EFF wants Manamela’s Seta appointments declared ‘invalid and ‘unlawful’

Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela. Picture: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu The EFF is taking Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela to court over the appointments to the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Seta) boards. Manamela appointed eight executives to the Seta board last year.

The EFF launched an application in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, seeking a declaration that Manamela’s Seta appointments are “invalid and unlawful” and that they be set aside. President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Manamelaas minister after firing Nobuhle Nkabane from her post, after being embroiled in allegations of corruption and the illegal appointment of the Seta board, including accusations that she misled Parliament by providing false information about the procedure for appointing Seta chairs – a list dominated by ANC cadres – and about the composition of the panel that made the appointments. The primary legal basis for the EFF’s application to review and set aside the appointments of the Seta CEOs is that Manamela’s conduct in appointing the CEOs after the board had met only once to review how the CEOs had performed over the previous five years.

“The first respondent’s conduct is also procedurally unfair because the Accounting Authorities responsible for recommending the re-appointments were newly constituted, had no demonstrable knowledge of the performance histories of the incumbents, and were afforded less than 24 hours to convene, evaluate, and recommend extensions of five-year executive appointments for multiple Seta’s,” argued EFF MP Sihle Lonzi in his affidavit. In its application, the EFF questioned the following CEO appointments: In August last year, Manamela, during a portfolio committee hearing, said the Seta appointments had a clear mandate to restore integrity, enforce consequence management and ensure that students and workers are not prejudiced.