MPs frustrated as Manamela pulls out of parly appearance at last minute

In what might be seen as attempting to dodge accountability, as per his predecessor the disgraced Nobuhle Nkabane during the Seta board chairperson appointments saga, Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela has evaded appearing in front of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education at the last minute.

Manamela was meant to appear before the portfolio committee on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, to provide reasons for placing the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) under administration on 4 May 2026, and appointing controversial figure, Professor Hlengane Mathebula.

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Before deciding to ditch the committee, Manamela had written to the chairperson of the Committee, Tebogo Letsie (ANC), on 15 May 2026, seeking an extension.

Letsie wrote to MPs of the committee, saying: “We arrived at a determination that it will be pointless to continue with the meeting tomorrow without presentation.”

“I kindly request the Committee’s indulgence to allow me additional time to finalise and quality-assure the presentation that will serve before the Committee,” said Manamela. “The Committee should also note that the matter of the Administrator is now before the courts under Case 2026/107602 at Pretoria High Court. The former board members have lodged this case to challenge the appointment of the Administrator. In this instance, I need further counsel on this matter. As such, more time is required to prepare the presentation,” said Manamela.

MPs’ reactions

Speaking to Portfolio Committee members, the EFF’s Sihle Lonzi told Daily Maverick: “As the EFF, we are totally angered by this decision. We consider it to be unprocedural; we consider it to be irregular; and we consider it to be suspicious that once again the chair of the committee is repeating history, where he is siding with a delinquent, compromised and dodgy minister who does not want Parliament to hold him accountable,” said Lonzi.

He added that Manamela had been given enough time to prepare and present himself before the committee.

“We are aware that there are rumours that, actually, today there was an ANC meeting where they were told that they must postpone tomorrow’s meeting because they could see that there is no way that the minister is going to survive that meeting. So they are repeating the same script, and I don’t know why, because it didn’t work for them before… We are going to hold the minister accountable. That is the role of Parliament. So the immediate action is to write to the chair of the chairs [Cedric Frolick], and then we’ll wait for their intervention on the matter,” said Lonzi.

The DA’s Dr Delmaine Christians said in a statement that Manamela was trying to hide from Parliament and the South African public.

“Placing NSFAS under administration was presented as a measure to stabilise the institution. Yet within days the matter has escalated into court action, governance disputes, delayed accountability to Parliament, and now the collapse of a critical parliamentary oversight engagement,” said Christians.

Meanwhile, the MK party’s Mnqobi Msezane told Daily Maverick that “the minister is outrightly running away from accountability. So we’re not taking it lightly. We do view this as a political tactic that is being played by the minister as well as his comrades within the ANC, and we will not take it lightly. We’ll definitely expose any tactic that seeks to evade accountability. We will expose the minister’s interference in processes that are supposed to be in line with the NSFAS Act,” said Msezane.

Meanwhile, DA’s Karabo Khakhau told Daily Maverick that there was no confidence in Manamela regarding the chaos in the education sector.

“He has been deputy minister of that department throughout the entire messy tenure of Blade Nzimande, and he has not been able to indicate what is different, and in the beginning of his tenure we said that he has a lot of work to do in order to prove to us that he is up to the task. Avoiding accountability and essentially ghosting a portfolio committee of Parliament is not a good start,” said Khakhau.

Board members vs Manamela: battle at court

The seven remaining NSFAS board members have not taken the issue of placing the entity under administration lightly. Board members launched an urgent legal application to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria. The board wants the court to permanently undo Manamela’s decision to dissolve the board and appoint the administrator, and is also asking the court to immediately freeze the administrator’s powers and let the Board run NSFAS while the main legal fight takes place.

In their affidavits, led by Advocate Richardt Tlou Ramashia, the board members reveal shocking details. The Board strongly hints that the minister acted out of political spite and an “ulterior motive”. Specifically, the Board notes that it had just run a rigorous process and voted to appoint a permanent CEO (Waseem Carrim).

“On 11 April 2026, the Minister – through his Chief of Staff – invited the Board to a meeting, which was convened for 13 April 2026. The meeting was held at the offices of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences in Parktown. I attended on behalf of the Board, together with Karabo Mohale (who has since resigned), and the Third to Seventh Applicants. They confirm my version of events.

“No agenda for the meeting was shared, either in advance of or at the meeting. On our arrival, our phones were confiscated. The meeting was not recorded and no secretariat of NSFAS were present. It was apparent that the Minister did not want a formal record of the meeting… At the meeting, the Minister told us that the Board should not move forward with the process of the appointment of the CEO. He informed us that we should wait,” read the affidavit.

The board said this was a red flag.

“The Minister’s conduct was a matter of great concern to us. It was clear that he sought to interfere in the appointment of the CEO, and disrupt the internal process that the Board had undertaken in this regard. Such interference and direction was unlawful. It is for the Board – not the Minister – to administer,” read the affidavit.

In a statement released on 19 May, Manamela said: “The postponement occurred in the context of urgent litigation proceedings instituted by former NSFAS Board members relating to the decision to place NSFAS under administration, as well as related legal and procedural processes currently underway.” He said he remained committed to appearing before the committee.

Daily Maverick reached out to the ANC for comment, however they had not responded by the time of publication.

No new date has been announced for the meeting. DM