An internal email at the centre of the growing battle between the InSeta board, suspended chief executive officer Gugu Mkhize and higher education minister Buti Manamela shows that the board’s first response to student funding complaints was not to halt support but to bypass the programme’s service provider and pay universities directly.
The communication, sent by board chairperson Refilwe Matenche to Mkhize shortly after board members returned from a stakeholder engagement at the University of Cape Town in mid-January (UCT), captures the moment the board says it first became aware of serious concerns affecting beneficiaries of the Insurance Sector Student Fund (ISSF).
Far from instructing that student funding be stopped, Matenche ordered management to suspend further payments to the service provider while ensuring that universities and students received support through alternative channels.
But in the same communication she directed management to continue funding students directly. “Management is accordingly requested to urgently facilitate payment of all outstanding university-related obligations directly to the respective institutions and to expedite the sourcing and distribution of outstanding laptops and tools of trade to affected students.”
The correspondence now sits at the centre of competing narratives about who bears responsibility for a crisis that eventually affected 263 beneficiaries across multiple institutions.
The board argues that the email demonstrates an attempt to protect students, and after management allegedly failed to provide clear information about the scale of the problem.
Manamela has subsequently pointed to the intervention as part of the sequence of events surrounding the student fund breakdown, placing the board’s actions under scrutiny and deepening an already bitter dispute over accountability.
The email reveals a board chairperson increasingly frustrated by what she viewed as inadequate explanations from management. She warned that urgent intervention was required to prevent further harm to students.
The communication is significant because it predates the later board decision to suspend Mkhize and appears to show the board attempting to intervene after discovering what it believed was a growing crisis.
Students allegedly went months without receiving textbook allowances, data allowances, laptops and other benefits promised under their bursary awards.
“Different explanations were provided regarding the scale of the problem, the causes of the delays and the status of remedial action,” the accounting authority later told the minister.
Matenche’s email also shows that the board wanted the matter escalated beyond management level.
What began as an attempt to redirect payments around a troubled service provider has since evolved into a full-scale governance battle.
The board ultimately suspended Mkhize, describing the ISSF matter as the “immediate catalyst” for the decision.
Manamela has ordered her reinstatement.
The board has refused.
InSeta acting CEO Zanele Malaza requested for more time to provide comprehensive responses on the running of the student fund.
- An internal email from InSeta board chair Refilwe Matenche shows the board's initial response to student funding issues was to bypass the service provider and pay universities directly, not to halt support.
- The email reveals the board’s awareness of a crisis affecting 263 students who missed out on allowances, laptops, and other benefits under the Insurance Sector Student Fund (ISSF).
- Matenche’s communication criticizes management for inadequate explanations and directs urgent intervention to protect students, predating the suspension of CEO Gugu Mkhize.
- The unfolding controversy highlights competing narratives, with the board blaming management failures and Minister Buti Manamela scrutinizing the board's role and ordering Mkhize's reinstatement, which the board refuses.
- What started as a payment redirection amid funding delays escalated into a governance battle, with InSeta acting CEO requesting more time to respond comprehensively to the ISSF issues.
