Ministers' controversial SETA appointments spark outrage from the opposition

Key topics:Opposition says administrators implicated in corruption, lack credibility.Billions meant for skills accused of funding corruption networks.Appointments seen as cadre deployment, not real reform.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Kerry Lanaghan.Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela's appointment of administrators to three key Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) has drawn intense criticism from opposition parties. In a report by Daily Maverick, the DA and EFF have slammed the appointments, alleging the administrators are implicated in corruption, are politically connected, and lack the capacity to fix the very issues they are meant to address. Manamela has placed the Construction Seta (Ceta), Services Seta (SSeta), and Local Government Seta (LGSeta) under administration, citing governance failures, procurement irregularities, and board instability.The minister stated that the intervention was necessary to restore integrity and ensure learners and workers are not disadvantaged by institutional weaknesses. The goal, he said, is to reposition the Setas to effectively contribute to fighting unemployment and poverty.However, the opposition's primary concern is with the individuals Manamela has chosen. DA’s Karabo Khakhau and the EFF’s Sihle Lonzi both voiced their opposition. According to Khakhau, two appointees are implicated in past corruption scandals. Oupa Nkoane, the new Ceta administrator, was named in a forensic report that revealed the loss of R872 million in "unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure" at the Emfuleni Local Municipality, where he served as acting municipal manager. Similarly, Lehlogonolo Masoga, the SSeta administrator, was allegedly asked by the Public Protector to pay back a R125,000 telephone bill and was implicated in a forensic report for backdating a R4.4 million communications contract.The third appointment, Zukile Mvalo, has also been widely criticised. In Daily Maverick’s report, Khakhau noted that Mvalo served as the deputy director-general of skills development for eight years, during which all 21 SETAs reported directly to him. The criticism is that he failed to stabilise the entities during this time and is an unlikely candidate to fix them now. Both parties view the appointments as an extension of "cadre deployment" and a continuation of the same mistakes made by the previous minister.The controversy unfolds against a backdrop of systemic corruption that has plagued the Seta system for years. According to Daily Maverick, investigators uncovered systemic governance failures at the LGSeta, including procurement irregularities linked to a R2.3 billion tender. Other scandals include R1.72 million in wasteful expenditure at the Health and Welfare Seta and long-standing corruption allegations involving millions of rands at the SSeta.Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), weighed in on the issue, stating that placing a Seta under administration does not "magically clean it up." He said that the billions of rands flowing into the Setas from taxpayers and employers are meant to build skills, not to "bankroll corruption networks." The minister had not commented on the allegations by the time of publication. The appointments, therefore, leave the public to wonder whether the government's intervention will genuinely fix the problem or simply replace one group of corrupt deployees with another.

Ministers' controversial SETA appointments spark outrage from the opposition

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