Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela has called for a fundamental shift in how government measures the success of skills development programmes.
Manamela made the remarks during his recent appearance before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training.
The Minister stressed the need for government to track learners beyond enrolment and completion to establish whether they entered employment, continued studying, established enterprises, or acquired skills that improved their livelihoods.
“A learner who enrolled must be counted as enrolled. That does not mean that the learner completed, qualified or entered employment,” Manamela said.
He said this approach should inform the implementation of the Skills Revolution, including reforms to Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), the National Skills Fund (NSF) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges.
“Public investment must be judged by the opportunities it creates for people, not only by participation recorded in a report,” the Minister said.
Manamela said Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) reform must improve employer participation, grant management and learner progression, while the National Skills Fund must combine its developmental role with reliable project oversight and verified delivery.
For TVET colleges, he said reforms must link relevant programmes with capable lecturers, modern facilities and workplace opportunities, while community education remains part of that programme, and “not an afterthought.”
“For universities, we must safeguard access and quality while confronting financial sustainability and governance pressures.”
On the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), Manamela said sustainable financing and reliable administration must advance together, with funding policy supported by functioning decisions, appeals, accommodation, and allowance payment systems.
“As we prepare for the next academic year, this work must produce practical assurance: correct funding decisions, functioning registration systems, safe accommodation, and timely allowance payments.
“We must identify risks early and resolve them before students carry the cost. Readiness must be demonstrated through tested arrangements, not declared through general assurances that everything will be in place,” Manamela said.
The Minister also called for greater clarity in reporting on irregular expenditure, saying a “declining register does not, by itself, prove that money was recovered or that non-compliance was prevented”.
He said reporting should distinguish between actual recoveries, investigations, referrals, authorised write-offs and other adjustments, with appropriate consequences where wrongdoing was established.
To strengthen implementation across the portfolio, Manamela said he will require a consolidated response linking Auditor-General recommendations, current findings and outstanding commitments from Parliament’s previous Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report.
“Each significant matter must have an accountable official, a deadline, an interim safeguard where needed and evidence of completion,” he said.
He said the Ministry will regularly review progress, while internal audit and audit committees test implementation rather than merely record assurances.
“Parliament must receive complete, timely information on what has changed and what remains outstanding. Our responsibility is to make these arrangements work between parliamentary appearances, not only when we prepare to attend them,” Manamela said. – SAnews.gov.za
