ActionSA calls on the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Nobuhle Nkabane, to streamline and reform the country’s 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to curb excessive wasteful expenditure and ensure they deliver meaningful skills training for South Africa’s youth.
Mandated to equip young people with relevant vocational skills, SETAs have instead become plagued by corruption, financial mismanagement, and inefficiency. In the last financial year, over R60 million was paid to directors across the 21 SETAs, while only 53,518 students enrolled in skills training programmes—just a third of the 149,000 targeted. This excludes millions wasted on travel, perks, and an excessively bloated bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, youth unemployment continues to spiral out of control. StatsSA’s The Social Profile of the Youth, 2014-2024 report, published this week, reveals that youth unemployment, measuring the percentage of young people (15-34) actively seeking but unable to find work, has risen from 36.8% in 2014 to 45.5% in 2024. Additionally, the number of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEET) has climbed to 43.2%, up from 38.2% a decade ago.
Despite various policy interventions under the National Development Plan, South African youth remain locked out of economic opportunities due to a critical lack of skills. Instead of fulfilling their mandate, SETAs have become a revolving door of job creation for ANC-connected cadres, many of whom are repeatedly recycled across various boards and executive positions. Shockingly, seven SETAs received qualified audit reports from the Auditor-General, while others were flagged for serious financial irregularities.
There is no justification for maintaining 21 separate SETAs, each with a 15-member board—resulting in an excessive 315 board positions draining public funds. ActionSA demands urgent intervention to overhaul the SETA system. Instead of burdening South Africans with a VAT hike that will hit the poor the hardest, government should start by trimming the FAT—because taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay more when there’s still so much waste to cut
SETAs Hollowed Out as Youth Unemployment Soars
ActionSA calls on the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Nobuhle Nkabane, to streamline and reform the country’s 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to curb excessive wasteful expenditure and ensure they deliver meaningful skills training for South Africa’s youth.
Mandated to equip young people with relevant vocational skills, SETAs have instead become plagued by corruption, financial mismanagement, and inefficiency. In the last financial year, over R60 million was paid to directors across the 21 SETAs, while only 53,518 students enrolled in skills training programmes—just a third of the 149,000 targeted. This excludes millions wasted on travel, perks, and an excessively bloated bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, youth unemployment continues to spiral out of control. StatsSA’s The Social Profile of the Youth, 2014-2024 report, published this week, reveals that youth unemployment, measuring the percentage of young people (15-34) actively seeking but unable to find work, has risen from 36.8% in 2014 to 45.5% in 2024. Additionally, the number of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEET) has climbed to 43.2%, up from 38.2% a decade ago.
Despite various policy interventions under the National Development Plan, South African youth remain locked out of economic opportunities due to a critical lack of skills. Instead of fulfilling their mandate, SETAs have become a revolving door of job creation for ANC-connected cadres, many of whom are repeatedly recycled across various boards and executive positions. Shockingly, seven SETAs received qualified audit reports from the Auditor-General, while others were flagged for serious financial irregularities.
There is no justification for maintaining 21 separate SETAs, each with a 15-member board—resulting in an excessive 315 board positions draining public funds. ActionSA demands urgent intervention to overhaul the SETA system. Instead of burdening South Africans with a VAT hike that will hit the poor the hardest, government should start by trimming the FAT—because taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay more when there’s still so much waste to cut