ANC Youth League President Collen Malatji (@ANCYLhq)
ANC Youth League president Collen Malatji says Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane should never have withdrawn the appointment of people linked to the party as chairpersons to Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) boards, saying the move was “cowardly”.
“If I were her, I would not have withdrawn those appointments of chairpersons. She has weakened herself and will never appoint anyone again. What she did is cowardly,” Malatji told the Mail & Guardian.
He said cabinet ministers and deputy ministers considered to be part of the youth in the ANC should only fear him, as ANC youth league leader, and not opposition parties.
“They are my deployments, and the only person they must fear is me. They must consult me on everything. Luthuli House is open for them to come and we will defend them, because there is nothing wrong with deploying qualified people who are aligned with the ANC,” he said.
Nkabane faced criticism in May over her appointment list, which included Buyambo Mantashe, the son of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe; former KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, Siboniso Mbhele, the head of the KwaZulu-Natal department of transport and ANC Johannesburg deputy regional secretary Loyiso Masuku.
In parliament, Nkabane refused to give the names of members of the independent panel that selected the initial names she had appointed for the Seta positions.
In a statement on Tuesday, Nkabane said she had disclosed a members panel for the selection and recommendation of Seta board chairs to the portfolio committee on higher education and training and was ready to account to the committee and to respond to further requests for information.
In a separate statement, also on Tuesday, the chairperson of the committee, Tebogo Letsie, welcomed the submission of a letter containing the names of panel members appointed to oversee the selection and recommendation of board chairpersons for the Seta boards. The panel members are Terry Motau (chairperson), Asisipho Solani, Nelisiwe Semane, Mabuza Ngubane and Rhulani Ngwenya.
The committee said that it had consistently held the view that Nkabane was constitutionally obligated to disclose the names of the panel members to parliament.
“We are pleased that sanity has prevailed, and that the minister has now complied with this requirement. The committee believes this disclosure should have occurred from the outset,” said Letsie.
“We are dealing with public institutions funded through parliamentary appropriations. It was therefore baffling that the committee had to strongly remind the minister of such a basic accountability requirement in our democratic governance system.”
During a meeting of the higher education committee last month, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Sihle Lonzi was removed by security guards after he questioned the appointment of Buyambo as one of the board chairs. The appointments were later withdrawn amid allegations by opposition parties of corruption and nepotism.
Malatji told the M&G that he would never have withdrawn the appointments, asserting that opposition parties have created a false narrative that anyone associated with the ANC is corrupt.
“The ANC contests elections to control power, and every party wants control. This is why parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA), joined the government of national unity,” he said.
“I will never withdraw appointments. You make a decision as a leader, and you stick by it. Why is she apologising for powers given to her? Those people meet the criteria; they are qualified and everything. Anyway, the most educated people are in the ANC, not the DA or EFF.”
Malatji said he considered Buyambo Mantashe as having an unfair advantage and would never have considered him for the post.
“Mantashe’s child is something else. I was never going to appoint Mantashe’s child because he is a minister — not that he is not qualified or not a comrade, but morally wrong,” he said.
“Unfortunately, when your father is a minister or president, you lose certain privileges in life. You can’t compete with a child of a president; it is an unfair competition.”
On calls for Nkabane to be removed from her position, Malatji said she was a good and qualified minister who had been caught off guard.
“She is good for the sector and is also learning higher education needs a person like her,” he said.
“She is not doing badly; just a few things, small things, and over time, she does not consult the youth league, which gets her into trouble.”