FASSET ANNUAL REPORT

FASSET welcomed its new board, chaired by Ms Lynette Ntuli, who started their five-year term on 1 April 2020 under hard lockdown in which the sector was initially closed for business as it does not fall within the ambit of essential services. Despite this, we adapted quickly to have full operational and governance structures working through online platforms throughout the year. Aligned with the board’s term, I was reappointed as the FASSET CEO for the next five years with the term ending in 31 March 2025. The pandemic, coupled with the restrictions on operations affected the roll-out of FASSET’s planned programmes for training interventions. We found ourselves having to urgently review our processes (most of which were manual) and swiftly migrate to digital, remote, and automated systems. As an organisation we did not meet a number of strategic indicators as reflected in our Performance Report (Part B of this report). Our overall annual performance for the year 2020/21 was 43% down from the annual performance for the year 2019/20 of 70%. FASSET’s Corporate Services unit seized the opportunity presented by the lockdown to focus internally on the workforce, achieving 83% of its targets in the area of employee training and development. The SETA soon adapted to the ‘new normal’ with a Covid-19 task team established to implement and respond to the risks, ensuring compliance with the Covid-19 regulations and protocols. In addition, nine key positions were recruited and filled as detailed in the Part D Human Resources of this report. An intensive wellness programme provided staff and their dependants with support and counselling in the face of the far-reaching personal impacts of the pandemic. In this, we saw the power and the resilience of the human spirit. Early in the financial year, the President, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa declared a four-month ‘payment holiday’ on the Skills Development Levy (SDL) for employers across all 21 SETAs. This caused a 27% reduction in revenue; FASSET had estimated receiving R550 million from SDL

revenue, but received only R400 million (less by R150 million). FASSET drew on its reserves to cover the shortfall.

FASSET’s grant expenditure of R408 million was R114 million less than anticipated, having expected to pay out R522 million in grants. The lower spending on discretionary grants is linked to unmet performance targets due to the delays in the awarding of the discretionary grants. FASSET approved to fund the following special projects in response to the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), in the upcoming financial year: i. R45 million was made available through the Universities of South Africa Forum (USAF), the body made up of the vice chancellors of all 26 public universities, to students needing to settle their historic debts for qualification completion so that students are able to graduate. ii. R25 million towards training interventions for employed and unemployed learners and Small and Medium businesses. iii. R5 million towards a collaboration between the Education, Training and Development Practices (ETDP) SETA and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in a capacity building intervention for finance and supply chain management (SCM) practitioners at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. At the close of the financial year, FASSET remains financially viable and resilient with the 2020/21 Annual Financial Statements (AFS) in Part E of this report, reflecting a going concern. Sound governance remains the cornerstone of Fasset’s operations. We have, and still continue to improve governance practices thought the organisation. FASSET has eradicated all fruitless and wasteful expenditure matters raised in the 2017/18 financial year audit. In the period under review, FASSET identified irregular expenditure of about R8 million that occurred during 2018/19 and identified through an SCM investigation.

FASSET Annual Integrated Report 2020/21

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