SETA Intervention Not Enough

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) says the Minister of Higher Education and Training’s decision to place three of the sector education and training authorities (SETAs) under administration is a sign of how deep the rot runs – but this is not a solution on its own. Unless credible boards and ethical CEOs are appointed within two months, the move will fail like so many before it.

On 19 August, the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA), the Services SETA (SSETA) and the Local Government SETA (LGSETA) were placed under administration. The administrators for each SETA were announced in notices gazetted on Tuesday 19 August (see here, here and here). OUTA has investigated these entities for years and exposed inflated contracts, irregular spending and leadership failures. Whistleblowers and forensic reports have backed up what we uncovered, making this drastic step unavoidable.

“Putting a SETA under administration does not magically clean it up,” says Wayne Duvenage, OUTA CEO. “We’ve seen this movie before, SETAs placed under administration only to slide back into chaos once the dust settles. This time must be different.”

Despite the seriousness of this intervention, the Minister’s decision falls short because the Insurance SETA (INSETA), which has its own serious governance failures, was left untouched. OUTA’s investigations have already highlighted governance and financial failures at INSETA, and leaving it off the list raises serious questions about selective action by the Minister.

Concerns also extend to the administrators themselves. At least two of the administrators have been fingered in allegations of maladministration and corruption. “You don’t fix a leaking roof by handing the job to the contractor who botched it last time. This looks like cadre deployment, not a clean-up,” says Duvenage.

For years, OUTA has investigated and exposing maladministration, inflated contracts, irregular expenditure and leadership failures at a number of SETAs. Whistleblower accounts and forensic findings have consistently reinforced OUTA’s evidence of widespread abuse. In July 2025, OUTA staged a lawful protest at CETA’s offices to highlight the governance collapse. Although CETA tried to discredit the protest as “unlawful,” it was both legal and necessary to shine a light on the abuse of public funds. Continuous media pressure and civil society interventions have since made it impossible for these issues to be ignored.

The administrators now assume full control of the management and oversight of those SETAs. Their mandate, in terms of the Skills Development Act and gazetted instructions, includes executing directives from the Department of Higher Education and Training, stabilising financial and governance systems, recruiting and appointing new CEOs, and implementing the findings of investigation reports. OUTA believes this should specifically include the Duja report on CETA and the Werksmans report on the SSETA. The status of the current CEOs remains unclear, but the instruction to appoint new leadership suggests a change is imminent.

Administration, however, should never be an open-ended holding pattern. OUTA urges the administration period be limited and not be extended beyond 2025, during which credible boards are appointed. These boards must then recruit ethical, professional CEOs to steer the SETAs back to their core mandate: funding skills development. To achieve this, OUTA calls for a two-month deadline for administrators to hand over to credible boards, transparent and ethical recruitment of new CEOs, protection for whistleblowers who exposed the corruption and consequence management for those implicated in maladministration.

“The billions that flow into the SETAs belong to taxpayers and employers. That money is meant to build the skills our young people need, not bankroll corruption networks,” says Duvenage. “Whistleblowers risked everything to bring this rot into the open – their sacrifices must lead to real change.”

OUTA has written to the Minister to request a formal engagement with him. We will propose limiting the administration period, and request urgent meetings with the CETA and SSETA administrators. We will continue monitoring the process and keep the public informed. South Africa cannot afford another cycle of failed interventions. If this administration ends with more cadre deployment and no accountability, billions in training levies will once again be wasted. What the country needs is decisive leadership, credible boards, and ethical CEOs who put young people’s futures first. OUTA will not step back until the SETAs are serving their purpose – developing the skills that South Africa desperately needs.