South African skills body rebuked over ‘wasteful’ trip plans

Construction Education and Training Authority says it postponed five-country “benchmarking” trip after criticism

The body overseeing education and training for South Africa’s construction industry faced intense scrutiny in parliament last week after questions were raised about a five-country trip planned for its board to “gather insights”.

The planned trip, reported to cost R4 million (US$226,000) and take almost four weeks, was the latest in a row of controversies embroiling the Construction Education and Training Authority, higher education portfolio committee chair Walter Letsie told a 23 August meeting to call the agency to account.