Buti Manamela, Minister of Higher Education, addresses the media at the Ronnie Mamoepa Media Centre in Hatfield on the current state of the Post-School Education and Training sector, on 12 August 2025 in Pretoria. (Photo: Frennie Shivambu / Gallo Images) Appearing before the higher education committee on Friday, 29 May 2026, following a previous cancelled meeting, Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela defended placing the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) under administration.
However, board members claimed that an irregular meeting took place where they were allegedly told by Manamela to halt the appointment of a NSFAS CEO by 30 May 2026.
Manamela was in Parliament after he placed NSFAS under administration on 4 May and appointed Professor Hlengani Mathebula as its new administrator. Justifying his decision, the minister cited a series of board resignations, including those of former chairperson Dr Karen Stander, interim chairperson Dr Mugwena Maluleke, and Karabo Mohale, head of the human resources and organisational development committee, along with other members.
Irregularities
Manamela told the committee that NSFAS faced nine material irregularities, including 822 deceased students receiving funds, 14,169 recipients exceeding income limits, and 7,805 unresolved appeals. He also cited a cybersecurity breach and board resignations, which resulted in the loss of a quorum.
Invoking Section 17A of the NSFAS Act, Manamela asserted his authority to appoint an administrator to stabilise the scheme. Legal disputes persist over whether the board was correctly constituted in February 2025. Additionally, the board is challenging Manamela in court for placing NSFAS under administration.
“I must indicate that this was not a political fight with the board, but it was a legal governance intervention which was intended to protect the NSFAS and students,” Manamela said on Friday.
Meetings held without minutes
EFF MP Sihle Lonzi said there seemed to be a view that Manamela wanted to politically interfere with NSFAS’s appointment of the CEO. Lonzi questioned Manamela and former board members about the meeting the minister held with them on 13 April 2026.
Board members said they were called to an informal meeting without minutes, where on arrival, their cellphones were confiscated and placed in white envelopes.
Manamela confirmed that he called the board to constitute the meeting via his chief of staff telephonically; there was no formal letter. He said the reason for the meeting was to get an update on appointing a CEO.
/file/attachments/orphans/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-07-at-161852_169509.jpeg "Sihle Lonzi, member of the National Assembly. (Photo: Phando JIkelo /RSA Parliament)")
Lonzi went on to question the board members. Advocate Richardt Tlou Ramashia, a former board member, said the minister gave them an unlawful instruction to halt the appointment process.
“It is true that on arrival, our cellphones were taken, stored in different white, not brown, envelopes, all of us who came. There was no formal agenda to that meeting. In fact, there was no agenda.
“The minister took the platform and introduced our colleague, Ms Mohale, as our deputy chairperson (for the board). I’ve heard the minister repeat it more than twice in this House, referring to Ms Mohali as the deputy chairperson of the NSFAS board.
“Personally, I don’t know why she’s the deputy chairperson, but I know that in terms of the NSFAS Act, the NSFAS board may appoint a deputy chairperson and not the Minister. I know we have not designated Mohale as the deputy chairperson of the NSFAS board… She belongs to the HR committee,” said Ramashia.
/file/attachments/orphans/WhatsAppImage2026-05-26at105921_913390.jpeg "Higher Education Minister Bhuti Manamela tables his departmental budget vote during a debate on higher education. (Photo: Phando Jikelo / RSA Parliament)")
Ramashia continued that the appointed Services Seta administrator, Lehlogonolo Masoga, called him and shared that “ The minister, that’s the minister responsible for higher education and training, was not comfortable with the trajectory we’re taking as the board in relation to a candidate that would potentially be appointed as the CEO.”
“[Masoga] did inform me that there is a very strong candidate, and he gave the credentials of that candidate, who is someone he referred to as a candidate who had been with the National School of Government for some time, and he did indicate that he was a strong candidate,” said Ramashia.
Ramashia added that an advisor in the minister’s office called Masoga and said that the HR committee, on which Mohale served, acted outside the minister’s intention in seeking a new CEO.
“In my view, I consider it to be the level of interference. But then there was a pushback... And I think the pushback comes after all these attempts could not be successful,” said Ramashia.
The board’s candidate
Daily Maverick has reported that the board recommended Waseem Carrim be appointed as CEO with a salary package of R3.5-million. Other candidates included Professor Busani Ngcaweni and Lindiwe Kwele.
There was then a public fracturing within the board. The chairperson of the human resources and organisational development committee, Mohale, formally went on record to oppose her own committee’s decision. In the document seen by Daily Maverick, it states that:
“The Committee Chairperson, Ms Karabo Mohale, recorded a dissenting view, indicating her support for the panel report and the recommendation of Prof Busani Ngcaweni as the preferred candidate. The Committee resolved that the recommendation to the Board would include the individual motivations and detailed views expressed by all members during deliberations, to ensure transparency and a full record of the differing perspectives.”
No interference, says minister
Manamela said he never directed Mohale to influence the appointment of the CEO. He further stated that he never interfered with the appointment process.
“Nope, I did not interfere with the process to appoint a CEO,” said Manamela.
“I did not issue any illegal instruction or directive in the meeting.”
“But secondly, the meeting was necessitated by my engagement with the interim chairperson and that is the meeting itself. The meeting was not intended in any way to take any statutory decision as expected in terms of the functions of the board. The meeting was intended to listen to the board members on the issues that the interim chairperson raised.
“I had no intention of going into that meeting to instruct the board on who they should appoint for the position of the CEO. I was just concerned around the differences that the interim chairperson had spoken to in relation to the workings of the board,” said Manamela on Friday.
He did not get into the actual concerns. However, it was raised that the board wanted to appoint a CEO before the HR committee of NSFAS finalised their report that was to be sent to the board.
MK’s Sihle Ngubane questioned whether Manamela engineered the resignation of the other board members.
“I deny any involvement in the board registrations,” said Manamela.
‘You had one job’
The DA’s Karabo Khakhau said Manamela was clumsy in placing the entity under administration.
“Your approach was clumsy. You had one job. Your job was to make an analysis of whether NSFAS in its then composition made sense; was delivering service delivery optimally; whether the leadership was desired, and by desired, not by your own political desirability, but desired in that they were able to do their job properly or not, and based on that, make an assessment of whether life continues or whether life changes,” said Khakhau.
She further said that Manamela’s choice to appoint administrators is also wrong. She cited the administrator of the Construction Education and Training Authority (Ceta), Oupa Nkoane.
“You would note that I didn’t have a problem with the reasons why you placed those Cetas under administration because I agree they are a problem... You cannot, to date, still justify why Oupa Nkoane is the administrator of the Construction Ceta.
“Beyond his implications through his jobs that he has done with government in the past, including the Emfuleni Local Municipality, with Construction Ceta alone, you still cannot give us confidence that that man is the right man to fix what is wrong with the Construction Ceta because he himself has his own issues, which is the basis of why I’ve laid criminal charges against him,” said Khakhau.
Manamela said, “I am not going to try to win an argument and I’m not trying to persuade you, as you suggested. What I have said is that the terms of the administrators you referred to are coming to an end, so let’s await reports to judge them.”
Daily Maverick spoke to Masoga, after his name emerged at the committee. He said: “I have known Advocate Richardt Ramashia and worked with him during our youth days as activists and leaders. I recently worked with him in the Limpopo Provincial Administration as a colleague and we have always maintained a cordial and comradely relationship, which often involved private conversations.
“Our private conversations during weekends remain private and should be treated as such. However, if he chooses to make them public, it will be something I may not have control over,” said Masoga. DM