Minister Buti Manamela faces backlash over controversial Seta appointments amid corruption allegations

Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela called in the Public Service Commission (PSC) after he placed three Sector Education and Training Authorities – the Services Seta (SSETA), Construction Education and Training Authority Seta (Ceta), and Local Government Seta (LGSETA) – under administration.

This was after he had appointed individuals with links to governance corruption in municipalities, ties to the ANC, and a long-serving person from the Department of Higher Education as administrators, saying that these Setas were failing, lapsing in oversight, and experiencing board instability.

On 19 August 2025, Manamela appointed Oupa Nkoane as Ceta administrator, Lehlogonolo Masoga as SSETA administrator, and Zukile Mvalo as LGSETA administrator. Political parties wasted no time in calling out Manamela on these appointments. Daily Maverick reported that both the DA and EFF said these administrators were implicated in corruption, were ANC cadres and were incapable of doing the job.

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

‘Investigate my administrators’

Following the outcry, Manamela submitted to pressure and asked the PSC, an independent South African institution established under Section 196 of the Constitution, to investigate the three individuals he had appointed to these positions. 

Chairperson of the PSC, Professor Somadoda Fikeni, told Daily Maverick that the commission received Manamela’s request for an investigation on Friday, 22 August. He said this was the first time the PSC had investigated appointments.

Asked whether he had seen reports from the DA and EFF linking the appointees to the ANC and to corruption, Fikeni said, “We can't predetermine what the investigators will do, [but] whether you were a member of this or that party or any other thing, if it impacts your functionality, we will raise that.

“It doesn't matter which party, and it doesn’t matter which entity; as long as it begins to impede good governance, then it becomes material to the investigation,” Fikeni said.

He said Setas were a huge problem: “Even the appointment of boards, whether it’s Setas or councils, there is a need to overhaul that system so that we professionalise how these things are done and do them more scientifically and transparently. Even with Higher Education ministerial reps, we raised the same point that these are murky spaces which sometimes could easily compromise … these institutions, which are fundamentally important and are sitting on billions of rands.”

It has already emerged that Nkoane, a Ceta administrator and former acting municipal manager for Emfuleni Local Municipality, was implicated in a 2017/18 forensic investigation into R872-million in irregular expenditure, leading to a criminal case. The SABC reported that the DA had called for Nkoane’s dismissal from his municipal post, and he was replaced by Lucky Leseane in February 2020.

On 21 August 2025, News24 reported that Nkoane had not received an appointment letter to his Ceta post and had not met any department officials. However, Higher Education spokesperson Matshepo Seedat told Daily Maverick otherwise. “It is not true that he did not know [about his appointment],” said Seedat. 

Daily Maverick also spoke to Mvalo, the LGSETA administrator – previously Deputy Director-General for Skills Development – who was optimistic about his appointment.

“We are placing these Setas under administration because we’ve seen they are not complying and coming to the party… We’re doing what we can do, but I can tell you we are not naïve. There are challenges because when you bring anyone to the board, whether it’s a board of any entity of the department, there are always these challenges,” said Mvalo. He said he was looking forward to working with LGSETA CEO Ineeleng Molete.

Daily Maverick asked Molete whether Manamela had told him he would be appointing an administrator to the LGSETA, and also asked about governance failures cited by Manamela. 

Molete replied: “I cannot respond to this, as it forms part of matters that will soon be ventilated in a competent court.” 

Meanwhile, Masoga, the third administrator, rose through the ranks of the ANC Youth League, serving as deputy chair of his local ANC branch. From 2009 to 2019, he was MEC for Roads and Transport and Deputy Speaker in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature.

Parliamentary committee concerned

Daily Maverick also spoke to the parliamentary committee on higher education chairperson Tebogo Lestie, who said it was worrying that Manamela had made appointments and then asked the PSC to vet them. 

“It is concerning that after the fact, we are now saying the Public Service Commission must come and check whether the appointments were right, whether the people have no prior issues – so literally vetting after the fact. It does not inspire confidence … and this is not what we want for higher education,” said Letsie. 

Letsie said he had applied to the chair of chairs in Parliament for a committee meeting on 12 or 19 September 2025 to bring Manamela to account over the appointments, and to establish what process he had followed to place these Setas under administration. DM