Nearly three years after OUTA filed an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) with the Services SETA, asking for a specified list of documents relating to a controversial contract worth almost R163 million with a company called Grayson Reed, the High Court last week instructed the Services Seta to hand over the documents. 

The court order will enable us to determine what exactly happened to the millions awarded to Grayson Reed, originally hired to manage stipend payments to learners and interns on work experience postings, as well as manage a biometric learner attendance monitoring system. OUTA exposed the existence and failure of the Grayson Reed contract in November 2018 when learners approached us for assistance after not having received their stipends for months. They were also unaware of any biometric devices being used. 

We believe the Services Seta has been hiding a corrupt contract and agree with Judge Marcus Senyatsi who said that “our Constitutional values require that public bodies be transparent, and that transparency in turn equates to public confidence on how the public funds are managed.”  

You can read more about the judgement and the project here.