The Services Seta, the biggest of South Africa’s 21 Setas, is gearing up to spend in the region of R3bn in the next financial year, with a target of roping in about 20,000 interns. This is as the administrator appointed to “clean house”, Lehlogonolo Masoga, moves to get the key entity back on track.
Masoga was appointed to the role in August as the effectiveness of several Setas came under scrutiny.
To this end, the department of higher education and training in August put the Services Seta, Local Government Seta and the Construction Seta under administration in response to governance failures and lapses in oversight, which undermined the Setas’ capacity.
Masoga used the Services Seta AGM held in Johannesburg on Thursday to shore up confidence in the work being done to rid the organisation of bad tendencies.
He said he was determined to see the Seta deliver on its promise to help efforts to create employment in a country ravaged by youth unemployment.
“During the next financial year we will embark on an ambitious plan to enrol 20,000 interns from universities and TVET colleges working side by side with the industry,” he said.
“As we turn the tide against the legacy commitments and claw back the funds in the reserves pool, this will give us an opportunity to invest in excess of R3bn in the next financial year to ramp up work-based education and training to change the lives of many unemployed youth.”
One of the challenges that had afflicted the Seta was allegations of malfeasance and gross misconduct, which triggered internal investigations and involvement of law enforcement agencies, according to Masoga, who said there would be no holy cows as he moved to hold people accountable.
Work is currently under way to enforce consequence management and accountability.
— Lehlogonolo Masoga
“Work is currently under way to enforce consequence management and accountability,” he said.
“These myriad challenges constituted the hotbed that supposedly contributed to the entity being placed under administration in August 2025,” Masoga said.
“The Services Seta is duty-bound to provide hope to many disadvantaged unemployed youth and workers yearning for access to quality education and training, and no unwarranted, man-made blockages can be tolerated.”
One of the concerns Masoga raised was the sectoral funding, which is not aligned to the levels of levy contribution by the sector and sub-sector employers.
“We have observed with concern that discretionary grants projects were historically awarded in higher numbers to skills development providers than to levy-contributing employers,” Masoga said.
“I wish to reassure our stakeholders that despite the governance challenges experienced by the entity over the last seven years, the Services Seta is not a paralysed institution unable to fulfil its mandate.”
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