The Department of Higher Education says it is monitoring all 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) in the country. The SETAs are aimed at bridging the skills gap in the country.

Several beneficiaries of different learnerships and internships programs in the North West Province, complain about non-payments of their stipends and disrupted training programs, despite SETAs having claimed on skills development levies.

Director of SETA support & learnership at the Department of Higher Education, Nomsa Gumbi says their National Skills Authority unit is to carry out an assessment of the SETAs.

“We have the National Skills Authority (NSA), whom are an entity of the department as well. They do carry out monitoring and evaluation of projects that are run by the SETAs and also manage their performance,” says Gumbi.

Gumbi says the Department of Higher Education constantly has engagements with the SETAs to make sure that learners are major beneficiaries.

“They should provide systems that will make sure that they, the students get their stipend and get the relevant training required,” adds Gumbi.