The reports confirm that aviation training receives public funding, but do not confirm whether that funding works.
Two consecutive National Skills Fund (NSF) annual reports have painted a consistent and worrying picture of lack of accountability in how public funds are spent on aviation training.
In both reporting periods, for 2023-24 and 2024-25, the NSF acknowledges discretionary grant funding for aviation-related skills development, including projects run by entities such as Flyfofa Aviation Solutions, Vukani Aviation CC and the Deloitte-Ukhubhaba Consortium.
Missing detail in aviation grant reporting
However, the reports point to a striking continuity of disclosure failures preventing the public from assessing whether these projects delivered value for money or meaningful skills outcomes.
There are no approval dates, no fund distribution schedules and no clear indication of whether projects were newly approved, rolled over, delayed, or completed.
Aviation projects are instead absorbed into aggregated discretionary grant reporting, obscuring how much public funding individual entities received and over what period.
Critically, both reports fail to disclose learner-level data, with no confirmation of how many trainees enrolled in aviation programmes or how many completed the training.
High-cost sector with limited oversight
Aviation expert Phuthego Mojapele said unlike many other skills programmes, aviation required specialised equipment, licensed instructors and compliance with safety and regulatory standards.
Yet neither report indicated whether funded projects met regulatory requirements, were audited or were evaluated for performance.
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“The NSF has been found wanting in terms of reporting and accountability. Their reports have been inconsistent and inadequate.
“These are public funds and there must be a level of accountability as to how much was disbursed and how it was spent,” he said.
Governance failures acknowledged but unresolved
The NSF does acknowledge systemic governance weaknesses across its portfolio, including delayed project close-outs, incomplete reporting by implementing agents and weaknesses in monitoring and evaluation.
The later report places renewed emphasis on governance reform and consequence management, suggesting institutional awareness of these failures.
However, when aviation projects are examined, there is no evidence these reforms have translated into transparency.
The same omissions present in the earlier report persist in the later one: no project-specific financial disclosure, no outcome verification and no cost-per-learner analysis.
Accountability gap and oversight concerns
Mojapele said if governance reforms were effective, high-cost sectors such as aviation would be expected to demonstrate enhanced disclosure and oversight.
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“Instead, aviation funding remains effectively shielded from scrutiny, despite repeated acknowledgment of systemic risk. The combined effect of the two reports is not merely incomplete reporting, but a structural accountability gap,” he said.
“Parliament cannot exercise oversight without project-level data. Taxpayers cannot assess whether public funds advanced scarce skills or were disbursed without measurable impact.”
NSF reports confirm that aviation training receives public funding. What they do not confirm is whether that funding works.
In 2021, former higher education minister Blade Nzimande ordered a forensic investigation into allegations of maladministration and corruption at the NSF.
The investigation was ordered after an auditor-general’s report found that over the previous two years, nearly R5 billion could not be accounted for.
In March last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the Special Investigating Unit to probe allegations of corruption and maladministration in the NSF affairs.
NSF spokesperson William Somo had not responded by the time of publishing.
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