Alarm raised after student fund budget increased from R20 million to R443 million in one year

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) raised the alarm after the INSETA’s Insurance Sector Student Fund budget increased from R20 million to R442.8 million.

OUTA has released the findings of a preliminary investigation into the Insurance Sector Student Fund (ISSF).

This investigation uncovered an extraordinary increase in the fund’s budget from about R20 million a year to more than R442 million during the 2024/25 financial year.

The investigation raised questions about procurement, financial oversight and governance at INSETA.

It follows the INSETA Board’s precautionary suspension of the INSETA chief executive officer, Gugu Mkhize, on 3 June 2026.

This suspension came amidst investigations into failures in the bursary payment system that reportedly left 879 students without funding for months.

The Insurance Sector Student Fund (ISSF) was managed internally from 2021 to 2024, with annual project values ranging from R18.6 million to R20 million.

However, during the 2024/25 financial year, the approved project value increased to R442.8 million, with recorded expenditure of R158.7 million.

OUTA said this increase warrants public scrutiny and called for the release of the project’s general ledger to establish exactly how the funds were allocated and spent.

OUTA’s investigation found that INSETA advertised a competitive tender in 2022 for a project management service provider to administer the ISSF.

Three bids were received before the tender was officially cancelled, with bidders informed that there was insufficient funding.

Despite this, media reports indicate that Mabophe Business Solutions was later appointed to administer the fund.

According to reports referenced in OUTA’s investigation, approximately R70 million was advanced to Mabophe Business Solutions to administer bursary payments.

However, 879 students reportedly went unpaid during the first five months of the year, leaving many facing eviction, food insecurity and possible academic exclusion.

INSETA was subsequently forced to make emergency payments of R4.6 million directly to accommodation providers to prevent students from losing their housing.

“Public money intended to support students appears to have failed the very people it was meant to assist,” Rudie Heyneke, OUTA Senior Project Manager, said.

OUTA believes the appointment of Mabophe Business Solutions raised concerns about compliance with Supply Chain Management requirements.

Heyneke explained that they could not find any publicly available information about Mabophe Business Solutions’ experience in this field.

It said that this raised concerns about Mabophe Business Solutions’ having the needed skills to administer large-scale student bursary programmes.