The Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (Inseta) has strongly refuted statements made by Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).
The regulatory body stated that the statements were factually inaccurate, misrepresented, and potentially defamatory.
Inseta said its performance, which is verifiable, shows the complete opposite of what has been narrated as a decline.
The organisation said it noted with grave concern the recently published opinion piece in the Daily Maverick by Outa CEO, Wayne Duvenage.
“Inseta achieved a remarkable 97% operational performance in the last financial year, demonstrating excellent governance and operational efficiency despite the challenging economic environment.”
“More significantly, Inseta has successfully supported over 62,000 beneficiaries through various skills development initiatives, a fact conspicuously absent from Mr Duvenage's misleading narrative. These achievements have earned Inseta industry recognition and accolades for excellence in fulfilling our legislative mandate — facts that contradict Mr Duvenage's claims of deterioration,” the organisation said.
It was particularly concerned about Duvenage’s claims regarding Inseta’s audit outcomes.
Claims were that the organisation received ‘qualified audits with material irregularities for the past three years’, which Inseta said was completely false.
“The Auditor-General's reports indicate no such findings of ‘material irregularities’. This fundamental misrepresentation raises serious questions about the integrity of Mr Duvenage's entire argument. We must correct the record regarding the contracts and Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) requests mentioned. In all the contracts, Inseta followed due process in compliance with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) when awarding the contracts,” it said.
Inseta said on the PAIA requests, it has maintained communication with Outa throughout the process and explained the statutory limitations preventing immediate disclosure of certain information, while one of the recent requests is still being processed as communicated with Outa.
“Mr Duvenage's claim that our CEO publicly claimed the information was provided to Outa is false and without foundation. The claim is intended to discredit and cause severe reputational damage to the CEO, Ms Gugu Mkhize,” Inseta said.
The organisation said Duvenage’s call for the entire Inseta board to be terminated reveals the true motive behind his opinion piece and media crusade.
“This public lobbying campaign, based on demonstrably false information and continued through national television appearances, appears designed to undermine public confidence in Inseta rather than contribute to meaningful discourse about skills development.”
Inseta said it welcomes constructive engagement and legitimate scrutiny. However, it cannot allow misinformation to go unchallenged when it threatens to undermine vital work in developing South Africa's insurance sector workforce.
“We remain committed to transparency, accountability, and most importantly, to the thousands of learners and industry stakeholders who benefit from our programmes. Inseta reserves its rights to pursue all available remedies against the publication of such misleading and potentially defamatory content,” it added.
IOL