The assessment report by the Department of Higher Education & Training has found that controversial chief Moefi Mabalane may have overstated his expenditure on a training project and now wants him to pay back every cent he received from the department.

In May 2023, the fund – which provides funding for education and training programmes, learnerships, skills development initiatives and capacity-building – announced that it would fund training for more than 1 000 unemployed young people in Mabaalstad, North West, in agricultural skills. 

The chief’s company, Medirwe Investments, was appointed for project management, while another company, Beyond Expectations, was the implementing party.

Bank records obtained by City Press reveal that the chief spent at least R56 000 at an exclusive club and restaurant in Bryanston; R100 000 at a restaurant in Rosebank and R200 000 at a Louis Vuitton store in Sandton.

In the report compiled by department implementation officer Galome Moseki dated 21 October 2024, the National Skills Fund (NSF) officials said they visited the facility on 15 October 2024 to qualitatively assess the works undertaken to date on the project.

The report found that there was no egg-sorting and grading house or chicken-hatching machine as claimed.

The report found that the structure presented was sub-standard and not built for purpose, and therefore, unacceptable as a project deliverable.

Full City Press report