Representative Council (SRC) led a peaceful protest action on 17 May 2016 and presented a memorandum of demands to the university management. On  18 May 2016, protesting students burnt tyres on the streets and close to the main entrance of Alice campus. They also set fire to the  centenary celebrations tent, looted and vandalised some buildings. On 19 May 2016 about 15 students were arrested in connection with the violence and malicious destruction at the campus, and were denied bail. The Department (also referred to as DHET) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) are working together to advise the university on strategies to maintain the stability. The university was handed over to governance since 19 May 2016 until 22 May 2016.

During the early hours of 16 May 2016, a 1000-seat main auditorium at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) was fire bombed. Also destroyed were computer laboratories, including equipment used to conduct career assessment and guidance for students. The estimated damage to the building is R100 million. Midyear exams, which were scheduled to take place in the building, and a number of graduation ceremonies have been directly affected by the arson attack. The university has obtained an interdict to stop any form of grouping at UJ’s residences, libraries, lecture venues and any building operated, owned or managed by the university including off-campus accommodation.

On 16 May 2016, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University issued an interdict against a small group of community members who blocked the entrances of Missionvale campus. The group stoned the university shuttle buses and burnt tyres. 

A fire was started at Rhodes University on the morning of the 12 May 2016, at the administration building. The smell of the fire was quickly picked up by a Campus Protection Unit (CPU) guard, and his security peers were able to extinguish it before significant damage was done. Investigations by the SAPS and fire department are currently under way. On 20 May 2016 the Student Parliament will be hosting an extra ordinary mass meeting at 19:00 for all current students to consider a core of no confidence motion launched on all SRC members.

The Vaal University of Technology management suspended the academic programme with immediate effect on 12 May 2016, following violent student protests. The protests resulted in malicious damage to the university’s property. Notwithstanding management’s attempts to engage with the SRC and other student leaders involved, the protests persisted and escalated to violence. It is alleged that; the SRC tore up managements written response to the protests, without giving students the opportunity to consider the contents, that students demanded the appointment of service providers without due regard to the university’s procurement process and students demanded that the university  withdraw criminal charges and lift the suspension of students facing serious charges.

The #RhodesMustFall members from the University of Cape Town who were involved in violent protests at the beginning of this year were banned from setting foot on any of the university’s property due to a scathing judgement handed down in the Western Cape High Court on 11 May 2016.

The University of Free State closed its Qwa-Qwa campus after disruptions and violent protests took place from 12-18 May 2016. The students and staff were instructed to leave the campus with immediate effect. Students were also required to take all their personal belongings and study material for the examinations. The SRC handed over a memorandum of demands to the university management on 10 May 2016. The students were unhappy with the slow pace at which the university was dealing with their issues and embarked on a protest action. The SRC met with the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Jansen, on 17 May 2016. According to the SRC the meeting was a success and they had agreed that the university would reopen on 18 May 2016 but there were no academic activities on campus that week.

Discussion
Ms J Kilian (ANC) said that a small minority of the students on campuses are not participating in the campus protests, and as a result the students that lived far away from campus were being affected by the protests. She asked what measures the Department had taken to accommodate these students so that they can continue to further their studies, and to protect them. She was also concerned about the lack of wifi on university campuses which students needed to complete their assignments. She asked how the roll out of the wifi was being dealt with and asked whether there were attempts to work with relevant department to make sure that wifi is available for students.

Mr Y Cassim (DA) expressed his frustration, and said he expected the Department to report on the causes of the campus protests rather than merely a report on the events taking place on campuses, and he was also expecting to hear a report on what the real causes of the protests were. He enquired about what the universities and Department had done to calm the situation on campuses. At the moment it seemed as if the Minister does not care about these university protests because he has not been to the campuses to speak to the students. The students have lost faith in the university management and it would have been appropriate for the Minister and Deputy Minister to take leadership at this moment. He enquired about the Minister's trip to the United States of America (USA). He added that the problems at Fort Hare University are quite unique; the students that live on campus have been complaining about the lack of food and textbooks and many have not yet signed their National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) loan agreements, so that they were unable to buy food or textbooks, and were thus likely to fail their exams. He agreed with Ms Kilian that there are innocent students that have decided not to take part in the protests, however many of them have complained that they have been provoked by the police who raid through the residences and throw students out of their rooms. This has angered many students, and they also end up joining the protests on campus.

Ms M Nkadimeng (ANC) said that apparently the workers at the University of Mpumalanga are refusing to work, which means that the students are also not attending their classes because they are not being taught. She asked how the Department will handle this matter before it also turns into a violent protest.

Mr C Kekana (ANC) said that Mr Cassim must give the Committee facts and not scenarios that the Department cannot work with. He added that the Minister has been attending to the situations on different universities and he did attend a university student funeral and visited students in hospitals. He took issue with Mr Cassim, and said the Minster cannot be dictated to as to where he should or should not go. He enquired about the type of bomb that was used to blow up the University of Johannesburg building; he asked whether it was a professionally made or minor bomb because it seemed as if the protests are taking a different direction.

Dr B Bozzoli (DA) said Dr Adam Habib mentioned that he was not happy with the way in which the police were handling the protests on universities. She said that the police are not trained to deal with crowds. She stressed that a joint meeting with the Committee on Police should take place. She said the protests were also starting to take place on Technical Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) colleges. She asked that the Department should take attempts to contain the situation before it worsens. With the amount of damage that was being done to university property, she asked who was paying for all these damages. She agreed with Mr Cassim that the Minister should have been present at the meeting to answer the questions.

Ms S Mchunu (ANC) said the common event in all the protests is the burning of university property, and she is worried that there may be another source behind that. She also added that the events mentioned by Mr Cassim should not be taken seriously because the Committee cannot be certain whether these are facts or made up accusations.

Dr Bozzoli interrupted Ms Mchunu, saying that it is unparliamentary to accuse another Member of Parliament of lying.

The Chairperson responded that she does not wish for the discussion to turn into a debate.

An official from the Department responded that the Acting Minister, who was standing in for Dr Blade Nzimande, was Minister Thulas Nxesi, and he had met with the students from Fort Hare University and the university management, and addressed the media after that. The community protests in the Alice area are not the Department's concern. The Minister, Dr Nzimande, has planned to meet with all the university Student Representative Councils (SRCs) and would, after that, then meet with the TVET colleges.

Mr Qonde said that, for the sake of the safety of other students, the solution would be to close the universities down until the students’ grievances have been dealt with. The Department is in the process of investigating the wifi matter. He reminded the Committee that the Department had allocated R2.5 billion for universities to help them with the historical debt, and a large chunk of that money went to the Fort Hare University because it had the largest amount of historical debt. The Department had been in discussion with the management of Fort Hare University and the chairperson of NSFAS to discuss what other steps can be taken to calm the situation down. There are 7 000 students at Fort Hare with historical debt, and consequently a detailed analysis of Fort Hare’s accommodation, infrastructure and governance is currently being done by the university’s Council, and once the analysis had been completed they were expected to report back to the Minister. The Minister is currently in the USA, and he has been travelling there for quite some time to meet with the Vice Chancellors of the universities in the USA. The purpose of the visit to the USA is to source funding for the training of students, especially for the post-graduate students.

The taxpayers are unfortunately paying for the university damages, hence the department had stressed that communities should stand together to try and solve these matters on campuses because they affected everyone. He added that he was not in a position to comment on the statements made by the Wits Vice Chancellor because he is not aware of the events that he is referring to. The root of the protests on TVET colleges is related to a lack of water on the campuses. The Department met with the Department of Water and Sanitation on 19 May 2016 to set up a team to investigate and find appropriate measures for the situation.

The Chairperson suggested that the Department could now move on to the next report.

Mr Cassim disagreed with the Chairperson, stating that the Department had not responded to all the Committee's questions and Members had the right to ask these questions. He wanted to know what the Minister was doing in the USA during this crucial time, and why students at Fort Hare University were prevented from signing loan agreements.

The Chairperson said to Mr Cassim that the Department had responded to these questions, and asked that the answers be repeated.

Mr Qonde replied that 158 students had not yet signed their loan agreements, but the university did promise the Department that by 17 May 2016 all of the outstanding loan agreements will have been signed. He added that he did not know who was preventing the students from signing their loan agreements.

Mr Kekana said it was discussed on SAfM that morning that the Minister is trying to form partnership to source resources in America to train PhD students. He said he did not understand why Mr Cassim does not know about this.

Ms Kilian said Mr Cassim was “trying to hog the Chairperson”. The normal procedure is for the Department to answer all the Committee’s questions, and if a Member is not satisfied with the answer the next step is to write to the Department. She added that Mr Cassim has a habit of leaving the meeting during presentations when he is not happy with the answers.

Mr Cassim interrupted Ms Kilian, saying that she is misleading the Committee. He reminded the Committee that it had passed a resolution in August 2015, that when the Department presented its performance plans, both the Minister and Deputy Minister should be present. He said that the Chairperson is therefore breaking the Committee's resolution and he will therefore lay a formal complaint.

The Chairperson said she has noted Mr Cassim’s comments and asked the Department to proceed with their presentations.

DHET Second and Third Quarter Performance Report 2015/16
Mr Mahlubi Mabizela, Chief Director: University Policy, DHET, said the second and third quarter had 33 performance indicators encompassing six targets which are directed outputs of the Department. The APP also had 30 system performance targets which were monitored and reported by the core delivery programmes of the Department. The Department had 27 targets, of which 18 were achieved and nine were not achieved, and five of the targets were not achieved within the time-frame were subsequently achieved.

Programme 2: Human Resource Development, Planning and Monitoring Co-ordination
The purpose of the programme is to provide strategic direction in the development, implementation and monitoring of departmental policies and Human Resources Development (HRD). The programme planned to deliver nine targets and for the two quarters the Department achieved two of the targets. The target of the second quarter was to produce “i WIL” which is a registration system for learners seeking work integrated learning opportunities and firms wanting to provide work integrated. However, the department did not achieve this target. The main target for the third quarter was to gazette an approved Policy and Guidelines on Recognition of Prior Leaning (RPL). This target was not achieved. However, the Policy was subsequently approved by the Minister and gazetted on March 2016.

Programme 3: University Education
In the financial year Programme 3 planned to deliver 20 targets and monitor the performance of the system against 17 delivery targets. For the two quarters there were seven targets; two of the four targets in the second quarter were achieved. A policy on the Minimum Norms and Standards for Student Housing at Public Universities was published in the Government Gazette on 29 September 2015. A report on the affective use of the foundation provision grant for 23 universities was approved by the Director General on 4 September 2015. The other two targets could not be achieved, however they were subsequently achieved. A report on the analysis of university annual reports in terms of financial indicators was produced and approved by the Director General (DG) on 31 March 2016. Revised Regulations for Private Higher Education Institutions were published in the Government Gazette on 31 March 2016.

There were three targets in the third quarter that were achieved. A report on the effective use of the 2014/15 teaching development grant was approved by the DG by the end of December 2015. An evaluation report on effective use of the Research Development Grant in 2014/15 was approved by the DG. A Student leadership capacity development strategy and programme was developed and implemented by October 2015. The number of graduates in engineering sciences exceeded the target and achieved 12    058; the number of graduates in teacher education from universities exceeded the target and achieved 7 295; the number of masters students was also exceeded and achieved 7 229 and the success rate of universities improved by 1% and achieved 77%.

The Department, however, underperformed in the number of students enrolled in public higher education studies at universities achieving just below the target of 1.01 million. he number of human and animal health sciences graduates, number of first year students in foundation programmes, the number of eligible university students obtaining financial aid and the proportion of universities meeting standards of good governance targets were also not achieved.

Programme 4: Vocational Continuing Education and Training (VCET)
The programme planned to deliver eight targets and monitor the performance of the system against 10 delivery targets. For the two quarters there were seven targets. Three of the four targets in the second quarter were achieved as annual teaching and learning support plan for the VCET system was approved by the DG on 21 September 2015. The Monitoring and Evaluation report on VCET institutions was approved by the DG on 29 September 2015. A strategy on strategy partnerships with key stakeholders was approved by the DG on 14 September 2016. Two targets were not achieved: the Guidelines for standardised implementation of Occupational Programmes (although this was subsequently achieved) and the building of six TVET colleges remained unachieved. Only two campuses were at 50% completion and one at 99% completion.

Programme 5: Skills Development
This programme planned to deliver 15 targets; there were 11 targets for the two quarters and four out of the five targets in the second quarter were achieved. A SETA monitoring report on skills development was approved by the DG, 7 526 new artisan learners were registered nationally, which exceeded the target of 5 000 by 2 526 and the national artisan learners trade test pass rate at INDLELA was 52%, which is above the target of 50%. One target was not achieved in the second quarter – the average lead time from trade test application received until trade test conducted was 170 days, 70 days more than the target. The SETA monitoring report on skills was approved by the DG, 6 334 new artisan learners were registered nationally and the national learners’ trade test pass rate at INDLELA was 54%, above the target of 50%.

Mr Theuns Tredoux, Chief Financial Officer, DHET, said the overall spending rate by the second quarter was 65% and the spending for the first quarter was 39.1%. The reasons for this high spending trend is due to the uneven transfers made to universities and TVET colleges as well as to NSFAS. The average spending for the normal operational activities including the compensation of employees was 44%; personnel compensation was 43.5% and examination and moderators was 120.6%. The overall spending for the third quarter was 82.5%. The spending rate for the second quarter was 65.4% and the average spending for normal operational activities including compensation of employees was 69.3%. The spending on the personnel was lower than expected due to the same circumstances as at the end of the second quarter. The spending on the examiners and moderators for the third quarter is at a high risk and will further be influenced by claims for the November 2015 exams, as such, this could also affect the enrolment in TVET colleges.

By 31 December 2015 all transfer payments to the institutions were on schedule. There were some problems with PERSAL interfaces from the various Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) due to incorrect link codes, which resulted in expenditure allocated against wrong programmes. The expenditure trends are monitored closely within the Department and cost saving measures were effectively implemented. A larger underspending outcome could be possible under compensation of employees, and all spending is monitored carefully to ensure that there is no overspending and that underspending is kept to a minimum.

Discussion
Dr Bozzoli said the University Annual Report and Governance Standards Reports that the Department had presented were incomplete. She asked that the full reports be sent to the Committee as soon as possible. She was concerned at the fact that the Department only set targets for learnerships and artisans, but the other fields have been ignored. She asked for the Department to provide the Committee with targets on each field of study.

Ms Kilian asked why there was an over expenditure on skills development programmes. She enquired whether the Department had made provisions for the expenditure of TVET colleges and what would happen to the monies that had been set aside for the TVET colleges, and whether there was likely to be a rollover of capital. She also asked whether the governance structures of universities had been put in place, and if they had, whether they were functioning properly.

Ms Nkadimeng asked whether the procurement procedures had been finalised for TVET colleges.

Mr E Siwela (ANC) asked if the TVET colleges' examination markers were ever paid on time – he mentioned that in the past they have complained about not being paid on time, and as a matter of fact the Department is apparently still waiting for November 2015 claims.

Ms Mchunu asked which Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) had the most women and what the Department's Medium Term Strategic Finance (MTSF) target for the SETAs was.

Prof T Msimang (IFP) asked why it was necessary for the Department to build new teacher training colleges when they could revamp the ones that were closed down and continue to use them for training.

The Chairperson asked how the Department managed to have over achieved some of its targets with the little money that was allocated to each programme.

Mr Qonde replied that the old colleges had not closed down completely, but they had been occupied and used by government departments or TVET colleges who used them for training staff or students. 

Mr Faizal Toefy, Chief Director, DHET, said 12 new colleges had been built. Three new colleges will be completed before the end of the year, and tenders have gone out for the remaining nine colleges to be built.

Mr Mabizela said the annual reports for the universities are published on an annual basis and are available to the public.

Mr Tredoux said the only programmes on which the Department overspent related to the skills development for both the second and third quarter. He said the reason for this is that there were problems with PERSAL interfaces from the various PEDs due to incorrect link codes, which resulted in expenditure allocated against wrong programmes and consequently reflects an overspending on the programme. The reason for a delay in claims is due to the processes that the claims had to go through. Once the claims were submitted to the Department there is a clearance process that helps to determine whether the exam markers have PERSAL numbers, and these are then sent to the finance department. The finance department also undergoes its own clearance process to ensure that no fraudulent procedures have been made. The other problems relating to claims is that exam markers often give the Department the wrong information – the claims are then sent back to the marker for correction and undergo the same process once they have been returned to the Department.

Mr Zukile Mvalo, Deputy Director General: Skills Development, DHET, said the manufacturing programme has the most number of women, as well as in transport and artisans. The skills that are in demand are boiler makers, electricians and engineers. In 2009 the Department embarked on a campaign to try and attract students into the scarce skills programmes, and 2009 was known as the “year of artisans”. Also, the Department had set aside R30 million to raise awareness of the scarce skills and help develop the artisan programme.

Ms Kilian commended the Department on the great work that it had been doing despite the small budget that was allocated to the Department.

Mr Cassim told the Committee again that he felt that the Chairperson had broken the resolution of the Committee, and he intends on taking further action against the Chairperson.

Ms Kilian responded to Mr Cassim’s remarks, saying that there seems to be a confusion regarding the separation of powers. The Committee does not have the powers to demand that the Minister and Deputy Minister attend all the Committee meetings. She reminded Mr Cassim that the National Assembly (NA) does not work like the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), and if Mr Cassim wants these rules to be changed then he should start with the way the Democratic Alliance (DA) governs in the Western Cape.

Mr Siwela also responded to Mr Cassim saying that the Minister and Deputy Minister both sent in apologies for their absence, and the Committee accepted their apologies and the agenda. He further said that Mr Cassim should have raised these questions at the beginning of the meeting when the agenda was being accepted.

Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA):DHET update
Mr Maliviwe Lumka, Chief Director: SETA Co-ordination, DHET, noted that in April 2015 the Department started receiving anonymous emails with various allegations. In July 2015 Gildenhuys Malatji Attorneys were hired to conduct a forensic investigation to test the veracity of the allegations. On 8 July 2015 the Department arranged a meeting with the staff to introduce the attorneys to the CETA and explain the nature and purpose of the investigation.

The Department required a forensic investigation into the anonymous allegation. Specific terms of reference were formulated and these covered:
-  the procurement in relation to JSK Consulting and Africa wide Consulting as well as Ndumiso Voyi Attorneys
- projects that were funded, in which an ex-employee Mr George Peta was involved
- projects that were funded in which other ex-employees were involved
- projects that perhaps should not have been funded

The gist of the allegations were that the previous administrator and CEO had personal interest in all of these entities, that JSK Consulting was appointed in violation of procurement prescripts and Africawide Consulting was appointed in violation of procurement prescripts, in that it had not achieved what it had been appointed to do. Some of the entities were awarded projects when they did not have the capacity to deliver, nor offices to provide training.

The CETA was assisted by a law firm who were responsible for attending all interviews and collating all documents required by the Gildenhuys Malatji Attorneys. The attorneys identified documentation required and this produced 78 lever arch files of original documents. Interviews were held with the CFO and other members of management. In the third phase of the investigation, the attorneys conducted an interview with the Chief Executive Officer. The CETA employees were assured that there was an anonymous email that had been created at the investigating firm, so that they could report. One of the anonymous emails suggested that the reason why the investigators were not receiving information anonymously was that employees had been asked to sign a confidentiality undertaking after the investigation was announced. The attorneys met with the regional chairperson of NEHAWU. He was accompanied by four employees who were either dismissed or suspended.

The attorneys could not find any evidence of any personal interest by the previous administrator or the CEO in the entities. The appointment of JSK Consulting was irregular as the tender was not awarded to the bidder that scored the highest. There was no merit in the suggestion that CETA had the capacity to perform the functions that JSK Consulting had been appointed for. They also found that the appointment of Africawide Consulting was regular. The conclusion of the second Service Level Agreement did not violate any procurement prescripts although it would have been undesirable to change the scope of an appointed provider without going out of the tender. In relation to Canton and Mr Peta, the CETA should have been aware of the findings in the forensic report of A&A Consultants and thus refrained from doing business with him. As for V&V Management and Mahlala, many service providers were eliminated in the procurement process resulting in awards to these entities which were in turn serviced by Mr Peta’s entity. In relation to Nomaku Trading, insufficient documents were provided to support the issue of purchase orders. In relation to Kalwayi the attorneys were provided with incomplete records. At first glance, the training provider agreements with Kalwayi had expired as did the lease agreement for the training facilities. The attorneys could not find any irregularities with the appointment of PMA Holdings. The briefing patterns of Ndumiso Voyi Inc. indicates that they received 90% of all instructions from CETA, whereas the remainder of the panel consisting of three other law firms received only 10%.

The investigating attorneys recommended that:
- appropriate action be taken against JSK Consulting
- the relationship between CETA and Africawide Consulting should be reviewed by the Board
- consideration should be given to the procurement process
- the report to the Board should be presented well in advance, for Board members to interact with it
- The Board should also consider developing a policy that deals with prescribing conducting business with ex-employees within the sector
- CETA should refrain from amending the terms and conditions of contracts awarded to a successful bidder
- CETA’s procurement process in relation to training providers needs to be audited more closely.

He concluded saying the attorneys offered gratuitous advice that the Board consider some intervention to improve the relations between the CEO and the employees of CETA.

Discussion
Dr Bozzoli said that she received numerous letters from the staff of CETA about the problems, and these were mostly about internal issues. The letters complained that CETA was refusing to allow its employees to join NEHAWU and that some staff members were receiving housing subsidies and benefits while others were not given the same treatment. She said that CETA seemed to have an authoritarian management approach, and there was no proper management of the projects that are co-ordinated by CETA. The students were promised that they would receive training and get paid but none of this had happened yet. Out of the 25 projects running under CETA, 20 of them were believed to be corrupt. She asked that the Committee received the full forensic report. She added that Mr Bantu Holomisa’s (UDM) letter of demand related to the previous report that was conducted and indicates Mr George Peta’s involvement. She was concerned that CETA was not serious about its work, and as a result it continued to do business with Mr Peta right after he had been implicated in a previous fraud case with another SETA.

Mr Cassim asked whether the previous forensic report recommendations have been implemented, and whether those that were implicated in the second report had  been charged with criminal charges. He was worried about the innocent employees that were targeted and asked if they were receiving some kind of protection.

Mr Siwela asked why the investigating attorneys' recommendations are not specific; and what did they mean by “appropriate action”.

Ms Kilian said the Department has to develop a policy that will prevent SETAs from doing business with companies/individuals that have previously been implicated in fraud and corruption cases. She agreed with Mr Siwela that the attorneys' recommendations must be specific. Also, she believes that the internal issues of CETA were perhaps the greatest contributory to its problems.

Ms Mchunu agreed with both Mr Siwela and Ms Kilian that indeed the recommendations needed to be reworked.

Mr Raymond Cele, Chairperson of CETA, said CETA has also not seen the full forensic report, hence the CETA board cannot comment or answer any of the Committee’s questions.

Mr Qonde told the Committee that the forensic investigation was undertaken by the Department and not the CETA Board. Also, CETA was previously put under administration due to financial matters. The first report speaks to these issues.

Mr Tebogo Malatji, Managing Director, Gildenhuys Malatji, understood that there were some disconnects with regard to the recommendations. The first recommendation related to the bidder that was not appointed correctly, when the rules require that the bidder with the highest points gets the tender. The explanations provided by CETA for this proved that CETA would have difficulty explaining why the bidder with the highest score was not appointed. The CETA could perhaps offer appropriate training to staff involved in the procurement processes. The only legislative framework in South Africa that prevents corrupt companies/individuals from doing business with government is to blacklist them. Outside of this framework, he recommended that there should be legislative processes which the CETA puts in place to ensure that it did not do business with people who had been convicted of crime. The body of the report indicated that a large contract was awarded to a company but the CETA realised afterwards that it in fact did have the capacity to do the work themselves. The service provider could refuse this and hold the entity liable for financial loses. In relation to the entities which were named in the anonymous allegations, he explained that as part of the Auditor General’s (AG's) auditing process, the AG would look at the applications which have been accepted by a SETA and they also look at what the accounting authority would have done and whether proper implementation of the projects was in line with the work of the SETA.

He said that some of the anonymous emails indicate that the issues experienced in the CETA could be solved by a mere intervention by the Department. He was aware of the fact that the Committee has recommended that CETA develops a policy to guide its planning and processes. With regard to the last recommendation, it was suggested that perhaps the CEO should perhaps interact with the employees to try and hear what the grievances are. Afterwards, the CEO should then put measures in place that will try and resolve the problems experienced by the employees. A lifestyle audit was also conducted on the CEO, the previous administrator and employees. Although they could not conduct a thorough investigation, the lifestyle investigation did show that there is no relation between the CEO and the previous administrator.

Ms Sonja Pilusa, Chief Executive Officer, CETA, told the Committee that the anonymous emails that some of the Committee members are referring to had been dismissed by the employees of CETA, and others had actually distanced themselves from the correspondence sent to the Committee. She added that the dismissal of staff members happened before the 16 April 2015.

Mr Mduduzi Manana, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training commented that he received an email from a Member of the Committee telling him that some Members were demanding that the Minister and he should be attending all the Committees meetings. He added that the Executive, or Cabinet ministers, are not obliged to attend Committee meetings.

Mr Cassim asked the Department how the recommendations would be translated into policy formulation. He added that he, nor Dr Bozzoli, had suggested that SETAs are corrupt, but they all seem to have the same internal issues. The sad part is that these internal issues cost the Department a lot of money to solve.

Ms Kilian said there is a disjunct between the summary of the forensic report and the recommendations. The recommendations should be made more specific and she repeated that the investigators should explain what they mean by “irregular’ or “appropriate action”.

Adoption of Draft Minutes
19 and 20 April 2016
The minutes of 19 April, 20 April were tabled and discussed. These two sets of minutes were adopted, without amendments.

4 May 2016
The minutes of the meeting on 4 May 2016 were presented.

Ms Kilian pointed out that the meeting on 4 May was not quorated, and thus could be regarded as not having taken place. She asked whether it therefore made sense to consider the minutes.

The Chairperson ruled that the meeting did proceed and the minutes would have to be adopted regardless of whether any decisions could be taken because of quorum issues.

The minutes were adopted

18 May 2016
The minutes were adopted.
Draft Committee Reports

Mr Cassim proposed that the adoption of the draft reports be pushed back to the next meeting.

Ms Kilian agreed with Mr Cassim, saying that there are language errors in the report and the Committee cannot adopt the reports if they do not make sense. She suggested that the Committee should ask the Committee Secretaries to edit those reports ready for adoption at the following meeting.

The Chairperson agreed, but urged Members then to send through their comments on the report to the Chairperson.

She noted that the Committee should be aware of Parliament's programme because Members will have to draft their programme around the activities of Parliament to make sure that there are no clashes.

The meeting was adjourned.