The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has blown the whistle on an extraordinary increase in student funding by the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (Inseta) that appears to have bypassed normal tender procedures and went to a little-known company – Mabophe Business Solutions. Inseta set up the Insurance Sector Student Fund (ISSF) to support transformation in the insurance industry by funding student bursaries. The fund receives financial contributions from both the private and public sectors.
One of the larger corporate contributors is the Standard Bank Group. The value of approved ISSF funding jumped from R20 million to R442.8 million between 2024 and 2025 – nearly 22 times over the previous year’s allocation. The amount recorded as ISSF expenditure in the 2025 financial year was R158.7 million, of which R70 million was paid over to Mabophe.
Students left without funding Despite the massive increase, 879 bursary recipients went without funding during the first five months of 2026, according to a recent Sunday Times report. Some were forced to pay for their accommodation, while others were evicted. This was after Inseta reportedly paid about R70 million to Mabophe to distribute funds to students, educational institutions and accommodation providers.
Inseta then reportedly paid R4.6 million directly to accommodation providers as emergency relief. In 2022, Inseta advertised a three-year tender for an ISSF project management provider. Three bids were received, but the tender was officially cancelled because funding was unavailable.
The bid cancellation was announced by suspended Inseta CEO Gugu Mkhize in February 2023. Mkhize was placed on precautionary suspension in June pending further investigation into disbursement failures within Inseta. Despite her suspension, Outa has launched legal proceedings challenging the October 2025 decision by Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela to reappoint Mkhize for a further five-year term to 2030, arguing that the appointment was procedurally flawed and lacked governance oversight.
Inseta has received qualified audit opinions from the Auditor-General for the last four financial years. Mabophe appointment under scrutiny Outa says it must be established how Mabophe was appointed. It notes that the company has no discoverable company website setting out its services or experience, although…
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