Teta Outlines Current Commitments - Nothing recovered as yet from Fidentia

ALAN PEAT
WITH A huge investment tied up in Fidentia – which is currently under investigation for misappropriation of funds – the big question in the freight industry is whether the Transport Education and Training Authority (Teta) has enough cash left to fund its training programme for this year. According to the authority, it disbursed R189-million last year – R91-m in the form of mandatory grants and R98-m in discretionary grants.
And, spokesperson Merle O’Brien told FTW, the authority has committed R306-m for Jan- Sept this year.
According to the figures she released, this comprises R123-m for mandatory grants, R108-m for discretionary grants, and R75-m for special projects. And the total amount, she added, is effectively “cash in the bank”.
The amount which is at stake in the Fidentia debacle was made up of three investments, O’Brien added.
The first was R92-m in 2002, followed by two further investments of R50-m each in 2004 and 2005, with an amount of R15-m withdrawn in 2004. That added up to R177-m, which – with interest of about R20-m a year accumulated, according to O’Brien – tots up to a total of R245-m owed to the training body.
The authority’s main task at the moment, she said, was “to try to recover as much as possible” – but added that “nothing has been recovered as yet”.