Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has asked the National Skills Authority to investigate allegations of financial irregularities at the Mappp-Seta, a senior government official told eMedia.
This comes after several unions demanded the reinstatement of suspended Mappp-Seta CEO Melanie Bernard-Fryer who blew the whistle on alleged irregularities at the Media, Advertising, Print, Packaging and Publishing Sectional Education Training (Mappp-Seta).
The acting CEO (and former chief financial officer) Gerhard Kemp, and chairman of the board, Martin Deysel, were called in by the labour ministry on Friday to explain why they suspended Bernard-Fryer in March, who handed over a report of alleged financial irregularities to the National Prosecuting Authority.
‘There was a meeting to get the status quo report from them,” a senior Seta official told eMedia. ‘We’ve been briefed on the circumstances that led to the suspension. We don’t normally interfere in employment relations. These things are supposed to be fought in the board— but it is clear to us that the decision to suspend her did not satisfy every member of the board”.
Asked whether the ministry would consider putting the Mappp-Seta under administration, the official replied: ‘The minister will not hesitate to act but he will use that as a last resort. It comes with very serious cost implications.
‘The minister asked the National Skills Authority (an advisory body) to look into the matter and report back to him as soon as possible.
‘We have also written to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to expedite the process (of investigating Bernard-Fryer’s report). The culprits need to be brought to book.”
Bernard-Fryer was suspended after reporting alleged irregularities to the NPA in August 2005. She fell ill last year and was hospitalised and then put on forced sick leave early this year. When she returned to work on March 1, Bernard-Fryer was suspended.
The NPA has declined to comment on why the investigation is taking so long.
Nicola Rauch, general secretary of the South African Screen Federation, in a grievance letter to the labour ministry, said they accusations refer to the alleged ‘irregular transfers of funds from the Create SA Project to the Seta’s bank account in the amount of around R12-million that was used in part to finance commitments to the Cross Media Training College, in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.”
Bernard-Fryer has expressed concern about a backlog in learnership applications as a result of her suspension.
‘At the end of the day – what this whole power play issue is doing – it’s about the learners out there. They are poor people who come from rural areas who cannot go on with their training. That is not what we fought for in this country.”
Several unions protested outside the Mappp-Seta offices on Friday to demand Bernard-Fryer’s reinstatement and called for the removal of Deysel as chairman.