Teta in funds for this year...but next year could be crunch time

ALAN PEAT
IN A personal interview with FTW, Dr Piet Bothma, CE of the Transport Education and Training Authority (Teta), confirmed that the authority had “cash in the bank” to cover this year’s training obligations. This after the body found it had a R245-million investment locked into the troubled Fidentia group. “At a special board meeting last week, it was revealed that we have enough money for the whole of this year,” he said. That, he confirmed, is a total of R306-million – R123-m for mandatory grants, R108-m for discretionary grants, and R75-m for special projects. “It’s business as usual for now,” Bothma added. “After the curators’ report (due for March 27) we will review our strategy to see how much of the investment money we can recover.” However, Teta’s fate next year hangs in the balance. Although Bothma agreed that the authority would gain revenue from this year’s payroll levies imposed on businesses in the transport sector, he also pointed out that recovery of monies from Fidentia was rather crucial. “We will start moving into shortfalls next year unless we get that money back,” he told FTW.