South Africa’s Media Advertising Publishing Printing Packaging-Sector Education Training Authority (Mappp-Seta) faces the possibility of being put under administration by Minister Blade Nzimande of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).
The Mappp-Seta may also, as per a prior proposal submitted to the Minister by the National Skills Authority (NSA), be dissolved with its eight sub-sectors split and amalgamated into other Setas, a move which could have serious consequences for constituents.
According to the Minister’s proposed new Seta landscape [announced on 29 April], Arts & Culture will be amalgamated into the Culture, Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Seta; Broadcasting into the Information and Communication Technology Seta; and Advertising & Media into the Services Seta. The sub-sectors of Printing, Packaging and Publishing will be part of a newly established Manufacturing Seta. This begs the questions of where film will slot in as it’s both a medium and an art form.
Says Mappp-Seta CEO Bheki Zulu: “The Minister is considering putting us under administration because amongst a few perceived non-compliances we did not receive an unqualified report [ie. a clean bill of health] from the Auditor-General for our 2008/ 2009 Financial Report. There are 11 issues in our report which are related to the unqualified audit opinion, some of which date back to before 9 October 2007, when the then Minister of Labour put the Mappp-Seta under administration because of alleged financial mismanagement and friction among board members and between the board and the then CEO.
Read more in the July 2010 issue of Screen Africa
