Less than seven weeks before the end of its financial year, the Transport Education Training Authority (Teta) is mired in a grant funding and procurement scandal — without having trained a single person.
Teta said despite the procurement wrangling, which has pitted its CEO against three suspended executive committee members, it has approved R140m in grant funding before the March 31 deadline.
Late last year, under questionable circumstances, it terminated a process that would have seen the creation of more than 5,000 training opportunities at a cost of R384m.
“Teta can confirm that the DG [discretionary grant] award process was halted in the last quarter of 2025 after a number of serious discrepancies were uncovered,” the authority said on Thursday.
“These include directors in some of the companies who were found to be in the employ of the state.
“Also, it was discovered that R10m worth of contracts were recommended to be awarded to companies which were found to be deregistered by the CIPC [Companies and Intellectual Property Commission].
A deeper look into the high-stakes situation at Teta suggests that its CEO, Maphefo Anno-Frempong, colluded with service providers in a scheme that has essentially handed control over who gets access to hundreds of millions in grant funding to a private entity
Grant regulations require that each Seta spends or commits its discretionary funding, normally 49% of the levies collected, by the end of each financial year, or risks losing a portion of it to the National Skills Fund (NSF). This is also a major component of each Seta’s annual performance plan.
A deeper look into the high-stakes situation at Teta suggests collusion between Teta CEO Maphefo Anno-Frempong and service providers in a scheme that has essentially handed control over who gets access to hundreds of millions in grant funding to a private entity.
The problems at Teta date back to last March — at the previous board’s last meeting — when management, led by Anno-Frempong, submitted a recommendation to approve R384m in DG funding that would benefit 5,319 learners. After discussion, the board resolved to defer the recommendation to the new board for approval.
A disastrous board appointment process that led to former higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane’s axing last July meant that a new board was only appointed in October by the new minister, Buti Manamela.
At the new board’s second meeting, it was handed a probity report on the grant recommendation by Pretoria firm Phandahanu, which pointed to irregularities in the previous process and called for a forensic investigation.
This investigation, which is being conducted by FSG Africa, is ongoing and is a source of consternation at Teta.
At almost the same time Teta was appointing FSG, it was approving the appointment of Duja Consulting to take over the grant application evaluation process.
All three companies were appointed via a request for quotations, a closed process that Teta’s policy allows for procurement under R1m.
A Sunday Times investigation into these appointments has revealed a conflict of interest that suggests the entire issue was created to lead to evaluation being moved to an external service provider, Duja.
Mr Mudaly clarified yesterday that he stated Mr Naidoo did not present the probity report to the Teta board. He presented a forensic opinion on the interim findings of the probity audit, on October 24 2025 and again on November 20 2025
— Frik van Eeden, Phandahanu’s MD
Yesterday Teta said having external parties evaluate grant proposals is commonplace in the sector.
What strengthens this narrative is the fact that Duja director Thiru Mudaly, a chartered accountant who served on Teta’s audit and risk board subcommittee for 10 years until last March, served as a consultant to Phandahanu on the probity audit of the management’s DG recommendation.
Another anomaly was that FSG Africa’s sole director, Vernon Naidoo, was present at the October 24 Teta board meeting and another meeting on November 20 and gave “forensic advice”.
This was at Mudaly’s invitation.
Phandahanu’s MD, Frik van Eeden, initially said Naidoo’s role was to advise the board on whether or not to institute a forensic investigation.
But after the Sunday Times confronted Mudaly about this, Van Eeden came back on Wednesday and said: “Mr Mudaly clarified yesterday that he stated Mr Naidoo did not present the probity report to the Teta board. He presented a forensic opinion on the interim findings of the probity audit, on October 24 2025 and again on November 20 2025.”
Naidoo’s company was appointed almost a month later, on December 19, to conduct the forensic investigation.
Despite this glaring conflict of interest, the companies’ directors and Teta insist there are no links between the three.
Mudaly confirmed he occasionally did work for Phandahanu, a company of which he was a director until 2018, and that he did the probity report and submitted it to Anno-Frempong and company secretary.
A Teta insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that the entire evaluation process was ‘problematised only because the CEO wanted to control it through service providers’
“I confirm that I had sight of Mr Naidoo’s presentations to the board and can further confirm that it contained no opinion on whether a forensic investigation should be conducted,” he said, adding that nothing in law precluded him from working for Teta despite his having been a part of its audit and risk committee less than a year ago.
His sentiments were echoed by Naidoo, who asserted that he was not in the meeting where a decision was taken to institute a forensic investigation.
After FSG’s appointment, on January 9 this year, Anno-Frempong sent an e-mail to staff informing them of the appointment and asking them to make themselves available and co-operate with the investigation.
This did not go down well with members of the grant evaluation committee (GEC), who claimed to have been kept in the dark about developments related to the probity audit.
“We are concerned about the lack of transparency ... Please note that, in the meantime, members may decline the interview request until the probity report is released.”
Three of the members, COO Famanda Shirindza, taxi chamber manager Ramodise Tsolo, and Morongoe Nkabinde, Teta’s skills development and learning programmes manager, were then placed on precautionary suspension.
Teta said the three were directly involved in the initial evaluation process and that they would be suspended pending finalisation of the forensic investigation.
“The board and executive could not, in clear conscience, continue with the award,” the authority said.
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