Illustrative image | Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane. (Photo: Phando Jikelo Parliament RSA) | Advocate Terry Motau. (Photo: Gallo Images / Luba Lesolle) 
Renowned legal heavyweight advocate Terry Motau has firmly rejected claims by Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane that he chaired an independent panel tasked with recommending chairpersons for South Africa’s Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas).
This comes just days after Nkabane, under intense pressure, finally released the long-delayed names of the panel on 17 June 2025 – a panel allegedly responsible for appointing 21 Seta board chairpersons. Among the listed names was Motau as chair.
“She knows I was not part of this thing. I don’t know how she goes on and says I was appointed as a chair and did not attend meetings,” said Motau, who insists he was never officially appointed or involved in the final selection process.
The appointments made by the panel included ANC politicians Gwede Mantashe’s son, Buyambo Mantashe, former KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and ex-ANC KZN deputy chairperson Mike Mabuyakhulu. All of these were withdrawn later, after MPs on the Higher Education Committee called it “corruption” and following a public outcry.
When Daily Maverick spoke to Motau, he laid out a different version of events. According to him, Nkabane first contacted him on 18 March 2025, requesting that he chair the panel. He attended a preliminary meeting with the minister’s adviser, Asisipho Solani, former Central Energy Fund chair Luvo Makasi and deputy director-general Rhulani Ngwenya to discuss the intended process.
A second meeting, scheduled to take place at Motau’s chambers with Solani and Ngwenya, was never held. Instead, Motau says he only learnt about the final appointments through media reports, with no further engagement or briefing from the minister’s office.
“My appointment was not formalised by an attorney. She called me and said my people tried to get a hold of you but it appeared that you were out of the country. I said nobody tried to contact me… because it is clear that you are not fed the correct information. I am a practising advocate, so without an appointment by an attorney, I can’t do it without being instructed by an attorney,” Motau said.
Motau said he wrote to Nkabane on 16 June 2025, a day before she published the panel names. “When I see these names now, it is clear why they did not contact me. My impression is that she decided to go with an internal process, and maybe she didn’t come to me and say, ‘I no longer intend to go the independent route’.”
Read more: MPs demand transparency over secretive Seta appointments panel.
The panel list released by the minister named Motau as chair, alongside four officials from her department: her adviser Solani, Ngwenya, chief director for Seta coordination Mabuza Ngubane and chief of staff Nelisiwe Semane.
Minister ‘misled’ portfolio committee
The committee, which has been questioning Nkabane about the appointments and the panel, released a statement yesterday (Wednesday). “The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education has expressed concern that it was misled about the composition of the panel responsible for recommending appointments to the boards of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
“Committee members feel misled by previous representations made regarding the independence of the panel and the integrity of the appointment process. In particular, the Committee finds the redaction or censoring of some panel member names highly irregular and unacceptable,” it said.
The committee said it would summon the minister, along with the panel, to account to the committee and the public about the matter. No date has been issued yet.
DA files supplementary ethics complaint against Nkabane
The DA has filed a supplementary ethics complaint against Nkabane after it learnt that Motau wrote to Nkabane claiming he had nothing to do with the process. This complaint is an addition to the ethics complaint submitted yesterday.
“The standing complaint is about the minister misleading Parliament when she stated that the panel consisted of independent people and subsequently informed Parliament that they were not independent at all. However, now in light of the new information that an alleged member of the panel denies participating, one can only wonder if a panel did ever exist or whether the minister simply provided a list of names to Parliament of persons she believed would cover for her,” the DA’s Karabo Khakhau said.
The DA says it will also escalate the matter to the Public Protector for misleading and allegedly lying to Parliament in violation of her binding ethics code as a minister.
Asked by Daily Maverick what would happen since he is named in the panel, Motau said: “I don’t have anything, I’m not being briefed, and there’s nothing to talk about. If she wants me to do something, I’ll do it. If she doesn’t, she doesn’t. But for me, truth and integrity come first.” DM