The ETDP SETA has no CEO. It has no COO. Yet its board continues to sit, spend and approve millions while the entity slides into a full-blown governance crisis flagged by the Auditor-General.
The Education, Training and Development Practices SETA — the skills authority that funds and oversees training for teachers, ECD practitioners and education support personnel — has been without permanent executive leadership for months.
The latest Auditor-General audit has placed the SETA under the spotlight for governance failures, irregularities linked to the accounting authority, and weak internal controls. The AGSA says its wider audit process on accounting authority appointments across SETAs is still unfolding, but at the ETDP SETA, officials say the fallout is already visible on the ground.
At the heart of the paralysis is a board that will not appoint.
Despite the vacuum at the top, board members have not filled the posts even in an acting capacity, leaving critical decisions on teacher development programmes, provider accreditation and grant disbursements stalled. Morale, insiders say, has hit rock bottom.
The reluctance to appoint has not stopped expenditure. Sources allege board members are double-dipping — drawing board sitting fees and allowances while also earning from other SETA committees and related structures — a practice that is quietly costing taxpayers millions while the SETA has no one to steer it.
Questions are now being asked about whether the board can legally appoint anyone at all. DHET rules set a cap on the number of returning members to ensure independence and renewal. At ETDP SETA, that threshold has allegedly been exhausted, which would mean the board is not properly constituted to take executive decisions. It continues to do so anyway.
The standoff has also turned inward. The HR manager who put forward a name for the vacant COO post in a bid to stabilise operations is said to be facing pushback internally, with sources saying she has been placed “in hot water” for attempting to resolve the crisis. It remains unclear whether she is still at the organisation.
The Department of Higher Education and Training, which oversees all 21 SETAs, has acknowledged problems with accounting authority appointments. Last month it said it was still engaging the Auditor-General on the matter and was providing “detailed explanations and clarifications” while the audit process continued.
Africa Daily sent questions to the Department, which resulted to nil