The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) has referred the forensic investigation report on the National Skills Fund (NSF) to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
This follows a briefing held on Thursday, where SCOPA received a briefing from the National Skills Fund on the independent forensic investigation on the NSF, which was commissioned at the request of SCOPA, following disclaimed audit outcomes of the NSF.
SCOPA did not accept the audit outcomes and ordered a forensic investigation, which was carried out by Nexus and released in March 2022.
Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, appointed a forensic investigation company to conduct a full-scale forensic investigation into the financial affairs of the NSF after amounts of just under R5 billion could not be properly accounted for over two financial years.
The Minister also appointed a Ministerial Task Team (MTT) to conduct a strategic review of the NSF, its general operations, and its efficiency and relevance concerning the national skills priorities of the country.
Both appointments were meant to ensure the NSF accounts for the resources allocated to it and deal with instances of maladministration and corruption at the NSF.
Committee chairperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said the committee has been trying unsuccessfully to access the report for a while.
He said the committee received a letter from Nzimande, asking the committee to invoke Rule 189 of the National Assembly (NA) Rules requesting the report to be treated as confidential.
“The initial reaction of the committee was to disagree with that request. Subsequently, however, the committee subjected its disagreement with that request to Parliament’s Legal Services with the intention to get a concrete interpretation and how to apply [the] rule…
“The legal opinion from Parliament’s Legal Services confirmed SCOPA’s position on the matter. Based on that confirmation, the chairperson of SCOPA informed the Minister of the Department of Higher Education and Training that SCOPA has not acceded to its request to treat the report as confidential,” Hlengwa said.
He said the committee has noted certain limitations experienced by Nexus when conducting the forensic investigation.
“This is why the committee welcomes the commitment from the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training on fostering a working relationship between the Department of Higher Education and Training and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on this matter.
“SCOPA wishes to ensure consequence management is meted out and also appeals for the recovery of funds. Furthermore, the committee calls on State institutions to work together to fight corruption and maladministration,” Hlengwa said.
The committee also welcomed the information that the NSF has been working with the Auditor-General to ensure that the fund meets audit requirements and that the results of this work will be available in the next audit report.
SCOPA has further noted three areas emanating from the NSF process, as it deals with the outcomes of the forensic report.
“The first area is the disciplinary hearings that are taking place within the NSF. The second area is the Hawks-led criminal investigations that are underway. The third aspect, which must now take place, is the SIU-led process on civil litigations.
“SCOPA also wishes to see a meeting between the department and the SIU taking place on this matter within the next 14 days to ensure that the third leg of this process unfolds. SCOPA will monitor the process by requesting quarterly reports from all the involved parties to ensure that work is being done,” Mhlengwa said.
He said the committee will only submit its report on this matter to the National Assembly once it has received feedback from the meeting between the department and the SIU, within the next 14 days.
