Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za
3-minute read
23 July 2025 | 14:37 CAT

📸 SETA under fire as billions in workers’ skills funds vanish while the country’s unemployed youth are left behind. Image credit: Facebook

The recent dismissal of Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane has sparked widespread reaction, with Giwusa President Mametlwe Sebei calling it “long overdue” but merely the first step in confronting what he describes as a deeply entrenched crisis at the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).

“This minister clearly attempted, in a most brazen way, to hijack SETA’s skills fund for looting by cronies connected to the ANC elite,” Sebei asserted. He claims the scandal goes far beyond one individual, pointing to widespread ANC complicity: “The son of the ANC’s national chairperson and several well-connected individuals were appointed to the board without relevant expertise.”

The crisis, Sebei argues, reveals systemic corruption within the ANC’s approach to skills development. “The ANC as a party is committed to advancing an aspirant black capitalist class through looting and plunder,” he said. He described SETA as a “criminal enterprise.”

Figures from the 2023 budget back his claims: over R5 billion was allocated, yet only R1.25 billion was spent a 63% underspending in a country where “many adult workers can barely write.” Sebei called this a failure in the face of rapid industrial change and growing digital demands: “Workers lack even basic computer skills, yet billions go unspent or are looted.”

Sebei calls for a complete overhaul of the skills funding model, led by workers themselves. “These are workers’ wages, their money. They should manage them.” He proposes democratic elections in workplaces, creation of Workplace Skills Committees, and community oversight to ensure unemployed youth benefit meaningfully.

Incoming Minister Buti Manamela does not inspire confidence either. “He was deputy minister during these scandals and maintained silence. In this situation, silence is complicity,” Sebei said, adding that unless deep reform happens, “we’ll continue seeing funds misused while workers remain untrained.”

As South Africa battles unemployment and skills shortages, the SETA crisis stands as a stark reminder of the cost of corruption and poor governance, not just in monetary terms, but in lost futures.

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Giwusa President Mametlwe Sebei.