THE Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (Inseta) has been accused of suspicious information following its refusal to allow time for questions at the annual general meeting (AGM).
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said attendants were told that no time would be allocated for questions to the management or the board.
This was after Inseta allegedly ignored Outa’s requests for information for many months.
The organisation said Inseta acknowledged that the board would meet with them to discuss concerns.
Outa said it became aware of concerns around the treatment and de-accreditation of the Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences (GIFS) by Inseta’s management in 2023.
The organisation further said that Inseta’s subsequent lack of action after a court order to reinstate GIFS in January this year was further cause for concern.
This followed a complaint by GIFS that 700 of its students who completed their courses have not been officially certified by Inseta. The institution alleged that Inseta knew ghost learners who had reportedly been awarded fake certificates.
Outa’s chief executive, Wayne Duvenage, said Inseta had significantly damaged GIFS, which was a highly respected training service provider.
“GIFS rightfully challenged serious issues related to fake learner certificates and Inseta’s maladministration of the certificates of rightfully qualified learners.
“The grounds on which GIFS was de-accredited, are extremely weak and much doubt has been cast over the reasons for compiling the report that informed Inseta’s decision to de-accredit GIFS. This matter is also being challenged in court,” Duvenage said.
Inseta did not respond to questions sent by Sunday Independent this week.
Outa has been raising concerns about maladministration and corruption that have plagued a number of Sectoral Education Training Authorities (Setas) for a few years now.
The organisation previously called on businesses that sit on the boards of different Setas to investigate irregularities in these organisations and hold officials who were implicated accountable.
It also requested President Cyril Ramaphosa to consider a commission of inquiry into allegations of gross maladministration and corruption against the entities that fall under the Department of Higher Education.
Duvenage said Outa also became aware of tenders awarded to companies that appeared to have transgressed Inseta’s procurement policies and legal requirements.
He further said that the transactions and decisions undertaken by Inseta must be scrutinised.
Duvenage said nothing has been handed over despite Outa’s quest to obtain this information from Inseta. “On 5 February 2024, Outa met with Inseta’s previous board chairperson, Mr Sihle Ngubane.
“During this meeting, he undertook to provide us with the information we requested. Instead, we have been fobbed off and given the run-around, forcing us to approach the Information Regulator to intervene.”
He said because Outa did not receive answers to questions raised with Inseta’s management, he decided to attend the AGM at the Sandton Convention Centre on November 29.
Duvenage said he intended to raise these questions but they were told that there would be no time allocated for questions to the management or the board.
“We also studied their annual report for 2024 and had additional questions, such as why no provision had been made for a potentially costly business damages claim being brought against Inseta by GIFS,” Duvenage said.
On October 7, Inseta issued a notice saying Outa’s claims regarding GIFS’ de-accreditation were void of the accurate sequence of events and suggests that its right to follow the legal process should simply be mooted.
The institution said it had continuously provided responses to Outa’s correspondences and were amenable to this constructive approach.
Duvenage said this was misleading, adding that Outa has not been provided with the information they were seeking from Inseta.
The organisation said it has wrote to the Inseta board on December 2, and detailed the background to its issues with Inseta and explained why Duvenage attended the AGM.
It has also explained what matters the organisation would like to discuss at an in-person meeting with the Inseta board.
“We are now awaiting their response,” said Duvenage.