Political parties have welcomed the removal of Nobuhle Nkabane as Higher Education and Training Minister, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) saying this is the first step to restoring faith that the Government of National Unity (GNU) will not tolerate corruption.

On Monday President Cyril Ramaphosa removed Nkabane and replaced her with Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela.

Ramaphosa has also appointed Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube as the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training.

Earlier this month, the DA laid criminal charges against Nkabane, for allegedly lying to Parliament about ANC cadre appointments.

The party claimed that Nkabane lied when she stated that the panel tasked with appointing the sector education and training authorities (Seta) board chairpersons consisted of independent people, and subsequently informed Parliament that they were not independent at all.

Nkabane faces allegations of manufacturing a scheme that saw senior ANC personalities deployed to high-paying Seta board jobs, benefiting the family of Gwede Mantashe, the former ANC Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, former ANC MECs in KwaZulu-Natal, a former ANC Deputy Minister in national government, and the ANC’s provincial coordinator in KwaZulu-Natal – until she was forced to overturn these deployments.

“Seeing one ANC Minister depart Cabinet under storming clouds of lies, deceit, cadre deployment corruption and a Hawks investigation is a first step to restoring our faith that the GNU will not tolerate corruption,” said DA spokesperson Karabo Khakhau.

The DA had opposed the department’s budget while it was led by Nkabane, who the party described as “dishonest and incompetent”.

“Our demand to President Ramaphosa was for him to act against the seriously compromised, corrupt and nefarious in the ANC, and the firing of Nkabane is the first step for him. One Nkabane does not a renewed ANC make. There is still a very long list of ANC corruption to be eradicated,” the party expressed.

ActionSA said Nkabane’s tenure as the Higher Education Minister offered no meaningful reform, and that it showed blatant disregard for the realities students faced daily.

“She leaves behind a national student housing backlog of more than 500 000 beds, a dysfunctional National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) whose 2023/2024 report is nine months overdue, and a staggering R20-billion black hole at the Setas, which continue to fail in delivering skills development,” ActionSA stated.

The party pointed out that Nkabane’s attempt to bury parliamentary questions under 800 pages of “bureaucratic nonsense” concealed, among other things, a R11.2-million departmental travel spree.

MANAMELA APPOINTMENT

However, the party expressed concerns with Manamela’s appointment as Nkabane’s replacement, saying this was not a cause for celebration.

“Manamela has served as Deputy Minister since 2017 and has been seated at the centre of the department’s decline. His promotion is not a clean-up but a missed opportunity to clean house entirely,” it said.

ActionSA believes that the Basic and Higher Education departments should be merged.

The party has proposed expanding Nsfas to support the missing middle by raising the income threshold to R500 000 and introducing affordable, low-interest student loans repayable only after two years of employment, capped at 10% of income.

“We continue to advocate for the conversion of hijacked buildings in CBDs into safe and affordable student housing. Most importantly, we have called for the scrapping of the broken Setas and the redirection of their budgets into an innovative Opportunity Fund that delivers real skills and jobs,” the party highlighted.

ActionSA said it rejected “cosmetic Cabinet reshuffles” that recycle the same failed officials while students continue to suffer.

CONFIDENCE IN NEW LEADERSHIP

Meanwhile, the ANC expressed confidence in Manamela and Dube-Ncube’s appointments, noting that Manamela was “well positioned” to advance a responsive, inclusive, and future-ready post-school education and training system.

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri described Manamela as a seasoned leader with strong ties to the youth and student movement.

“…his experience positions him well to lead the transformation agenda in this sector. His appointment comes at a critical time and is well aligned with the urgent task of consolidating transformation, restoring governance integrity, and revitalising skills development across the sector,” she said.

Bhengu-Motsiri believes that Dube-Ncube’s appointment enhances executive capacity and reflects confidence in her proven leadership.

The ANC said it was confident that this new leadership team would advance access, equity and quality in the higher education sector.

Meanwhile, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has welcomed Manamela’s promotion, saying his institutional knowledge could contribute to restoring continuity and policy certainty.

IFP member on the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education Sanele Zondo said the IFP called for the prioritisation of ethical governance and restoring the credibility of the Seta ecosystem.

The party wants the new leadership to strengthen collaboration with Parliament and relevant stakeholders, while also fast-tracking interventions to tackle the growing youth unemployment crisis through relevant, accessible, and modernised post-school education.

Zondo said the leadership must ensure that the department places skills development and institutional reform at the heart of its agenda.

The IFP said it believed these appointments presented an opportunity for renewal and a refocus of the department to its core mandate, although it called on Ramaphosa and Dube-Ncube, whose appointment it noted with reservation, to provide the nation with an explanation on how the “botched chairpersons in the SetaGate appointment process was done”.

Dube-Ncube was one of the designated chairpersons in what the IFP calls SetaGate, saying her appointment was cause for concern.