{"id":99300,"date":"2025-07-23T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=99300"},"modified":"2025-07-23T15:55:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T13:55:28","slug":"crisis-at-seta-billions-looted-workers-betrayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/crisis-at-seta-billions-looted-workers-betrayed\/","title":{"rendered":"Crisis at SETA: Billions Looted, Workers Betrayed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a> <\/em>
\n3-minute read
\n23 July 2025 | 14:37 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

\ud83d\udcf8 SETA under fire as billions in workers’ skills funds vanish while the country\u2019s unemployed youth are left behind. Image credit: Facebook<\/p><\/div>\n

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).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis minister clearly attempted, in a most brazen way, to hijack SETA\u2019s skills fund for looting by cronies connected to the ANC elite,\u201d Sebei asserted. He claims the scandal goes far beyond one individual, pointing to widespread ANC complicity: \u201cThe son of the ANC\u2019s national chairperson and several well-connected individuals were appointed to the board without relevant expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crisis, Sebei argues, reveals systemic corruption within the ANC’s approach to skills development. \u201cThe ANC as a party is committed to advancing an aspirant black capitalist class through looting and plunder,\u201d he said. He described SETA as a \u201ccriminal enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cmany adult workers can barely write.\u201d Sebei called this a failure in the face of rapid industrial change and growing digital demands: \u201cWorkers lack even basic computer skills, yet billions go unspent or are looted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sebei calls for a complete overhaul of the skills funding model, led by workers themselves. \u201cThese are workers\u2019 wages, their money. They should manage them.\u201d He proposes democratic elections in workplaces, creation of Workplace Skills Committees, and community oversight to ensure unemployed youth benefit meaningfully.<\/p>\n

Incoming Minister Buti Manamela does not inspire confidence either. \u201cHe was deputy minister during these scandals and maintained silence. In this situation, silence is complicity,\u201d Sebei said, adding that unless deep reform happens, \u201cwe\u2019ll continue seeing funds misused while workers remain untrained.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up<\/em> <\/a>with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Giwusa President Mametlwe Sebei.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 23 July 2025 | 14:37 CAT 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":99301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/images.jpg?fit=225%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pPC","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 15:35:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}