The Democratic Alliance (DA) has opened a criminal case against Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane, accusing her of lying to Parliament about the appointment of ANC-linked individuals to Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) boards.
On Tuesday morning, DA Federal Chairperson Helen Zille and DA MP Karabo Khakhau, who serves on the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, laid the charges at the Cape Town Central police station.
Khakhau said the charges relate to Nkabane’s alleged deliberate misrepresentation of the appointment process for SETA board members, during which she claimed an “independent” evaluation panel was responsible for the selections.
“She falsely claimed an ‘independent’ panel made the appointments — including a chair who confirmed he wasn’t involved,” said Khakhau.
“The DA has laid criminal charges against Minister Nkabane for lying to Parliament about ANC cadre appointments. We will vote against her department’s budget and other budgets led by corrupt ANC ministers.”
Khakhau accused Nkabane of facilitating “fraudulent” appointments by misleading the Parliamentary committee, and said the so-called independent panel had included her own Chief of Staff and an ANC Youth League leader.
“Most damningly, she falsely named Advocate Terry Motau SC as the chair of this panel, a claim he has unequivocally denied in writing. He made it clear he had no knowledge of, nor participated in, the process,” she added.
In a statement, the DA said: “This is not a case of poor judgement; it is a flagrant and deliberate attempt to deceive Parliament and the South African people. Minister Nkabane has broken the law and violated her oath of office. The DA will not stand by while ministers who lie, manipulate processes, and protect ANC cronies remain in office.”
The party said it would not support the Department of Higher Education and Training’s budget while Nkabane remains in office and vowed to oppose all budgets led by ministers “under criminal investigation for corruption or misconduct”.
Zille said the party was taking this step because of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “inaction” in the face of corruption within the executive.
“We’re here today for the simple reason that President Ramaphosa refuses to be as good as his word and act against corruption, act against criminality in our Parliament,” Zille said.
“Serious fraud and the misleading of Parliament are somehow condoned by President Ramaphosa’s government. That is an enormous double standard.”
Zille described the SETA appointments as a “blatant lie to a committee of Parliament,” and added that in previous cases, such acts were treated as both fraud and a criminal offence.
She said an investigation by Khakhau had revealed that the people responsible for selecting board members included three senior employees from the Minister’s department: “We have the Minister’s Chief of Staff, we had the Chief Director for the SETAs, accountable to the Minister, and we had the Director of Corporate Services who’s very close to the Minister.”
Zille also criticised the inclusion of known ANC deployees on the selection panel and said the Minister’s conduct amounted to misleading Parliament.
“This matter concerns Minister Nkabane of Higher Education. She announced certain appointments to the SETA boards, which are crucially important in the higher education sector of South Africa,” Zille said.
“Far from being independent people who had come in as experts, it turns out several of them were either her employees or deployed ANC cadres from various positions. This was a blatant lie to a committee of Parliament, which is considered to be a lie to Parliament. Misleading Parliament and fraud are two criminal contraventions.”
The DA called on Ramaphosa to act swiftly and remove Nkabane from office, warning that continued inaction would implicate him in enabling corruption.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya and Nkabane’s spokesperson Camagwini Mavovana had not responded to questions. This story will be updated when they comment.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za
