The head of South Africa’s representative vice-chancellors’ body has welcomed the appointment of Buti Manamela as the country’s new minister of higher education and training following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s removal of the incumbent Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, accused of lying to parliament over senior appointments in the country’s training sector.

Professor Francis Petersen, the chairperson of the board of directors of Universities South Africa (USAf), which represents the country’s 26 public universities, said Manamela was a logical choice for this role.

“His deep understanding of the sector’s complexities, gained through his almost eight-year tenure as the deputy minister, positions him well to lead higher education at this critical juncture,” he said.

Petersen, the vice-chancellor of the University of Pretoria, added that Manamela brings renewed energy and insight to the ministry, considering the pressing challenges he has witnessed first-hand.

These include severe operational difficulties within the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which manages the government grants for students in financial need, and the deterioration of capacity and institutional responsiveness within the department in recent years.

“We are hopeful that his leadership will restore excellence and accountability to this executive arm of government,” Petersen said.

Did the minister mislead parliament?

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, in a statement on 21 July, announced that Ramaphosa had removed Nkabane, but did not provide reasons for the move.

Magwenya stated that the decision was taken by the president in accordance with the powers granted to him by the South African Constitution.

Former KwaZulu-Natal premier Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube has been named as Manamela’s new deputy.

But the sacking of Nkabane comes after political pressure emanating from allegations against her. She was accused of misleading the South African Parliament and was dogged by controversy over a list of potential heads of Sector Education and Training Authorities, or SETAs, which are tasked with providing skills training across various economic sectors.

Nkabane claimed that the list of names of the heads was provided by an independent panel; however, it emerged that it was a list drafted by the African National Congress (ANC), which also featured the son of her former boss, Gwede Mantashe, at that time minister of mineral resources and energy, and currently the minister of mineral and petroleum resources and acting minister of police.

Sustainability challenges in sector

Dr Phethiwe Matutu, the chief executive officer of USAf, said the vice-chancellors’ body was excited about working with Manamela as he was experienced in the sector.

Matutu cautioned Manamela that ensuring the sector’s sustainability was probably the greatest challenge facing him. However, she said USAf was looking forward to working with him, just as it had committed to doing with his predecessor, to advance higher education.

Given the challenges, Matutu said the new minister ought to prioritise the financial well-being of the sector and consider reviewing the legislation with the intention of developing policies that benefit the nation.

The ANC also welcomed the appointment of Manamela, describing him as a “seasoned leader with strong ties to the youth and student movement”.

In a statement, it said Manamela’s experience positions him well to lead the transformation agenda in this sector, and that his appointment comes at a critical time, aligning well with the urgent task of consolidating transformation, restoring governance integrity, and revitalising skills development across the sector.

The South African Communist Party stated that Manamela, who is a member of the party, assumes the responsibility of the higher education portfolio amid challenges that pose threats to the sector’s future and the legitimacy of key entities essential to the delivery of educational outcomes.

The South African Students Congress, or SASCO, also welcomed the appointment of Manamela, saying it wanted him to act on immediate “rectification of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme board” which has to oversee the smooth running of the scheme.

SASCO called for his intervention on the payments of allowances, and for amendments to the higher education law to write off student debt “since students face [academic] exclusion due to debt” owed by them to NSFAS. This means that they are not able to continue with their studies if they owe their institutions money.

A crisis in the SETA sector

Wayne Duvenage, the head of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, or OUTA, told University World News that it had requested a meeting with Manamela to discuss the urgent crisis affecting some of the country’s SETAs.

The lack of board appointments has left SETAs in the hands of CEOs, some of whom were running amok, he added.

Duvenage said OUTA was also aware of the proximity of the minister to the troubled Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA) CEO Gugu Mkhize. As part of his oversight duties over SETAs, Manamela was given responsibility over INSETA, which congratulated him on his promotion in a Facebook post.

Duvenage added that Nkabane’s axing should not allow under-performing SETAs a reprieve or a chance to continue wrongdoing, and that Manamela must act against the corruption and poor performance of CEOs.

A source close to Nkabane stated that Nkabane had intended to act against all CEOs of SETAs which had received qualified audits from the Auditor General during the 2023-24 financial year.

“CEOs of SETAs were rejoicing when news of her axing broke,” said a senior education official.

Yershen Pillay, the CEO of the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority, said Manamela’s appointment was an excellent one, as he knows the sector well and has some great ideas that are more future-looking.

“I am looking forward to his leadership,” said Pillay.

Manamela completed matric at Phagameng High School in Modimolle, Limpopo, and attended the Mamelodi Technical and Vocational Education and Training College near Pretoria where he obtained his first qualification in 2001. Later, he graduated with a masters degree in management and public policy from the University of the Witwatersrand.

In previous interviews, Manamela spoke passionately about technical and vocational education and training, or TVET, colleges, stating that, throughout the country, they should offer coding, programming, and robotics to broaden the skills required for the 21st century, thus breaking the back of unemployment.