By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, has submitted to Parliament the names of the panel tasked with selecting chairpersons for the boards of 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
The submission comes after the Minister missed the 11 June 2025 deadline set by the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education.
The five-member panel was responsible for the selection process in the appointment of 21 chairpersons for Seta boards in May. The committee requested the names of the panel after it was discovered that ANC politicians had been selected, including Gwede Mantashe’s son, Buyambo Mantashe, who has been appointed chairperson of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Seta.
Also named are former KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and ex-ANC KZN provincial deputy chairperson Mike Mabuyakhulu.
The names were withdrawn amid allegations of corruption and nepotism in the appointment process.
“She wrote to us on the 11th that she needed time, this was in response to the letter we wrote to her on the 4th of June 2025. In the letter, she did not say why she needed more time,” said the committee’s chairperson, Tebogo Letsie.
He said that although the minister retracted the recent appointments, the committee still needs answers about who approved the board chairs.
Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the media that he was still awaiting a report from Nkabane on her conduct during a recent parliamentary appearance regarding SETA board chairs.
Nkabane drew public ire after videos of her at the meeting chewing gum and being dismissive of MPs’ questioning went viral. After the meeting, the minister took to X to explain herself.
“Claims that I was rude or disrespectful are false and based on misleading clips taken out of context. I did not disrupt the process,” she wrote.
In a statement on Tuesday, Nkabane confirmed the panel members as Advocate Terry Motau (panel chair), Asisipho Solani, Nelisiwe Semane, Mabuza Ngubane, and Rhulani Ngwenya.
Nkabane said she “stands ready to account to the portfolio committee and to respond to further requests for information in this regard”.
The portfolio committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss her response.
SETA boards are vital in driving South Africa’s national skills development agenda. Established under the Skills Development Act of 1998, these bodies direct funding and programming for upskilling South Africans in sectors such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and digital services.
Meanwhile the Democratic Alliance (DA) said they will refer Nkabane, to the ethics committee for misleading the parliamentary portfolio committee on higher education when she stated that all members of the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) Board Chairpersons Selection and Evaluation Panel were independent.
Furthermore, the Minister failed to reveal all the names as the name of one of the panel members concealed, said the party in a statement.
“The DA will request that all minutes of the panel be made available to the committee in full, as well as the reports sent to the National Skills Authority (NSA) for final consideration of the appointments.”