‘Teta must talk on missing millions’

The government was last week
seeking the same answers
that FTW was looking for in
our May 24 issue: What is the
Transport Education Training
Authority (Teta) doing to
recover the more than R150m
still outstanding from the
Fidentia saga – widely regarded
as one of the biggest corporate
scandals in SA?
Former Teta CEO Piet
Bothma was implicated in that
scandal after he was said to
have received a bribe of about
R6m to facilitate the transfer
of investments worth over
R200m.
The Portfolio Committee on
Higher Education and Training
demanded that current Teta
CE, Maphefo Anno-Frempong,
appear before it last week (June
5) to present a report on Teta’s
plans to retrieve these public
funds. An amount gathered
from companies in the freight
industry – and based on a
proportion of their turnover.
This was a loss which had
nearly hamstrung Teta’s ability
to refund companies with their
outlays on officially approved
employee training courses. Also,
these missing funds could have
contributed immensely to skills
development in the country,
given the current shortage of
skills and training, according to
a senior member of the portfolio
committee.
The amount that was
invested in Fidentia was over
R200.3m, FTW was told.
Some time after the scandal
broke six years ago, R15m was
in fact repaid. So, in the claims
documents Teta submitted
to the curators, R185m was
approved as a claim. And
R33.3m was received by Teta
from the first distribution
account made by the curators
– leaving a balance of
R151.7m still outstanding.
Anno-Frempong
told parliament she
expected further
payments to
be made in
due course
from the second
distribution.
That was more or less
what Anno-Frempong
told parliament. However, she
also implied that some of the
concerned companies which
had lost out on
training
during
Teta’s tight
times had
threatened
reprisals
through
the press
to further
damage
the
reputation of the authority.
“We have received a lot of
negative publicity‚ with
some stakeholders
threatening to
take us to
the
media‚”
she
said – but
without identifying these
“stakeholders”.
But what she revealed to
parliament didn’t answer
that original question,
just as her information
released to FTW
did not fully
answer
our
own query.
And the MPs who listened
to this report were not pleased
with the presentation and sent
Anno-Frempong back to her
office with a flea in her ear
– and a parliamentary order
to prepare a “comprehensive”
report on the issue.
Committee chairman
Ishmael Malale said a
comprehensive report
explaining all the activities‚
decisions‚ people involved‚ as
well as the entity’s plans and
progress report in its quest to
recoup the funds‚ would help
the committee understand the
issue better.
“There are several issues that
need to be clarified by the entity
in order for us to be informed
on this matter because we have
only heard about it through the
media since the scandal broke‚”
he added.
“The comprehensive report
must encapsulate current
investments by Teta with any
investment institutions in order
to ensure non-recurrence of
unsecured endowments.”
Teta was also expected to
present its strategic and annual
performance plan for the
2013/14 financial year at this
presentation to the portfolio
committee, but this was not
forthcoming.
Alan Jeftha‚ the training
authority’s attorney, told
MPs that a comprehensive
report would be submitted
to parliament in due course.
The report would‚ among
other things‚ outline what
lessons‚ especially in terms of
investment‚ Teta had learned
from the Fidentia debacle.
Also, this week the
Financial Services Board
(FSB) is scheduled to appear
before Parliament’s standing
committee on finance to discuss
the recent court case of former
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown.
At issue is the fact that
Brown was effectively only
given a slap on the wrist for his
part in the Fidentia debacle.
This after the Western Cape
High Court fined him
R150 000 and gave him
suspended prison sentences
of 18 months each for the two
fraud convictions.