Nicola Mauson | April 8, 2025
Documents leaked to the IOL show that, as he publicly swears, are far from trying to sort out corrupt practices at the Construction Education and Training Agency (CETA).
What can form the basis for the persuasive Tom Clancy novel, a page of letters from the National Federation of Educational Health and Allied Workers (Neho), details of the Minister of Higher Education, alleged irregular disciplinary hearings, and allegations of financial misconduct. These said it showed that Shezi clearly interfered with the procurement process and incited disciplinary action against those who questioned him.
The mission of CETA is to help participants develop construction skills through projects and learning that enable them to achieve recognized qualifications. It has been scrutinized several times over the past few years, and has been placed under curatorship, especially in 2020.
Construction is an important economic factor as it contributed 2.7% to the economy in 2023. An email from Nehawu to Nkabane said on March 19, “It is possible that the agency is aware that it is not functioning under the current CEO (Shezi) and the board, and we have written extensively in her office about the myriad issues that plague the agency.”
The letter called on the Minister to investigate “affairs of misconduct” in substance.
Specifically, they alleged that there was a “significant violation of the procurement process” in regards to the bid for the appointment of a fully turnedkey managed ICT service provider bid number 018-2024/2025.
Neho claimed that the soft box was lost after all bids – another document indicates that there are five of these – submitted and the box was properly sealed.
The bid should have been cancelled at this point, and it was not the case. However, between January 24th and March, it appears that there was a break in the camera feed, covering the area where the box was registered as a security company, in order to obtain footage, investigate the breakdown of the camera feed and install additional cameras.
The company known to IOL was appointed on February 10th of R286 805 on February 10th after Shezi was asked to approve a deviation from the general procurement process. CETA did not respond to requests for the results of this investigation. Neho also argued that Shezi “had been over-engaged in personnel policy and even violated its policies and regulations.”
The CEO claimed that he bypassed the HR protocol and rejected the outcome of the internal disciplinary process.
These claims are in addition to previous claims, as detailed in a press release on the union's website published on August 7, 2024, claiming that “our members have been subjected to continued sacrifices and threats by the CEO to raise issues relating to maladomination at CETA.”
The union issued this statement behind Sheji's suspension, which was released on the same day. However, he appears to remain CEO, as listed in this role on the CETA website. CETA did not clarify the issue when IOL asked for comment.
Neho's claims of abused disciplinary proceedings appear to be supported by the results of such hearings in the possession of the IOL.
For one, staff members reported abuse of supply chain management processes and were charged with 15 counts of abuse of such processes and stopped. In another statement, the chairman said that employees should be considered whistleblowers and should be protected in that way.
“Alas, the employer, surprisingly, decided to chase after his employees five years later.”
The chairman also said CETA's argument to suspend employees is confusing and “constitutes ambush trials as it is not clear what cases are expected to respond to the employee.”
The letter to the Minister of Neho, and the presentation to the Congressional Committee, claims that there are several instances of corruption in terms of appointing a service provider, and that there are agencies that send work to law firms that should be assigned to other companies on a panel of legal service providers.
In July last year, CETA said in a statement, “We are aware of allegations of interference in the procurement process imposed on Sheji. These claims have been addressed through appropriate channels and are subject to thorough and impartial investigations. It is important to note that the mere presence of the claims does not guilty of the CEO.
In a presentation to the Congressional Committee, the union also noted that CETA lost its executives and institutional memory.
The worsening relationship between CEOs and key executives has been revealed in the email trajectory shared with IOL. Shezi becomes increasingly tempered with fellow executives who are trying to clarify the issue and ensure that Dueprocess follows.
CETA has also attracted the attention of South African Audit Generals (AGSAs), and as of February it has confirmed its views in audits over the past three years. Minutes from the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) Parliamentary Committee Meeting held on February 4th said AGSA has identified significant irregularities within CETA related to financial losses resulting from non-compliance.
Zamahlangu Mditshwa, Associate Business Unit Leader at AGSA, said her office had encountered significant delays in CETA's response to feedback and documents regarding these irregularities.
She also said she is still concerned about CETA's slow progress in implementing AGSA recommendations.
IOL has attempted several times to secure official comments on higher education via email on all of the above all claims in order to secure official comments on higher education via unsuccessful email.
“Disclaimer – the views and opinions expressed in this article are the views of the author and are not necessarily those of the Bee Room.”
