Parliament, Thursday, 20 October 2022– The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) today received a briefing from the National Skills Fund (NSF) on the independent forensic investigation on the NSF that was commissioned at the behest of SCOPA following disclaimed audit outcomes of the NSF.
The audit outcomes were unacceptable to SCOPA and a forensic investigation which came out in March 2022 was carried out by Nexus. The committee has been trying unsuccessfully to access the report for a while. It received a letter from the Minister of Higher Education and Training asking the committee to invoke Rule 189 of the National Assembly 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 Rule 189 of the NA Rules.
The legal opinion from the Parliament’s Legal Services confirmed SCOPA’s position on the matter. Based on that conformation by Parliament’s Legal Services, 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.
The committee has noted certain limitations experienced by Nexus when it was 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.
The committee also welcomes the information that the NSF has been working with the Auditor-General to ensure that the fund meets the audit requirements and the committee hopes that the results of this work will be available in the next audit report.
SCOPA has also noted three areas that are 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 invesigations which are underway. The third aspect which must now take place is the SIU led process on the 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.
The committee will only submit its report on this matter to the National Assembly once it has received feedback from the meeting that must take place between the department and the SIU within the next 14 days.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS, MR MKHULEKO HLENGWA.
For media enquiries, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Ms Faith Ndenze
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8062
Cell: 081 377 0686
Email: fndenze@parliament.gov.za
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