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Higher Education and Training minister, Nobuhle Nkabane, refused to give names of her advisors who sat on a panel that recommended some politically connected individuals as chairpersons of Seta boards.

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 Sizwe sama Yende

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Parliamentarians have lauded Higher Education and Training minister Nobuhle Nkabane for withdrawing the appointment of Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) chairpersons but grilled her robustly on a ‘secret’ panel that advised her.

Nkabane appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training for the first time on May 30 since the start of a maelstrom of about the appointment of politically-connected chairpersons of the Setas.

The controversy was instigated by EFF MP Sihle Lonzi in the previous sitting about two weeks ago when his obstinate demand for answers from director-general Dr Nkosinathi Sishi about the appointment of Mineral Resources and Energy minister Gwede Mantashe’s son Buyambo Mantashe to the   MERSeta (Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Authority) board led to his removal from the meeting.

The leaked list also included ANC-connected individuals such as former KZN premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, who was appointed Bank Seta board chairperson. KZN Department of Transport official, Siboniso Mbhele, and Loyiso Lugayeni Masuku and ANC Deputy Regional Secretary in the Greater JHB Region also formed part of the new Seta chairpersons.

The list also included the re-appointment of Elizabeth Thobejane to the Public Services SETA. Thobejane was fired from the Finance and Accounting Services Seta, and this did not sit well with some of the committee that she was re-appointed.

Despite persistent questions from the committee members, Nkabane put her foot down and declined to name the panel members that selected the suitable candidates to be appointed SETA chairpersons.

The secret panel trimmed 573 applications to 20 candidates. Nkabane said all the panel members were volunteers and she had handpicked them herself.

“They were highly qualified people on the panel to shortlist on a voluntary basis. They’re credible individuals,” Nkabane said.

“As a minister, I won’t say who are the volunteers. There’s no need for me to come here and declare the people who assist me to execute my responsibilities. That’s the unfortunate part of it.”

Nkabane indicated that panel members were screened but were not vetted. She said she would ask permission from them if their names could be released to the parliamentarians and would be guided by the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

The minister insisted that there was nothing wrong with the SETA board chairpersons that were appointed, but she withdrew their names due to the public outcry.

“As a public representative, I had a responsibility to listen to what the public was saying. I saw on social media that the complaint was that the list of candidates was viewed as politically bloated. The panel recommended highly qualified candidates and all processes were followed and were beyond reproach,” Nkabane added.

The department will re-start the process of appointing new SETA board chairperson following this debacle, but the parliamentarians were left unconvinced.

Incensed, Nkabane accused committee member Joel Ngubane of having been party creating the mess at the Setas when he was chairing the MICT-Seta board (Media Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority).

Ngubane had said that it was clear the list had cronies, friends and comrades of high stature. “We’ve seen things that have never happened before. We’ve not seen this happening at this extreme,” Ngubane had said.

To which Nkabane retorted:  “I’m happy to see that you pick up that it’s wrong for politicians to serve in those board because you served in two SETA boards when you were a member of the ANC.  I’m happy when you can see the things that are wrong today, which you were part of. You were part of the mess we are in today.”

She added: “Where [Ngubane] was chairing, the entity received adverse findings for three consecutive years. He comes here and tell us how to turn around the entities.”

Ngubane, who is Umkhonto we Sizwe MP, said Nkabane was lying.

“When I was appointed at MICT-Seta I was running my own ICT business. I was not a politician. Don’t mislead us here.”

The committee members had however commended Nkabane for showing leadership by withdrawing the appointments.

Nkabane will re-start the process. She however raised a concern that there not enough youths, women and people from other racial groups that applied.

This time, Nkabane said, she had issued an instruction that the final list should be balanced and representative of the country’s demographics.