The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) says they are ready to defend any legal action brought to them by Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande.
On Monday afternoon, Nzimande addressed members of the media to dispute claims that he had received money related to the awarding of a lucrative National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) contract.
Last week the OUTA released an investigative report, accompanied by two leaked recordings which suggests that the minister, NSFAS Board Chairperson Earnest Khosa as well as the South African Communist Party (SACP) received kickbacks.
These kickbacks are related to the awarding of a lucrative tender to facilitate the Direct NSFAS allowance payment system.
OUTA’s investigation report came with calls for the minister along with Khosa to hand in their resignations. However, a defiant Nzimande says he has no reason to resign.
Nzimande lambasted OUTA and questioned their motive for releasing the reports. The minister said he is under the suspension that OUTA is now working with disgruntled service providers whose contracts are set to be terminated
My suspicion is that the very same people OUTA was attacking initially before this investigation was made, OUTA is now opportunistically colluding with the people they were attacking having been corrupt because now there's a bigger prize which is the head of Blade Nzimande
OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage says they take exception to the minister's suggestion that the organisation is engaging with disgruntled service providers. They added that there is no benefit in disrupting the start of the 2024 academic year.
We are not taking any service providers' side in this matter, and we do our investigation without fear or favour. OUTA gets its information from whistleblowers who want to help expose corruption in the Department of Higher Education.
The minister also said an organisation like OUTA does not care about ordinary citizens and only serves the interests of the elites.
An organisation like OUTA doesn't care about ordinary poor Black South Africans. It's an organisation of the elite that serves the interests of the elite.
OUTA rejects these claims. They add that their work is aimed at reducing waste and corruption in the public sector and, in so doing, benefits everyone and more so, the poorest of the poor who suffer the most when it comes to poor service delivery by the State.
Saying that we have no regard for the poor and that we want to disrupt the start of the academic year is disingenuous. OUTA is a civil action organisation, supported and funded by ordinary citizens, in the quest to expose those involved in corruption and/or maladministration of our country’s very limited resources and tax funds.
OUTA confirmed that criminal charges had been drawn up with regard to the leaked recordings against Minister Nzimande, Ernest Khosa, Thula Ntumba, the directors of Coinvest as well as Coinvest Africa itself for corruption and bribery in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (No. 12 of 2004).
OUTA’s Rudi Heyneke said they will be sharing the leaked records, along with the findings of their investigations with law enforcement agencies and key stakeholders in the higher education sector.
We will also share the report and recordings with the Auditor-General of SA, the Public Protector, Werksmans Attorneys, the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the National Treasury and USAf, the umbrella body for universities. It will also be given to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation for oversight purposes,
Duvenage repeated OUTA’s call for Nzimande and Khosa to resign, saying, "If they don’t want to resign, President Ramaphosa must for once show that he is putting the country before his party and remove them from their positions".
