‘We haven’t recovered a cent’ – private security watchdog says R129m UIF-linked training fund ‘lost’

4 Jun 2025

South Africa’s private security watchdog is at the centre of a multimillion-rand matter stemming from 2019, involving ‘material irregularities’ and the non-delivery of services. Watchdog head Manabela Chauke has told Parliament that not a cent has been recovered.

The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira) has come under fire in Parliament over a 2019 training initiative involving more than R129-million that has led to red flags being raised over “irregularities”.

MPs have also demanded to know why the situation is still dragging on and has not been fully dealt with after six years.

One suggested calling for suspensions with immediate effect because the overall situation was hampering young jobseekers.

Another proposed that Psira’s board be relieved of its duties to make way for fresh faces.

The matter involves a nearly R130-million contract linked to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), discussed in a police committee meeting on Wednesday, 4 June 2025.

Setting the tone of Wednesday’s meeting was what happened earlier on social media.

Social media sparring

Two days before, on 2 June, the police committee chair Ian Cameron took to Facebook.

He posted that the committee was set to interrogate Psira “over deeply concerning allegations involving the misuse of over R144-million in public funds.”

Cameron’s post continued: “The money, allocated via the UIF’s Labour Activation Programme, was intended to fund digital training for unemployed citizens through a service provider…

“What followed raises red flags… Learners listed in attendance registers have since denied participating. No training certificates have been issued. Facilitators remain unpaid. Tablets budgeted for the project were never delivered.”

Psira then hit back. On its X account, Psira said it noted Cameron’s Facebook post and had to “set the record straight”.

We’ve noted recent social media posts by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police concerning PSiRA’s material irregularity matter. We respect parliamentary oversight, but must set the record straight on key facts and legal process.

— IG: PSiRALive (@PSiRALive) June 3, 2025

In a series of tweets, it stated: “This matter is now under legal and forensic investigation. While Parliament is free to oversee progress, delving into the merits of the case risks violating the separation of powers and prejudicing legal proceedings.

“It is deeply concerning that a presiding Chairperson would publish judgmental statements on an active matter. Public office bearers are expected to uphold fairness and impartiality in all oversight processes.

“We’ve formally requested that the Chairperson recuse himself from the 04 June 2025 session in the interest of transparency and due process.”

Despite Psira’s social media posts and stance, Cameron chaired Wednesday’s police committee meeting.

‘We’ve recovered nothing yet’

Irate MPs spoke out at the hearing.

Several figures – some relating to payments Psira had made – were also discussed as the MPs tried to extract more information from the private security watchdog.

At one point during the meeting, Makashule Gana of Rise Mzansi asked Psira head Manebela Chauke about how much money it had recovered.

Chauke responded: “We’ve just said we’ve appointed a forensic investigation.

“We’ve come up with a report, out of the report, preliminarily we’ve issued a letter of demand which has lapsed on the 26th of May…

“So, the answer is we’ve not yet recovered anything.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9mf7gLiPwg

Gana pushed him on this point, asking him to confirm if, “at the moment you have recovered zero.”

Chauke replied: “I’m not sure if my answer is not audible – we have not recovered a cent. We are in the process of recovery.”

‘Likely financial loss’ and suspensions

A Psira presentation on the matter was shown at Wednesday’s meeting.

It said that in April 2019, Psira had signed a “funding agreement” with the UIF to “implement a national training initiative.”

Between October 2019 and February 2022, advance payments were made “to the appointed service provider before actual training begins as agreed and in compliance [with] Treasury regulations.”

The presentation said that in March 2023, the Auditor-General of South Africa identified “a likely financial loss due to non-delivery of services and weak contract oversight”.

Read more: Private security watchdog tightens the industry leash – deploys debt collectors, focuses on criminal vetting

A few months later, in August 2023, the project resumed and “the number of trained learners significantly” increased.

The presentation said that after several other processes, a forensic report was finalised and submitted to the Auditor-General in March 2025.

“Two officials illegally accessed the forensic investigation report without authorisation,” it said.

Both officials were suspended.

R129m training contract

An Auditor-General presentation was also shown during Wednesday’s meeting and provided more details about the April 2019 agreement between Psira and the UIF.

It involved the security watchdog acting as an agent and, over six months, providing “Election Observer and End-User Computing training” for 7,071 preselected individuals on behalf of the UIF.

Read more: Alarm and applause after Police Minister Mchunu takes aim at private security guns

“The value of the contract was R129,982,657.50,” the Auditor-General’s presentation said.

Psira also entered into a service-level agreement with a supplier to provide the same training on behalf of the UIF.

This covered April to June 2019, a date later extended, and the contract amount was valued at “R80,062,877.00.”

‘Material irregularity’

The Auditor-General presentation said: “During [the] 2021/22 financial year, Psira paid an amount of R15-million to the supplier.

“This payment was not supported by sufficient evidence to enable us to verify the occurrence of the transaction.”

In 2023, a follow-up audit was done on the transaction, and it was noted that Psira made follow-up payments to the supplier.

An invoice dated May 2019 reflected R2-million, another from October that year showed an amount of nearly R55-million, and an invoice from February 2022 showed R15-million.

Read more: ‘Private militias’ warning after Cape Town taxi shootout

“Through [the] audit process, we discovered that the supplier had not yet rendered services equivalent to the payments made,” the Auditor-General presentation said.

“As a result, an amount of R30,182,839.73 was made as an advance payment to the supplier before the services were rendered.”

This contravened a Treasury regulation.

“This advance payment resulted in material irregularity,” the Auditor-General presentation said.

According to the presentation, a progress report requested in September last year showed that 6,507 learners had been trained.

It added: “Psira terminated the contract with the supplier due to indicators of fraud and misrepresentation.

“Termination took effect from 20 May 2024.”

‘Young people disadvantaged’

During Wednesday’s meeting, MPs were critical. The DA’s Dianne Kohler Barnard pointed out that the matter was “dragging on and on”.

Lisa Schickerling, also of the DA, said: “It cannot take six years to determine wrongdoing. There’s something seriously wrong here.”

She said the situation was so worrying that the police committee should request that the Psira board be relieved of its duties and a new one put in place “to ensure that everything in Psira is running smoothly”.

Schickerling said: “We are losing money. The country is losing money. The citizens of this country are paying tax. And we are here to protect that money.”

ActionSA’s Dereleen James said she understood that the beneficiaries of “these opportunities”(presumably the training initiative that Psira was involved in, and the focus of Wednesday’s meeting) were usually between the ages of 18 and 35 years old.

“How does this affect our communities – what has happened here today?” she asked.

“We cannot just sit and accept that the youth of this country has been disadvantaged because of corruption and because of lack of leadership,” James said. DM

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