Dr Thabo Mashongoane at the 2025 International Literacy Day Celebration (Photo: DHET / Facebook) 
Dr Thabo Mashongoane, the chief executive of the Mining Qualification Authority (MQA) Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta), who was recently reappointed after serving at the entity since 2021, has been paying more than R2-million for private security, saying his life is under threat.
According to a number of invoices obtained by Daily Maverick through a whistleblower, Mashongoane has been paying DDL Security Services, a 24/7 company based in Sandton, Johannesburg, which offers security services, including armed and unarmed security officers, in the commercial, residential, retail and educational sectors.
The documents show a large sum was paid to the security company from February to September 2025; the invoices reveal that payments were made for the use of SUV vehicles and two close-protection officers, amounting to just more than R2.1-million (R2,150,030.36), with the biggest single payment of R338,646.82 made in May.
MQA is responsible for managing skills development and learnership programmes to create a skilled workforce for the mining and minerals sector. This is vital for meeting the sector’s need for competent professionals, which ultimately improves health and safety, employment equity and productivity.
Read more: How Services Seta blew R163-million and broke SA’s skills promise
The chief financial officer at MQA, Elaine Brass, told Daily Maverick: “A formal threat and risk assessment specifically related to the CEO was conducted by the MQA in February 2025 prior to the procurement of the services, again in June 2025 in order to assess the need for the services and to determine whether the services could be provided safely. Based on the results of the assessments, it was determined to provide security support to the CEO in order to protect his personal safety and wellbeing.”
Brass added that “the services were procured in line with a board resolution. The MQA complied with its own supply chain management policy and also with all relevant provisions of the Public Finance Management Act and National Treasury Regulations”.
Daily Maverick also spoke to DDL, which confirmed that it renders services to MQA. “We have a written contract with this particular client that was awarded through a tender and bid process and which was signed off and awarded with the appropriate authorisations,” said chief operating officer Neville Rothfusz.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ED_465077.jpg "Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage during the Babita Deokaran Second Assasination Anniversary memorial at Christ The King Anglican Church in Mondeor, Johannesburg, on 23 August 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images / Papi Morake)")
Outa on safety issues
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (Outa) CEO, Wayne Duvenage, told Daily Maverick they have not dug deeper into the MQA Seta and were unaware of this issue. However, from the work they had done, “when people go in and start to try and clean up the rot, they get threatened by the people internally… The issue here is the need for security at the executive level in the state entities; it’s becoming a bigger and bigger issue… The real issue is these additional costs now that… have to be picked up by the citizens, all because of the extent of corruption in the public sector, and we know that the Setas are rife with corruption.
“But we also know that there are some CEOs who are mispending money, like the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (Inseta) and others, where the corruption has been conducted and fostered by the very people who are in the organisation,” said Duvenage.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ED_569093.jpg "Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela at the First National Convention of the National Dialogue of South Africa held at Unisa’s Pretoria Main Campus on 15 August 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Lefty Shivambu)")
Outa has made requests to Inseta for clarification regarding the awarding of an R14-million contract to a one-director company based in Brits, with no clear track record in infrastructure logistics or office relocation. Another query involves a grossly excessive R18-million contract awarded to HV Holdings for a data clean-up of historical pupil records and achievements over 12 months – an objective that remains shrouded in mystery, with no explanation of scope, deliverables or competitive process.
Brass said the MQA, via the interim chairperson of the board, communicated with the MQA’s executive authority, the Department of Higher Education and Training, to inform it about the situation and to request guidance in relation to the provision of security services to the CEO, given the circumstances of the ongoing forensic investigation and the identified threats.
Daily Maverick asked Higher Education and Training spokesperson Matshepo Seedat whether the department was aware of these security risks and what steps had been taken to intervene, assist the threatened CEO or provide appropriate security measures under the department’s oversight. We also asked about the incidence of personal security threats against the Seta CEO, which appears to be a frequent issue in the post-school education and training area.
No response had been received by the time of publication. DM