‘Corrupt and incapable’ — education minister’s appointments of Seta administrators slammed by DA and EFF

Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela has placed three Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) — the Construction Seta (Ceta), Services Seta (SSeta) and Local Government Seta (LGSeta) — under administration, citing governance failures, procurement irregularities, lapses in oversight and board instability.

On 19 August, Manamela appointed Oupa Nkoane as Ceta administrator, Lehlogonolo Masoga as SSeta administrator and Zukile Mvalo as LGSeta administrator.

These appointments came in the wake of Daily Maverick’s sustained reporting on allegations of corruption regarding former higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane’s appointments of the chairpersons of the 21 Seta boards.

“We cannot allow governance failures to erode the public’s confidence in our skills development system. These administrators have a clear mandate to restore integrity, enforce consequence management where necessary, and ensure that learners and workers are not prejudiced by institutional weaknesses,” said Manamela.

The goal, he said, was to reposition Setas so they can contribute effectively to the fight against unemployment, poverty and inequality.

Significance of being under administration 

Placing higher education entities under administration is a significant and regulated intervention aimed at addressing severe governance and operational failures. If an audit or any other information reveals serious financial mismanagement, corruption or a lack of proper accounting, the minister has the authority to step in.

Once the minister appoints an administrator, the administrator effectively takes over the powers, functions and duties of the institution’s council for a specific period, which is determined by the minister and can be extended.

In April 2024, former minister Blade Nzimande announced the dissolution of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme board and placed the entity under administration. He appointed Sithembiso Freeman Nomvalo as the administrator for 12 months.

Read more: NSFAS boss Freeman Nomvalo promises fresh processes and payment system by September.

A few universities have also been placed under administration, including the University of South Africa, the University of Fort Hare, Mangosuthu University of Technology and Vaal University of Technology.

The wrong people

The DA’s Karabo Khakhau and the EFF’s Sihle Lonzi said Manamela had appointed the wrong people as the administrators of the three Setas.

“The issue we have with the three people that he has chosen to appoint is that two of them are implicated in corruption … [involving] R872-million and … R4.4-million,” said Khakhau, referring to Nkoane and Masoga.

She said Mvalo has been at the Department of Higher Education for years as a deputy director-general of skills development.

“All 21 Setas have been reporting directly to him for the past eight years,” said Khakau. “He has failed at stabilising Setas for the past eight years and has no prospect of fixing anything suddenly now.”

She said the three appointments were not much different from what Nkabane had done when appointing ANC cadres to head Setas.

‘Starting on the wrong foot’

Lonzi said, “It seems like Minister Buti Manamela did not listen to our council because we wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt to say, ‘Don’t repeat the same mistakes of your predecessor.’

“Instead of trying to appoint dignified, honest, new board members with integrity to turn around our entities, there seems to be a continued capture which has been taking place in our Setas.

“[This] is just another ANC deployee being replaced by another corrupt ANC deployee to continue the corruption and the kleptocracy of the ANC government in its attempt to capture our government entities and institutions.”

Read more: ANC is ‘defending the indefensible’, says DA after Mbalula backs Minister Nkabane.

Corruption scandals 

Two of the new administrators, Nkoane and Masoga, were implicated in corruption scandals.

Ceta administrator Nkoane was one of 12 officials named in a 2017/18 forensic report that revealed the loss of R872-million in “unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure” at the Emfuleni Local Municipality. At the time, Nkoana was the acting municipal manager of the municipality.

A criminal case stemming from the report was opened with the South African Police Service.

The SABC reported that the DA called for Nkoane’s dismissal, and he was replaced by Lucky Leseane in February 2020.

Sseta administrator Masoga grew up in the ranks of the ANC Youth League. He was deputy chairperson of his local ANC branch in Flora Park, Polokwane. From 2009 to 2019, he was a member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature, where he served as MEC for roads and transport and deputy speaker.

Masoga allegedly incurred an “exorbitant or unreasonable” telephone bill amounting to R125,000 during an official trip to the US in August 2014. Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane recommended that Masogo pay back part of this bill.

According to Khakhau, Masogo “was implicated in a forensic report by forensic services company Morar for backdating a communications contract worth R4.4-million as the CEO of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone — this was seen to justify unjustified payments made to communications company, Mahuma Group”.

Read more:

• White elephant tender-fest trampling SA’s impoverished far north.
• Broken promises — how SA’s Seta system leaves young job seekers behind.

Governance failures

Setas have been plagued by governance failures and corruption.

Investigators uncovered systemic governance failures at the LGSeta, including procurement irregularities linked to a R2.3-billion tender process riddled with noncompliance.

In 2023, the Health and Welfare Seta reported R1.72-million in wasteful expenditure, including unpaid stipends and inflated purchase orders.

From as far back as 2018, the SSeta has been linked to corruption involving millions of rands.

Read more: How Services Seta blew R163-million and broke SA’s skills promise.

The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Tebogo Letsie, said the committee has not been furnished with the full details of why each Seta had been placed under administration.

“We will wait for the ministry to give us a full report on its decision before deciding if we will ask them to take us through their decision,” said Letsie.

On Wednesday, 20 August, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s CEO, Wayne Duvenage, said: “Putting a Seta under administration does not magically clean it up. You don’t fix a leaking roof by handing the job to the contractor who botched it last time. This looks like cadre deployment, not a clean-up.

“The billions that flow into the Setas belong to taxpayers and employers. That money is meant to build the skills our young people need, not bankroll corruption networks.”

Duvenage called for a two-month deadline for administrators to hand over to “credible boards, transparent and ethical recruitment of new CEOs, protection for whistleblowers who exposed the corruption and consequence management for those implicated in maladministration.”

Daily Maverick asked Manamela to comment on the controversial appointments, but had not received a reply by the time of publication. DM