Dear Editor
The Democratic Alliance has written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, Tebogo Letsie, requesting the official summonsing of Higher Education Minister Dr. Nobuhle Nkabane’s secret Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) Board Chairpersons Selection and Evaluation Panel.
This is in terms of section 14 of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, 2004, read with Rule 167(a) of the Rules of Parliament which reads: “…a committee may, subject to the Constitution, legislation, the other provisions of these rules and resolutions of the Assembly, (a) summon any person to appear before it to give evidence on oath or affirmation, or to produce documents.”
This follows a missed deadline, set by the parliamentary portfolio committee on higher education, for the Minister to submit her panel, which was yesterday, 11 June 2025.
Instead of delivering the names, Minister Nkabane wrote to the portfolio committee to inform it that she has written to the mysterious individuals who served on the panel to ask them for permission to reveal their names. She further asked for the deadline to be extended to 30 June and cited the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2014, as an excuse.
This is completely unacceptable.
Firstly, Minister Nkabane needs no permission to furnish the committee with those names if they exist. Secondly, the Minister has had more than enough time to receive permission from the panel to reveal their names. She should have anticipated that the committee would request the names the individuals that she claimed to have handpicked to evaluate the 573 SETA board chair applications when the DA first requested that the Minister appear before the committee on 13 May, shortly after the list of appointed SETA board chairs was leaked.
The committee further made our intention to find out the names of the panel clear during the portfolio committee meeting on 30 May, in which the Minister refused to provide the requested information. She was given the generous deadline of 11 June, which gave her more than enough time to receive said permissions, but once again she aims to dodge accountability.
The Minister’s time is now up. There is no more room to manoeuvre. The committee has exhausted its generosity.
Minister Nkabane cannot run away from being held accountable for her attempted politicisation of the appointment of SETA board Chairpersons. The chickens are coming home to roost.
Regards
Karabo Khakhau MP
DA Member of Committee on Higher Education and Training