OUTA has made a formal complaint to the Information Regulator against the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Services SETA) over its refusal to grant OUTA access to records it requested.

The complaint was made in terms of section 77A of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

OUTA submitted a PAIA request to Services SETA on 27 November 2023, in terms of PAIA, requesting access to an investigation report compiled by Werksmans Attorneys following the Werksmans’ investigation into tenders that the Services SETA had awarded to different services providers including Grayson Reed, Star Sign and Print, and Five Stars Communications and Projects.

The Werksmans’ investigation was a result of an investigation by OUTA into allegations of procurement irregularities at the Services SETA. In 2018 OUTA was approached by whistleblowers with information that the SETA had awarded a tender to a consortium of companies led by Grayson Reed Consulting to procure and manage a biometric learner attendance monitoring system and to make direct payments of stipends to learners. The tender was worth R162.669 million.

In 2019, OUTA submitted a request for information to the SETA in terms of PAIA, requesting information on the tender that was awarded to Grayson Reed. The SETA provided OUTA with a few documents but refused the rest.

OUTA challenged this refusal in court and, in November 2021, following lengthy legal proceedings, the Johannesburg High Court ordered the Services SETA to provide OUTA with the requested documents.

Not only did it take the Services SETA almost three years to provide OUTA with the requested documents, but it also cost the SETA R97 494 as it opposed OUTA’s application and a cost order was made against it.

OUTA’s investigations found a series of irregularities pertaining to procurement processes at the SETA. OUTA compiled a report detailing its findings and handed this over to law enforcement agencies and the Services SETA.

On 5 October 2022, a meeting was held between the Services SETA and OUTA at OUTA’s offices, where OUTA presented its report to the SETA. During the meeting, the Services SETA committed to tabling OUTA’s report at its next executive meeting, due in late October 2022. The SETA also committed to using OUTA’s report as a basis for a further investigation. The Services SETA also said it would appoint a firm of attorneys to investigate.

Werksmans Attorneys was subsequently appointed, carried out an investigation and compiled a report.

The Services SETA denied OUTA access to this report, on the basis that the Werksmans report was obtained for the purpose of assisting the SETA to formulate policies to curb any possible corruption in its procurement processes and possibly take action against implicated individuals.

The SETA also said that the Werksmans’ report made adverse findings and conclusions against individuals who had not been afforded a right to be heard, and that it would not be in the public interest to disclose the report and would be unfair to those implicated in it.

OUTA considers Services SETA’s dismissal of its request for the report as arbitrary and unsubstantiated.  OUTA is of the view that the SETA has an obligation to foster transparency and accountability, hence it filed the complaint with the Information Regulator.

The conduct of the Services SETA is also mirrored by other institutions in the Department of Higher Education where OUTA has had difficulty in obtaining information requested through PAIA applications.

More information

A soundclip with comment by Asavela Kakaza, OUTA Legal Project Manager, is here.

More on OUTA's investigation into the Services SETA is here, here and here.