The Type of People Needed to Chair SETAs

OUTA urges the public to ensure the SETAs are used for the good of the country, not individual gain.

Every five years, the Minister of Higher Education has an opportunity to renew the boards and the chairpersons of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). That time is now and, judging from our work in uncovering the extent of maladministration and corruption in many of the SETAs, we believe that Minister Nobuhle Nkabane has an excellent opportunity to clean up and rectify the financial mismanagement that has permeated the SETA environment.

Time however is running out, as the appointment of new board chairpersons for the 21 SETAs is tight with the deadline of 13 June 2025, following an outcry earlier this month over the inclusion of politically connected people among those initially selected as SETA chairs. Accordingly, OUTA calls on ethical, qualified people to step up for the positions of chairpersons.

“We want these boards reclaimed from politically connected individuals and those who seek the positions for personal gain. This is a country duty: we want ethical, qualified people appointed,” says Rudie Heyneke, OUTA’s Senior Project Manager.

“Boards of state-owned entities have too often been used to look away or fail in exercising their oversight and governance responsibilities, allowing for the looting that has taken place within a number of SETAs. OUTA believes that ensuring the appointment of ethical, competent people to those boards will be a key step in ensuring that those entities are guarded against capture and looting.

“We want to see board chairs who will lead with integrity. These are not just board seats, but national responsibilities.”

OUTA calls on South Africans to help identify appropriate candidates and nominate them.

The application process is being managed by the Ministry of Higher Education.

On 23 May, Minister Nkabane re-opened the call for nominations for SETA chairs (see here). The Minister called for nominations of “suitably qualified candidates” with NQF level 8 (post-graduate qualifications) with “a blend of knowledge, skills and experience”, “preferably competent candidates with intensive wealth of sectoral knowledge, technical experience and leadership capability”. The deadline for nominations is 12 June, and the five-year term runs until 31 March 2030.

The SETAs themselves issued calls for board members for the new term late last year, on the minister’s instruction. OUTA understands that most have been identified, but that these announcements are being held back until the chair appointments are finalised.

OUTA calls on the Minister to ensure that the appointment process is transparent, and that candidates’ CVs (excluding personal details such as addresses, IDs and phone numbers) and their nominators’ names are made public.

The SETAs are intended to provide training opportunities for the workforce, both employed and unemployed, to develop and improve skills and employability. This includes funding learnerships. The SETAs are funded through the skills development levies, which are paid by private-sector employers as a percentage of the payroll value. In 2025/26, the 21 SETAs are due to receive about R20.805 billion.

On 12 March 2025, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education was briefed by the Department of Higher Education and Training on the process of filling vacancies on the SETA boards (see the meeting record here and the department’s briefing document here). The department noted that an evaluation of the SETAs had found that, while board members were generally highly qualified, there were questions over whether those qualifications aligned with the specific skills and knowledge required for each SETA, and whether the boards “reflect a diversity of expertise beyond formal educational qualifications, including practical experience, industry knowledge and leadership skills”. The briefing noted that the cost of the SETA accounting authorities’ remuneration ranged from R438 000 to R6.839 million. The portfolio committee minutes note that the MPs on the committee voiced concern over the high remuneration and number of board meetings, saying this “did not align with actual performance and governance stability”.