By Johnathan Paoli
The DA has opened a criminal case against Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) administrator Dithabe Oupa Nkoane over the alleged unlawful approval of his own R3 million annual salary package.
DA Deputy Spokesperson on Higher Education and Training and MP Karabo Khakhau said the party had laid charges against Nkoane on Tuesday, following allegations that he violated provisions of the Public Finance Management Act by allegedly approving a salary far above what the DA says had been prescribed by Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela.
“Nkoane was appointed by the Minister of Higher Education solely to fix what’s wrong with CETA. Instead, he brought more problems. The DA warned against his appointment and maintains that he was the wrong choice for appointment.
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“This scandal adds to a laundry list of reasons why SETAs must be scrapped. SETAs were designed as lucrative looting funds for ANC cadres instead of creating tangible skills development and job creation for the country’s youth,” Khakhau said.
The DA alleges that Nkoane unlawfully approved a R3 million annual package despite Manamela having prescribed a R500 000 salary package for the position at the time.
The controversy emerged during recent hearings before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, where members were told that Nkoane, appointed to stabilise the troubled SETA, had unilaterally determined and approved his own remuneration without authorisation from the department or the minister.
Parliament said CETA had approved the administrator’s proposal granting himself a provisional annual salary of R3 million, effective from 1 October 2025. Manamela later approved a reduced R2.5 million package in January 2026.
The committee further found that between October 2025 and March 2026, Nkoane was overpaid by R208 333. It said the payment constituted irregular expenditure because the Department of Higher Education and Training had not approved it at the time.
A repayment plan has since been implemented to recover the overpayment.
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The salary matter followed a briefing to the committee on protected disclosure allegations at CETA, including allegations of irregularities at the entity and concerns about governance and contract management.
During the committee proceedings, the department said Nkoane’s salary had been benchmarked against his most recent salary from a previous employer and the salary levels of SETA chief executives. It also said further guidance had been sought from National Treasury.
However, committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie criticised the process and questioned why remuneration had not been finalised before Nkoane assumed office.
Letsie raised concerns about dysfunction within SETAs, saying large sums were being spent on forensic investigations while the institutions continued failing in their mandate to provide skills development and support economic growth.
“Your core business is to skill and upskill the workforce of South Africa. In the context of the latest unemployment statistics, SETAs were created to help drive economic growth; this is not happening,” Letsie said.
CETA has rejected suggestions that the salary matter was handled irregularly, saying the allegations were “rather unfortunate and misinformed”.
“The Administrator’s salary issue was not handled in an irregular manner at all, but the best entity to address the issue is the Department of Higher Education,” CETA said.
It said some of the allegations were subject to investigations and legal processes, adding that Parliament had requested further clarity and that the authority would respond directly to Parliament.
The intervention at CETA followed four consecutive qualified audit outcomes and longstanding concerns about governance failures, procurement irregularities, weak oversight and instability within the authority.
Manamela appointed Nkoane as CETA administrator in August last year after consultation with the National Skills Authority. The department said at the time that the intervention followed serious and entrenched governance failures at several SETAs.
The DA criticised Nkoane’s appointment in August, when Khakhau accused Manamela of appointing politically connected individuals allegedly linked to corruption and maladministration.
At the time, the DA cited a forensic report implicating Nkoane, as former municipal manager at Emfuleni Local Municipality, in alleged mismanagement involving R872 million.
