Auditor General’s final management report: Minister Blade Nzimande’s political directives resulted in massive irregular expenditure for the DHET and SETAs
20 January 2021
Dear Mr President
1. In the latter part of 2020, we wrote to you several times with various detailed allegations around the direct interference of the political head of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, in that department’s administration and some tertiary institutions, as well as the Service Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
2. The Auditor General’s final management report for the DHET of 31 March 2020, as released on 15 September 2020, (relevant extracts annexed as A) now gives credence to many of the warnings in our various correspondence to you, which you have, to date, chosen to ignore – aside from your Parliamentary Counsellor, Dr Gerhard Koornhof’s response on 3 November 2020.
3. In particular we wish to draw your attention to the Auditor General’s report, which states that: