Higher education minister Blade Nzimande has defended his decision to hire private forensic investigators to get to the bottom of the rot at one of his department’s key entities, saying the move could not be viewed as disrespectful to parliament.
Parliament’s public finance watchdog, the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), had pushed for the probe into the financial irregularities at the National Skills Fund (NSF) to be led by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) — the state’s corruption-fighting investigating body.
“I want to say upfront, there is no undermining on my part or the department’s on the role of Scopa. Any suggestion to that effect has no factual basis,” Nzimande said on Tuesday during a Scopa meeting.
Nzimande was leading a delegation from his department to update Scopa on ongoing investigations at some of the department’s entities.
“I do respect Scopa and as a member of the executive I swore to account to parliament and all organs and institutions of the state. None of the things that I have done have violated that,” he said.
Nzimande said his decision to proceed with working with private investigators in August was based on legal advice which stated that “who I appoint as investigators is my sole responsibility”.
He said the intention was to move quickly to address the issues at the NSF and a final report by the private forensic investigators will be finalised by the end of March.
The NSF — an agency set up mainly to support and up skill youth who are not employed, and to develop much-needed artisans necessary for SA’s long-term development goals — has been in a mess for years with the auditor-general issuing it a disclaimer in 2021 after finding that the entity could not properly account for about R5bn over two financial years.
The NSF was set up in 2001 and is funded through an allocation of about 18% of the Skills Development Levy, which is paid by every employer depending on the size of their salary bill. Its annual revenue is about R4bn.
The recent audit outcome prompted Nzimande to push for a forensic investigation and to place the department's director-general at the time, Gwebinkundla Qonde, on precautionary suspension. Qonde has since left the department following the expiration of his contract late last year.
Before the forensic probe, Nzimande had already set up a separate ministerial task team, to look into the issues at the entity and to establish a much more efficient operating model.
“At the time when Scopa raised the issue [who to hire to investigate] we had already engaged a forensic investigation company,” Nzimande said.
“We were not certain at the time and we also sought legal opinion as to the circumstances under which investigators may be appointed and we were advised that who I appoint as investigators is my sole responsibility. Scopa cannot expect that I account for an investigation and at the same time they instruct me who to appoint ... But it is water under the bridge in any case,” the minister said.
He said he already had a contractual obligation in place with the private investigators when the matter was raised.
“To me that’s not even a big issue [who investigates]. The main thing as I understood the summary of the chair [of Scopa] is that this investigation must continue ... and we share it with the SIU. And as advocate Mothibi [SIU head] has said, the SIU can only get involved after it has been give a presidential proclamation.”
EFF MP Veronica Mente said: “I think there is a problem with these legal opinions and they seem to miss mandates of different arms of state ... As Scopa, we are policing the purse of the state and we are not going to be apologetic about that. Scopa can tell you exactly [what to do],” she said, adding that the SIU should be leading the probe as it was specifically set up to assist the state in ensuring that investigations into corruption allegations took place.
Scopa chair Mkhuleko Hlengwa said there should be closer co-operation between state entities to tackle corruption, suggesting that the SIU should have led the investigation.
“Generally we have a dim view of these private service providers for a host of reasons. But I think the fundamental reality is that the horses have bolted because there is already a process that is under way.”
SIU head Andy Mothibi said there was no need for the secondment of SIU members to the department due to the appointment of the private service provider, as it would result in duplication.
“At that stage when we see the outcome [of the investigation] we are enjoined by law to go through it. If we are satisfied that it has covered all those areas that we would have covered had we received the proclamation [to do the investigation], then there will be no need for further investigation,” Mothibi said.
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