By Thapelo Molefe
Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela has appointed administrators to three SETAs, a move which has been criticised by the Democratic Alliance that is now demanding their removal.
Manamela appointed Matjie Lehlogonolo Alfred Masoga as administrator of the Services SETA, Dithabe Oupa Nkoane as administrator of the Construction Education & Training Authority, and Zukile Christopher Mvalo as administrator of the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority.
“This intervention follows serious and entrenched governance failures in these entities, including procurement irregularities, lapses in oversight and broad instability, which threaten their ability to deliver on their mandate to advance skills development,” read a statement issued by the department.
However, the Democratic Alliance has taken issue with the appointees.
DA national spokesperson Karabo Khakhau said the party had written an urgent letter to Manamela demanding that he withdraw the appointments and replaced them with independent, non-political figures.
The DA cited past controversies involving the administrators.
Nkoane, who was a former Emfuleni municipal manager, was implicated in a forensic report detailing the mismanagement of R872 million in the municipality.
Masoga, who was a former Limpopo MEC and deputy speaker, was named in a forensic report for allegedly backdating a R4.4 million communications contract while serving as CEO of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone.
Mvalo, who was currently the deputy director-general for skills development in the department, has overseen all SETAs since 2017. The DA party argues that under his watch, SETAs have remained unstable.
Manamela said the administrators had a clear mandate to restore integrity, enforce consequence management where necessary, and ensure that learners and workers were not prejudiced by institutional weaknesses.
The department described Masoga as a “seasoned public leader” with experience in economic development and strategic management, Nkoane as a veteran administrator with more than two decades of experience in governance and infrastructure, and Mvalo as a senior executive with legal expertise and extensive skills development oversight.
“This decision marks the first step in stabilising SETA governance. We cannot allow governance failures to erode the public’s confidence in our skills development system,” Manamela said.
The mandate of the administrators includes restoring financial integrity in line with the Public Finance Management Act, ensuring continuity of learner and employer support programmes, and overseeing the reconstitution of new SETA boards.
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