Services SETA’s R103 million partnership with Takealot was not in its approved annual performance plan when it was announced, the SETA’s administrator has admitted.
Administrator Lehlogonolo Masoga told Parliament: “When the commitment was made public, particularly because it had financial implications, it was not originally part of the approved annual performance plan.”
He said the deal was concluded in the previous financial year, to be carried out in 2026/27, and has since been added to the new plan.
He said the money came from surplus funds. “The resources we committed were part of the surplus funds at our disposal, which we were redeploying towards high-impact projects, ” he explained.
MP David Kgabo asked who started the deal and whether Takealot was chosen through an open process.
“There are allegations that no procurement process was followed and that Takealot was handpicked,” he said.
He said the allegation was that Takealot “initiated the process and that the department ultimately instructed Services SETA to take it over”. The allegations are Kgabo’s.
Masoga said no procurement was needed. “The relationship between Services SETA and Takealot is not based on the supply chain management prescripts. It is therefore not a procurement process,” he said.
He said that Takealot is an employer organisation providing workplace-placement opportunities for their learners.
The deal aims to create 20,000 learner opportunities.
The SETA says the R103 million is its money, not the department’s.
Committee chairperson Walter Tebogo Letsie asked what due diligence was done before the SETA relied on the department’s agreement with Takealot.
Masoga said the SETA does not follow supply chain steps when it signs strategic partnerships.
The department could not help. Letsie said its acting director-general was the only senior official present from the department and “says he is not in a position to respond because he does not have the details,”
Kgabo then told Masoga to provide the committee with a “clear paper trail for the Takealot project, starting with the original request and the processes followed to evaluate the partnership proposal, the legal-compliance checks and approvals, right through to the signing of the agreement.”
Masoga replied: “Yes, Honourable Chair. We shall comply.”
