BANKSETA AR 31 AUGUST

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S REPORT

owing to human resource capacity. While other compensating measures for monitoring projects were in place, BANKSETA has received approval from the Accounting Authority to undertake a detailed organisational design study to address the identified capacity constraints. New or Proposed Key Activities During the current year the Department of Higher Education engaged SETAs on the need to support government efforts at reviving the economy post the Covid-19 pandemic. Key activities piloted in the current year include projects to support the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) as well as the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI). BANKSETA piloted a project to assist graduates to obtain workplace experience through a new National Graduate Internship programme that will assist over 4 500 graduates in the next year. Based on the response from stakeholders, BANKSETA will include this programme in its Annual Performance Plan (APP) as part of supporting the ERRP and the objectives of the PYEI. We are also modifying our current programmes to respond appropriately to the goals of the ERRP. We have thus increased the scope of our funded programmes to include addressing skills requirements of the ERRP as espoused in the Skills Strategy to Support the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. The lessons from the Covid pandemic have indicated a need for improved and more responsive ICT systems. To this end BANKSETA will be initiating a number of ERP projects to automate processes as well as ensure added security through hosting these in a cloud based environment . Request for Roll Over of Funds Having ended 2020/21 with an operating surplus, BANKSETA management successfully approached the National Treasury for permission to utilise excess funds to support the Presidential Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP). One such project under this umbrella is to place 775 learners in a 12-month internship programme, using the TVET and CET colleges as placement vehicles.

BANKSETA also partnered with Universities South Africa (USAF) to fund a project that seeks to settle the historical debt of missing middle-year students so that they can graduate. Supply Chain Management Under the guidance of the Accounting Authority BANKSETA maintained appropriate and adequate internal controls which ensured compliance with all applicable SCM legislation. This ensured that instances of irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure were avoided. Like all other SETAs, BANKSETA however incurred irregular expenditure arising from non-compliant processes of appointing some AA members in the Department of Higher Education and Training during the 2020/21 financial year. The amount involved is R1.3 million (R1.4 million in 2020/21). The irregular expenditure has been investigated and guidance provided through National Treasury of how to condone this irregular expenditure. BANKSETA did not approve any unsolicited bid proposals and all single or sole source procurement was approved by the National Treasury, in line with regulations. In response to the Auditor-General of South Africa’s (AGSA) report for 2020/21, the internal control environment was further strengthened to avoid any repetition of the AGSA’s findings in the previous year. The BANKSETA did not suffer any losses arising from instances of fruitless and wasteful expenditure during the current year. Audit Report Matters in the Previous Years and Action Plans Issues identified by the AGSA in the previous year’s audit (2020/21) have been addressed through the application of more stringent internal controls and this was shown in the reduced number of repeat findings. BANKSETA received an unqualified audit report in the current year. While our financial statements were free from any material misstatements, the AGSA noted two matters in our Annual Performance Report.

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PART A: GENERAL INFORMATION | BANKSETA ANNUAL REPORT 2021/22