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By Johnathan Paoli
Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Pamela Nkabane has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proclamation authorising a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into the long-troubled National Skills Fund (NSF).
This follows years of allegations of corruption, mismanagement and financial irregularities.
The SIU will investigate serious maladministration, improper conduct by NSF officials and potential mismanagement of billions of rands earmarked for youth and skills development programmes between January 2013 and March 2025.
The focus will include questionable procurement processes, irregular appointments of service providers and training projects linked to Parliament and recent media exposés.
“The NSF is a law-abiding entity under my department. It has a duty to comply with the laws of our country and thus will fully participate and make available all necessary information to the SIU, including information on internal investigations initiated by the fund and previous investigative reports,” Nkabane said in statement.
The move follows sustained criticism from Parliament, forensic audits and mounting public outrage over alleged misuse of public funds that were meant to combat South Africa’s deepening youth unemployment crisis.
The NSF has been at the centre of several corruption allegations in recent years.
A 2024 audit by Nexus Forensic Services revealed that R286 million in project funds remains unaccounted for, with funds often channeled to companies or cooperatives that failed to deliver promised training or services.
One notorious case involved a KwaZulu-Natal-based cooperative, Yikhonolakho Women and Youth Primary Cooperative, which received R123 million to run a rabbit farming project.
Only R1.6 million was spent on the intended purpose; the rest allegedly went toward purchasing a farm and a luxury Nissan Navara, with no visible evidence of a functioning rabbit farm when investigators visited the site.
In another scandal, R131 million meant for artisan training in the Eastern Cape disappeared without trace.
Despite an original project budget of R187 million, beneficiaries in areas like Bizana and Lusikisiki were left untrained, with no explanation for the vast shortfall.
A further R130 million designated for youth-owned SMME training through the Small Enterprise Development Agency reportedly failed to reach intended recipients.
Facilitators and trainees in the New Venture Creation Programme went unpaid, despite government contracts having already disbursed the funds.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education has repeatedly condemned the NSF’s dysfunction, especially its underspending of R3.7 billion in the previous financial year.
Committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie described the misappropriation of funds as “deeply troubling,” and questioned the lack of consequence management for officials implicated in wrongdoing.
In a briefing in February this year, Parliament criticised the absence of key NSF and department executives from oversight meetings and slammed the redeployment of implicated NSF staff to other directorates as a practice that undermines accountability.
The committee called on Ramaphosa to extend the SIU’s mandate and vowed to ensure transparency and accountability within the NSF.
Nkabane expressed hope that the SIU probe would lay the groundwork for a “new trajectory” at the NSF, which she emphasised played a vital role in addressing skills shortages and empowering the youth.
Despite its challenges, higher education maintained that the NSF remained a key national vehicle for funding training and development programmes, and that the SIU investigation could be a turning point in a saga marked by scandal, squandered opportunity and public betrayal.
HIGHER EDUCATION