The head of the Transport Education and Training Authority (Teta), Piet Bothma, has been placed on ”compulsory leave” following a probe into his role in placing R246-million of the body’s funds with Fidentia, Business Day reported on Tuesday.
Teta, a quasi-government body which collects skills levies from 10 000 transport firms, pumped R246-million — nearly 75% of all its funds — into Fidentia, despite the company’s almost non-existent track record.
Investigators now say this cash has been ”misappropriated”.
This is likely to shed new light on exactly why Teta placed so much money with Fidentia, especially after it emerged that its first R88-million investment in Fidentia took place without a proper risk assessment.
It also adds to a list of casualties that has already seen Danisa Baloyi resign all her public positions because of the uproar at her conflict of interest in being a Fidentia shareholder and trustee of the Living Hands Trust, which poured R1,47-billion into
Fidentia.
The links between Bothma and Fidentia, which have remained buried until now, are likely to emerge in the Teta probe. – Sapa