By Johnathan Paoli
The Democratic Alliance will lay charges against Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane on Tuesday for allegedly lying to Parliament over the appointment of an “independent panel” to select board chairpersons for Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
“While the president continues to take no action against African National Congress (ANC) corruption in the national executive, the DA will use every means we can to fight it,” the party said.
The charges will be laid at the Cape Town Central Police Station, just hours before Nkabane’s budget debate in the National Council of Provinces.
The DA contends that the ministers’ conduct constitutes a serious breach of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act and the Powers and Privileges of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act.
The party alleges that Nkabane misled Parliament about the composition, independence and appointment process of the panel that selected the SETA board chairs.
The party said this was a textbook example of cadre deployment disguised as independent oversight. It accused Nkabane of not only misleading Parliament, but also insulting the public’s intelligence by pretending the panel was impartial.
This latest move comes as tensions rise in the Government of National Unity following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s dismissal of DA trade and industry deputy minister Andrew Whitfield.
Ramaphosa removed Whitfield for failing to follow proper procedures regarding an international trip.
In protest, the DA withdrew from the National Dialogue over the weekend and has threatened to hold “corrupt” ANC ministers to account by voting against their budgets.
Speaking before the launch of a training centre at the South West Gauteng TVET College in Soweto, Nkabane told reporters it was the prerogative of Ramaphosa to redeploy members of his executive.
“It is the prerogative of the president to appoint or redeploy ministers. I cannot speak for that. But as a department, we remain focused on our work and are ready to present our budget vote in both the NCOP and the National Assembly,” she said.
Nkabane acknowledged that her department had made missteps in appointing senior counsel Terry Motau as the chair of the independent panel without full legal vetting.
“I’m not a legal person; we didn’t realise the implications of appointing a legal practitioner under certain conditions. I sent an apology to Advocate Motau last week, and he accepted,” she said.
Nkabane confirmed that she had received correspondence from Parliament’s Ethics Committee and would respond on Wednesday.
INSIDE EDUCATION
