EFF wants Manamela’s Seta CEO appointments declared ‘invalid and ‘unlawful’
· Citizen
The EFF is taking Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela to court over the appointments to the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Seta) boards.
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Manamela appointed eight executives to the Seta board last year.
Court
The EFF launched an application in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, seeking a declaration that Manamela’s Seta appointments are “invalid and unlawful” and that they be set aside.
In total, there are 18 Seta chairs and CEO’s.
President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Manamela as minister after firing Nobuhle Nkabane from her post. after being embroiled in allegations of corruption and the illegal appointment of the Seta board, including accusations that she misled Parliament by providing false information about the procedure for appointing Seta chairs – a list dominated by ANC cadres – and about the composition of the panel that made the appointments.
Application
The primary legal basis for the EFF’s application to review and set aside the appointments of the Seta CEOs is that Manamela’s conduct in appointing the CEOs after the board had met only once to review how the CEOs had performed over the previous five years.
“The first respondent’s conduct is also procedurally unfair because the Accounting Authorities responsible for recommending the re-appointments were newly constituted, had no demonstrable knowledge of the performance histories of the incumbents, and were afforded less than 24 hours to convene, evaluate, and recommend extensions of five-year executive appointments for multiple Seta’s,” argued EFF MP Sihle Lonzi in his affidavit.
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Appointments
In its application, the EFF questioned the following CEO’s appointments:
- Yershen Pillay, Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority
- Ayanda Mafuleka, Financial and Accounting Services Seta
- Felleng Yende, Fibre Processing and Manufacturing Seta
- Gugu Mkhize, Insurance Seta
- Matome Madibana, Media, Information and Communication Technologies Seta
- Thabo Shadrack Mashongoane, Mining Qualifications Authority
- Tom Mkhwanazi, Wholesale and Retail
- Nokuthula Selamolela, FoodBev Manufacturing Seta
In his affidavit, Lonzo argued” The purpose of the application is to seek an order of the Court in the following terms: Declaring that the decision and/or conduct of the First Respondent (Manamela) in appointing the respondents and CEO’s of the various Seta’s constituted administrative action that is procedurally unfair, irrational, unlawful, and invalid, and reviewing and setting aside such appointments in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 (“PAJA”), alternatively in terms of the constitutional principle of legality.”
‘Clear mandate’
In August last year, Manamela, during a portfolio committee hearing, said the Seta appointments had a clear mandate to restore integrity, enforce consequence management and ensure that students and workers are not prejudiced.
However, DA portfolio committee member for higher education, Karabo Khakhau, said these appointments did not inspire confidence.
“These appointees are unfit – implicated in corruption, mismanagement, fraud in previous government jobs – or have proved themselves useless in the Seta space already,” said Khakhau.
Last year, a study found that while the Setas are created to solve the country’s skills shortage problem and contribute to the employability of South Africans, they instead eat R20 billion per year in tax money, and reach only 0.6% of the workforce.
ALSO READ: SETA not resolving skills shortage, just eating our tax money