OUTA Probes 1,900% Spike in INSETA Student Fund Budget
The watchdog is demanding the release of the general ledger for project INPROJ000369 to establish how the funds were allocated and spent.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has launched a preliminary investigation into the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA) after uncovering what it calls “serious procurement and governance concerns” linked to the Insurance Sector Student Fund (ISSF).
OUTA revealed that the ISSF budget ballooned from about R20 million annually to R442.8 million in the 2024/25 financial year — a staggering 1,900% increase. Despite this, 879 bursary students reportedly went unpaid for months, leaving many at risk of eviction and academic exclusion.
INSETA was forced to make emergency accommodation payments of R4.6 million to prevent students from losing housing.
The watchdog is demanding the release of the general ledger for project INPROJ000369 to establish how the funds were allocated and spent.
OUTA’s key findings:
Budget surge: ISSF project value jumped from R18–20 million annually to R442.7 million in 2024/25, with R158.7 million already spent.
Procurement concerns: A competitive tender was cancelled, yet Mabophe Business Solutions was later appointed to administer the fund. OUTA questions compliance with the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act.
Student impact: Hundreds of bursary recipients went unpaid, with INSETA scrambling to cover accommodation costs.
Mabophe scrutiny: OUTA found little evidence of the company’s experience in managing large-scale bursary programmes.
OUTA Senior Project Manager Rudie Heyneke said the investigation highlights “serious questions about governance, procurement and financial oversight,” stressing that students should never bear the cost of institutional failures.
The organisation is calling on INSETA and oversight authorities to release financial records, investigate Mabophe’s appointment, account for all expenditure, and ensure affected students receive the support they were promised.
The organisation could find no company website or publicly available information demonstrating Mabophe’s experience in administering large-scale student bursary programmes.
The investigation found that the company’s known public sector work spans different sectors, including fundraising and project management, raising further questions about its appointment to manage a fund of this size.
OUTA also verified documentation relating to a student accommodation provider that alleged it had not received payment despite invoices being submitted through Mabophe, adding further weight to concerns that bursary beneficiaries may have been adversely affected.
“Since 2018, OUTA has investigated corruption, maladministration and financial mismanagement across South Africa’s higher education sector. Our preliminary investigation into INSETA raises serious questions about governance, procurement and financial oversight. At the centre of this are hundreds of students whose education was placed at risk because the system failed them,” said Heyneke in a statement published on OUTA’s website.
“The financial records point to an unprecedented increase in the ISSF budget during the 2024/25 financial year. We now need complete transparency. The general ledger for project INPROJ000369 must be released so investigators can establish precisely how public money was spent and whether every rand reached its intended beneficiaries.”
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