Johannesburg – The Democratic Alliance (DA) has rejected the appointment of three new Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) administrators, labelling them as “corrupt ANC [African National Congress] cadres” unfit for the critical task of cleaning up the troubled entities.
DA National Spokesperson and Member of the Committee on Higher Education and Training, Karabo Khakhau, condemned Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela’s decision to appoint Oupa Nkoane, Lehlohonolo Masoga, and Zukile Mvalo as administrators for the Construction, Services, and Local Government SETAs, respectively.
“These appointees are unfit, implicated in corruption, mismanagement, and fraud in previous government jobs, or have proved themselves useless in the SETA space already,” Khakhau stated on Wednesday, 20 August 2025.
Khakhau said the DA has submitted an urgent letter to Minister Manamela demanding that he reconsider and withdraw the appointments.
“Will Minister Manamela fail his first test of ANC cadre deployment, or will he go down the same path as Nobuhle Nkabane?” asked the DA spokesperson.
The DA outlined the damning records of each appointee:
- Oupa Nkoane, appointed to CETA, is a former municipal manager at the ANC-governed Emfuleni Local Municipality. He is implicated in a forensic report detailing the mismanagement of R872 million.
- Lehlohonolo Masoga, now heading the Services SETA, is a former ANC Limpopo MEC. He was implicated in a forensic report for backdating a communications contract worth R4.4 million as CEO of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone to justify unjustified payments.
- Zukile Mvalo, appointed to LGSETA, is the current Deputy Director General for skills development. Khakhau noted that all 21 SETAs have reported to him for the past eight years, a period marked by profound instability. “He has failed at stabilising SETAs for the past eight years and has no prospect of fixing anything suddenly now.”
Khakhau questioned the logic of the appointments, given that Minister Manamela himself said they were meant to address “serious and entrenched governance failures, including procurement irregularities.”
“How on earth can this be addressed by corruption, fraud, and mismanagement-implicated ANC cadres?” asked Khakhau, adding that the DA was demanding that Minister Manamela reverse the appointments.
“We demand that Manamela stop this and appoint independent, non-political persons free of corruption implications to deliver an effective turnaround of the system,” Khakhau concluded.
*This article first appeared in our sister publication techfinancials.co.za
