Members of the national assembly’s portfolio committee on higher education, science and innovation saw red when the National Skills Fund (NSF) presented its annual report.
The institution – tasked with providing funding to post-school education and training institutions, especially in high demand occupations and with a budget of more than R17-billion – only achieved 11% of its targets for the 2022/2023 financial year.
That means out of the 38 planned targets for the 2022/23 financial year, the NSF only achieved four. To put it in perspective, only 58 808 youth instead of 218 290 were funded or took part in skills development training programmes last year. This in a country in which youth unemployment is at over 45%.
Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Buti Mamanela led the delegation that presented the annual report to the committee, which was chaired by the ANC’s Jane Mananiso in the absence of chairperson Nompendulo Mkhatshwa.
NSF’s acting chief executive David Mabusela told the committee that the organisation was “a work in progress”.
“Over the past four years, we have been moving from the deep end of things and we are putting in place systems of compliance and delivery,” said Mabusela during his presentation last month.
Not a single small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) or cooperative out of a target of 1 500 was funded for skills development in the year under review. This also means that none of the 5 250 youth who were supposed to benefit from education and training through the SMMEs and cooperative was offered training.
ANC MP Tebogo Letsie was one of the members of the committee who expressed anger over the dismal performance of the entity. This performance, he said, marked its worst year compared to the previous three financial years. He noted that NSF had consistently reported poor performance over the past four years, with two disclaimer audit opinions and two qualified audit opinions. The DA’s Chantel King said it was even more unsettling that the NSF was struggling to perform in the programme directly related to its core mandate of skills development training.
None of the targets that speak to the core mandate of the NSF was achieved, she said. One of the reasons offered in the annual report, for example, regarding why only 11 instead of 500 youth from rural areas were funded by the NSF for skills development in innovation and
digital technologies was that there were delays in the finalisation of proposals.
This was a recurring reason, along with issues of incapacity and certification backlogs, given the 13 or so targets which were not met in the skills development programme.
Enraged members of the committee questioned the “smart-ness” of the goals and lambasted the executive management and board for failing to even comply with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
So embarrassing were the proceedings in which an institution responsible for billions of rands in taxpayers’ money was advised to ensure that its goals are “specific, measurable, relevant and time-bound”.
King said the NSF had to deal with its ICT systems to prevent instances of double dipping, in which students were benefiting from multiple sources of funding, such as the state-funded Funza bursary and National Student Financial Aid Scheme, and sector education and training authority bursaries.
“It was also mentioned there was an anomaly of students receiving funding despite having incorrect or non-existent ID numbers. These discrepancies and inefficiencies in the ICT systems need attention and resolution,” said King.
Mananiso underscored the critical role of the NSF in dealing with skills development and unemployment challenges. She emphasised the need for consequence management, adding that based on the performance, it demonstrated a lack of commitment by those in authority.
