BANKSETA ANNUAL REPORT 2023

CHAIRPERSON’S FOREWORD Training (TVET) colleges to deliver Work Integrated Learning programmes that benefit learners to obtain qualifications offered by the TVET sector. Our efforts to partner and complement funding with state entities are beginning to bear fruit. Our partnership with SALGA continues to provide much needed training for rural communities. Equally partnerships with sister entities like TETA, NEMISA, CapeBPO and various local municipalities allow us to pilot and test mutually beneficial models of service delivery supporting Government plans such as the South African Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) and the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI). Challenges Faced by the Accounting Authority The BANKSETA Accounting Authority continued to fulfil its governance mandate of steering the entity in the right direction to ensure achievement of its strategic goals and objectives. The Board committees continued to fulfil the mandates set in their respective charters. To improve efficiencies and ensure effective decision-making, the AA delegated additional functions to the CEO while continuing with its oversight responsibilities. The functioning of certain committees continued to be hampered by the vacancies in the Employer constituency of the Board. The filling of the two vacancies in the AA could not be finalised owing to processes the DHET is completing. We look forward to a positive response in the 2023/24 year in which we look forward to an improved governance structure. During the period, the entity suffered a cyber security breach which affected a few of our onsite systems. While the threat of a major disruption to service delivery was averted, the Board was however concerned at the risk the incidence posed to some of our major stakeholders. A major remediation exercise was undertaken in consultation with the banking community, and I am happy to announce that we successfully restored and strengthened our ICT systems. The Board, through EXCO and the Audit and Risk Committee continues to monitor the ICT environment of the entity on a quarterly basis.

The Board remains continued to strengthen the internal control environment of the entity. To our great disappointment, the BANKSETA received a qualified audit for 2022/23. Nevertheless, we will continue to strive towards our long-term target of a fully unqualified audit in the years to come. The strategic focus over the medium- to long-term period BANKSETA’s long-term outlook remains focused on strengthening partnerships to achieve our strategic goals. In this respect, last year we engaged on extensive stakeholder engagement sessions, which were facilitated by both the CEO office and the marketing division. Our engagement with institutions of higher education were helpful in gaining an insight into how programmes can be improved to be more impactful. We were grateful for the participation of Board members in some of these engagements and the outcomes of these discussions have made their way into Board meetings. As mentioned earlier, our engagements with district municipalities have started to bear fruit in reaching communities outside metropolitan areas. We look forward to the implementation of the Organisational Design process to further extend our provincial reach and footprint. One of the most exciting aspects of this project will be the establishment of a new regional office in KwaZulu-Natal to better serve our rural constituency. Another will be the institutionalising of an organisation-wide Monitoring and Evaluation function to begin the important work of managing the tracking and tracing of beneficiaries of our programmes. This will allow the entity to have continuous knowledge of the destination of BANKSETA beneficiaries after they exit our training programmes in order to determine the efficacy of the funded programmes. Acknowledgements and Appreciation My thanks go to the Honorable Minister and his office for their support and guidance through the year. Officials in the Department of Higher Education and Training and the National Skills Authority continue to give us assistance, as do those in the National Treasury. We value the work of the Auditor-General

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