Judging from the reaction and questions posed after his inaugural press conference, new higher education and training minister Buti Manamela seems to have missed the mark by a country mile.
Once seen as a breath of fresh air and a representative of youth aspirations at the most senior levels of government when he was appointed deputy minister in the presidency in 2014, Manamela failed to show the requisite urgency to tackle issues directly affecting his most hard-hit constituents.
In his first public address as minister — a post some have been lobbying for on his behalf the past two administrations — Manamela unveiled an ambitious plan to transform the post-school education and training sector, aiming to better align it with the demands of a rapidly changing world.
On paper, Manamela’s plan — underpinned by three “major strategic projects” that are explored in greater detail elsewhere in the Sunday Times today — is sound and takes on an archaic system that is simply failing to deal with challenges in higher education and skills training.
Unfortunately the minister’s lofty ideas mean little because they are being introduced into an environment that has been crippled by apathy, corruption and maladministration — the typical South African story. It was little wonder that after a speech on his grand plans, the minister was hit with questions about the dire situation on the ground.
These included questions about the troubled National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which is buckling under the pressure of complaints from thousands of students across the country about delays in securing accommodation and allowances midway through the academic year.
In response, Manamela said the NSFAS — which has shown it is unable to tackle challenges that have persisted for more than a decade — would address this when it hosts its own media briefing “soon”.
There were also questions about the controversial R400m infrastructure project at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), allegedly awarded to a company that did not qualify. As a result, the work — to build a student centre, two blocks of much-needed residences and lecture venues — was allegedly halted by the department of employment & labour over regulatory issues. Manamela's response was that he had asked University's leadership fir a report on the developments.
If one did not know better, one could be forgiven for thinking Manamela was completely new to the environment — and not a deputy education minister since 2017. While deputy ministers in the ANC government are often relegated to ceremonial roles, he should be familiar with the challenges facing the sector.
While those in the know intimate that the Minister is being methodical in his approach, those of us who have become accustomed with the ANC's ability to whitewash malfeasance cannot help but be skeptical. Only time will tell whether his promises to deal in earnest with these issues will actualise."
Over the past six weeks, the Sunday Times has reported extensively on the shenanigans at the construction education and training authority (Ceta), where CEO Malusi Shezi has been aggressively firing and suspending employees who raise concerns about the mounting irregularities on his watch.
Key to Shezi’s ability to operate with impunity is that he has been both board and accounting officer at the CETA since March. Former CETA board chair Thabo Masombuka recently revealed that before it was disbanded, his board had sought permission from Manamela’s predecessor, Nobuhle Nkabane, to suspend Shezi and investigate complaints against him, but this was not done.
The Sunday Times further revealed that finance minister Enoch Godongwana had also written to Nkabane about the local government Seta, imploring her to act on improprieties, as far back as April. Nkabane, who lost her job after it emerged that she lied to parliament and the president about her attempts to pad the lucrative Seta boards with ANC lackeys, ignored Godongwana’s letter until a few hours before her removal.
Whether Nkabane raised these issues in her handover to Manamela or not, one would have expected that he — as someone with a front-row seat to the mess as deputy minister — would be interested in intervening before it is too late.
It makes no sense why — in the face of a letter from the \finance minister to his predecessor, raising critical issues related to the local government Seta’s spending and advising the department to recover monies from those said to be implicated in wrongdoing — he speaks about approaching the Treasury for more money, whose response would be something akin to: we cannot, in a constrained fiscal environment, dispense more money to an entity that is frivolous with precious public funds.
Since Manamela’s appointment, Shezi has begun advertising to fill ungraded positions in a new organogram, which is being challenged by unions and is set to be discussed at the CCMA later this month.
This could mean that by the time Manamela appoints a board and instructs it to hold Shezi accountable, the Ceta will have filled more than 20 positions in the CEO’s office, all without following due process. This would be an untenable situation.
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