Cape Town – New Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela is facing backlash for appointing controversial administrators to lead three struggling Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) — Services, Construction (Ceta), and Local Government (LGSETA).
According to The Citizen, the DA has rejected the appointments, saying the chosen officials — including Oupa Nkoane, Lehlohonolo Masoga, and Zukile Mvalo — are implicated in corruption, mismanagement, or have already failed in previous governance roles.
The party has demanded that Manamela withdraw the appointments and replace them with independent, non-political candidates.
“These appointees are unfit – implicated in corruption, mismanagement, fraud in previous government jobs – or have proved themselves useless in the Seta space already,” the party quoted DA portfolio committee member for higher education, Karabo Khakhau as saying.
🇿🇦 Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela Appoints R800-Million Corruption Implicated ANC cadres as SETA “Administrators.” I wrote to him. Here’s my letter below pic.twitter.com/xHbyCSDkkJ
— Karabo Khakhau MP (@KaraboKhakhau) August 19, 2025
Manamela defended the move, saying the administrators were tasked with restoring integrity and addressing governance failures.
STATEMENT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING ON THE APPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATORS TO SERVICES SETA, LGSETA, AND CETA pic.twitter.com/3VPiJpG1li
— HigherEducationZA (@HigherEduGovZA) August 19, 2025
However, critics argue this mirrors his predecessor Nobuhle Nkabane’s controversial cadre deployment, which ended in her resignation.
The controversy comes as research shows Setas consume R20 billion in taxes annually but only benefit 0.6% of the workforce, with the Bureau for Economic Research calling for a full restructuring of the system.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
