NZIMANDE DENIES HIDING REPORT ON CORRUPTION AT NATIONAL SKILLS FUND

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts has recently taken issue with Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s handling of the report, citing slow progress on consequence management.

FILE: Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande. Picture: GCIS

Nkosikhona Duma | 12 October 2022 09:38

JOHANNESBURG - Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has denied hiding a forensic report on multi-billion rand corruption at the National Skills Fund.

A graft report, which was handed to Nzimande in March and presented to Parliament in September, shows gross misconduct and mismanagement of funds with almost R5 billion not accounted for in the past two financial years.

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has recently taken issue with Nzimande’s handling of the report, citing slow progress on consequence management.

Minister Nzimande wrote to Scopa asking it to seal a graft report on multi-billion rand corruption at the National Skills Fund.

He said that the department was still communicating the findings of the report to those implicated.

However, Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa denied the request.

Hlengwa then chastised the minister, saying it was disappointing that those implicated in the corruption have not been held accountable despite Nzimande being in possession of the report for more than six months already.

In a statement, Nzimande said his department finally opened a criminal case with the police this month.

The minister has added that a task team has been appointed to look into the operations of the skills fund and its relevance.