SETA appointments were error of judgment, says committee chair

SELECT Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries chairperson Makhi Feni has come in defence of under fire Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane over her appointments to the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA) boards.

Nkabane was forced to withdraw the appointments of senior ANC members such as former KwaZulu-Natal MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu, Johannesburg Municipal council member Loyiso Masuku, former KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, former higher education director-general Gwebs Qonde, the current adviser to minerals resources minister Gwede Mantashe and Mantashe's son Buyambo Mantashe, as Seta chairs following mounting pressure from opposition parties, mainly the EFF.

Things are said to have come to head when President Cyril Ramaphosa apparently expressed his concerns over the decision. 

In a statement on Sunday, Feni said the Department of Higher Education and Training should not be defocused. Instead it should ensure that momentum is not lost at SETAs.

He said ridiculing the entire sector merely based on 'errors in judgment' on issues of conflict of interest was unfortunate and unfair. 

"The committee welcomes the withdrawal of the appointments but wishes to emphasise that the Minister must exercise her discretion and appoint the people she deems fit to lead SETAs. These should be men and women who will advance the objectives of society and that will take forward the vision of the government of national unity,” he said.

Nkabane's spokesperson Camagwini Mavova, on Sunday said the minister would not comment further on the u-turn of the appointment of SETA chairs.

Nkabane had issued a statement last week saying she had reversed her decision in the 'interest of good governance, transparency, and to ensure accountability of the appointment process'.

"In this regard, I will reopen the process by issuing a Government Gazette calling for nominations for a limited run of seven days. I will also establish a new independent panel to process the nominations and recommend candidates,” Nkabane said. 

On Friday, Tebogo Letsie, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, said that, despite the withdrawal of the appointments, the committee still expects the minister to appear before it to account for the original appointment process.

“As a committee, we are deeply concerned by the minister’s actions, which seem to suggest that standard procedures were not followed. If there were nothing to hide, there would be no need to reverse the appointments.

"We are deeply concerned about the panel appointed by the minister to consider the nomination and recommendation of candidates to be appointed by the minister. Furthermore, we are concerned about the advice given to the minister by the National Skills Authority on the appointed persons,” Letsie said.

Professor Ntsikelelo Benjamin Breakfast, at the Nelson Mandela University, said the elephant in the room is the appointment of the son of ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe. 

“Even if the son of the politician followed policy and procedures, the fact that he is the son of the politician does raise the question of whether there is interference from his father.

“This controversy consolidates the perception that the ANC is not doing anything about fighting corruption. In the bigger scheme of things, this says a lot about the ANC as a party that it is not serious about fighting corruption,” Breakfast said.

Professor Siphamandla Zondi, a political expert from the University of Johannesburg, said: “Again, it is not whether they technically qualify, but their party political standing that is at issue. This casts the ANC in a bad light and feeds into the perception of corruption or nepotism. Perceptions may not be true, but they can be given political currency. 

“The DA and the EFF in the main are taking advantage of this to cast the ANC as corrupt and the minister as reckless. The portfolio committee chair (Letsie) mishandled Sihle Lozi of the EFF and went further to give him currency by having him physically removed from a committee and thus help fan a political storm. This created the impression he was protecting the department. He is now insisting that the minister account for the whole debacle, and it makes it seem as if he is saving his face.”  

Cape Times