South Africa’s 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) are supposed to help workers gain new skills, grow their careers and boost productivity in sectors like agriculture, banking, energy, health, media, mining and transport, to name a few. Sounds good, right?

But the SETAs have long been plagued by inefficiency and red tape. A recent report by the Bureau for Economic Research notes that billions of rands collected for skills training are sitting idle rather than being put to use. That’s a serious problem when you consider South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis and skills shortage. SETAs should be part of the solution.

But the numbers tell a different story. Back in the 2011/12 financial year, about 135,000 people signed up for SETA learnerships, internships and skills programmes. Twelve years later, that figure had risen to about 149,000. Yet the number of people finishing their SETA programme and getting a certification has fallen from 117,600 to 84,100.