Nkabane skips Seta scandal meeting as officials deny role in appointments

Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane did not appear at a long-awaited committee meeting on Friday, 18 July 2025, choosing instead to attend a march against gender-based violence and address students at Buffalo City TVET College in the Eastern Cape. 

Nkabane was meant to clarify her controversial appointment of 21 Sector Education Training Authority (Seta) board chairpersons — many with ANC ties — at the Higher Education Portfolio Committee meeting.

Only two of the five officials she claimed advised her on the appointments appeared before the committee on Friday; the other three were absent.

In June, Nkabane told Parliament her appointment of the 21 Seta chairpersons was guided by an advisory group that included advocate Terry Motau SC, her chief of staff Nelisiwe Semane, Seta director Mabuza Ngubane, the department’s deputy director-general Rhulani Ngwenya, and adviser Asisipho Solani.

That claim is falling apart. Motau has since denied being formally appointed or involved in the final selection. Semane, Ngubane and Ngwenya have also distanced themselves from the process, raising serious questions about the truthfulness of the minister’s account.

Read more: Did the Seta panel exist? Nkabane under fire as senior officials deny role in appointments

MPs on the portfolio committee expressed dissatisfaction and frustration on Friday. While Nkabane did not pitch, her deputy ministers, Mimmy Gondwe and Buti Manamela, as well as Motau and Ngubane, attended the meeting.

‘Disrespectful’

MPs have now called for the minister to be subjected to the Ethics Committee after she allegedly misled the committee about the independent Seta panel, and the fact that she had dodged the committee. MPs also said the minister had been disrespectful towards the committee.

The DA’s Karabo Khakhau said the minister should be in Parliament and not in the Eastern Cape.

“There’s no reason why the minister must be in the Eastern Cape… because right now, two deputy ministers are sitting here who do not have any constitutional authority to appoint Seta board chairpersons, let alone convene a panel to advise them on that appointment,” said Khakhau. 

“Her being evasive in this process is not only spit in our faces, it’s a waste of our time. She is blatantly evading accountability here. We see this,” said Khakhau.

The ANC’s Gaolatlhe Kgabo said: “Those who did not come to this meeting show a clear demonstration of disrespecting the rule of law and processes. Secondly, the minister is not in any position to tell us whether we must postpone the meeting or not.

“It must be indicated in this meeting that this portfolio committee will not operate based on the availability of the minister… She seems to be punching way above her weight and is not aligned with or having an understanding of the parliamentary accountability ecosystem,” said Kgabo.

The uMkhonto Wesizwe party’s Sihle Ngubane agreed the minister was disrespecting the committee: “We’re at a stage where the Department of Higher Education has done this; it’s the first of its kind. No one has seen this nonsense that is happening [before].”

‘My apologies…’

In a letter written by Nkabane to committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie, Nkabane apologised for missing the meeting. She said the address in the Eastern Cape was of importance and related to systemic challenges affecting young women in higher education. However, Letsie dismissed her apology. 

“The apology for the meeting on 18 July 2025 is hereby not acceptable. While I acknowledge the importance of children’s colleges and the induction of governance structures such as the SRC, the meeting of the portfolio committee dealing with the follow-up deliberation in respect of the independent panel for the selection and recommendation of the Setas accounting authority chairperson is important,” said Letsie.

Other members of Nkabane’s supposed Seta advisory team also didn’t attend Parliament. Letsie revealed that Director-General Nkosinathi Sishi had told Deputy Director-General Ngwenya that the meeting had been cancelled, despite no such directive coming from the committee. Meanwhile, Nkabane’s advisor, Solani, did not respond to the invitation.

Read more: Educated for leadership and engulfed by scandal, Minister Nkabane faces her sternest test

The EEF’s Sihle Lonzi said Sishi must come and account for saying the meeting was cancelled.

“On the director-general, I think he must be called to come and explain why he would send out an email cancelling our meeting, because it’s a meeting of Parliament. Not even a state president can cancel a meeting of Parliament,” said Lonzi.

Kgabo said: “We firstly need to take into consideration the fact that the DG has misrepresented the committee by saying that the meeting has been postponed when the meeting has not been postponed.

“To a large extent, it’s problematic that the DG will postpone a meeting that he has not convened… It must be noted that the actions of the DG, in a way, are disrupting the smooth running of this committee,” said Kgabo.

He questioned whether the DG might have been involved in the process of appointing the Seta chairpersons.

Ngubane and Motau’s versions

Ngubane and Motau, whom Nkabane claimed assisted her in appointing the chairpersons of the 21 Seta boards, stated that they were not involved in the process. They were testifying in Parliament regarding the letters they had sent to the committee previously. 

Ngubane’s letter read: “I did not attend any meeting, since I did not receive any invitation for the meeting. Paragraph 5 of the Appointment Letter states that ‘the date of the nomination committee meeting will be communicated to you in due course’. Lastly, I reiterate that neither was I involved in setting up meetings nor screening the nominations of candidates for the Seta chairpersons.”

Motau’s letter read: “My appointment was not formalised by an attorney. She called me and said my people tried to get 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 I can’t do it without being instructed by an attorney.”

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,’” said Motau.

MPs were given an opportunity to seek clarification from Motau and Ngubane on what transpired and how they were involved in the Seta panel matter. Khakhau asked Ngubane how this year’s process of Seta appointments is different from the previous year. Ngubane responded: “The only difference this time around is the establishment of the panel… Following the minister’s request, I submitted the nominations report of the Seta chairpersons via an email to the minister.” This suggested that the minister was responsible for the appointing of the chairpersons.

Read more: Outa says Sector Education and Training Authorities need complete overhaul for job creation

Nkabane has since apologised to Motau for naming him; however, Motau has told the committee that he also wrote to the minister that her apology was confusing.

The minister responded to Motau and he read her response on Friday.

“I did not intend to mislead the committee or to associate your name with a process in which you were never formally engaged. I now recognise that the language used failed to reflect your objective facts and contributed to public misunderstanding about your actual role,” said Nkabane in her letter to the advocate.

While members of the committee called for Nkabane to face the Ethics Committee, Letsie set a new date of 22 of July for Nkabane to appear before the committee. 

The DA and student organisations have been calling for the president to remove Nkabane due to the controversial appointments and for misleading Parliament. DM