By Thebe Mabanga
Higher Education and training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane has found herself in the spotlight over what has been deemed the controversial appointment and subsequent withdrawal of the 21 board chairs of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
This episode should not be used to discredit Nkabane and the broader work she is doing at her department.
Instead, Nkabane deserves to be given time and space to execute her vision for the higher education sector and hers is a coherent and solid vision.
Anyone who has interacted with Nkabane since her appointment or observed many of her public appearances would appreciate that she is the right person to lead this phase of the transformation of the higher education sector.
From the time of her delivery of her department’s budget vote last year, where she oversees a budget of R 137, 5 billion, she has articulated her vision for the Post School Education and Training (PSET) sector.
She has stated and since shown that after listening to various stakeholders, she is ready to act to respond to a range of concerns: from parents who are anxious about post schooling opportunities that lead to employment for their children to students who currently feel frustrated by a system that is supposed to offer them academic, financial and logistical support as they pursue their careers.
She brings fresh energy to the sector and has relied on youthful peers for strategic positions to drive change in the sector.
One of the occasions where she displayed a solid grasp of the task at hand and a lucid idea of how she wants things done was at the induction of the board of the National Skills Authority (NSA), the body that oversees SETAs.
On that occasion, she set out her vision for SETAs over the new cycle, from 2025 to 2030, that she is about to oversee.
She noted how she wants SETAs to become responsive to the skills needs of the sectors they serve.
She would also like to see all SETAs embrace technology and digitisation and bring their qualifications in line with the needs of the modern workplace.
One of the key undertaking she made at that event was to raise the bar in calibre of chairpersons she wishes to appoint.
She stated that the minimum qualification would be an NQF level 7, an undergraduate degree.
And she appears to have kept her words on that score.
From 20 SETA Board Chairs that were previously recommended, there were three Doctoral Degrees (NQF Level 10); at least 15 master’s Degrees (NQF 09); and two medical doctors.
Amongst others, their competencies ranged from engineers; chartered accountants; auditors; advocates; medical doctors and governance experts.
Nkabane has withdrawn these appointments and has undertaken to swiftly restart the process with a new panel and wider pool of candidates.
Her swift action in response to public concerns is commendable and should be lauded, not derided.
It is worth bearing in mind that South Africa does not have a large pool of such skills available and should the recommended or prospective candidates be put off by the adverse publicity and decline nomination, the country will suffer for it.
The manner of the revelation of these candidates and their supposed conflict, through a leak from an opposition party, did not even allow space for the credentials of any of the appointments to be scrutinised.
This would include rules of how family members of those who currently hold office should and should not work in the South African public or private sector or how an individual who has a PHD conferred can or should be utilised, whatever office they previously held.
The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries in parliament has now correctly called on SETAs to maintain their operation momentum despite board chair uncertainty.
“It is unfortunate and unfair to ridicule the entire sector based on what was ultimately an error in judgement. We commend the minister for her responsiveness and ability to lead a complex sector such as higher education,” committee chair Makhi Feni said.
More importantly, Nkabane shod be judged on the overall work she performs.
For a start, she has welcomed a Special Investigation Unit (SIU) probe into the National Skills Fund, an important component of the SETA ecosystem.
Outside of SETAs, she is addressing governance challenges at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) led by a relatively young board chair Dr Karen Stander and an even younger acting CEO Waseem Carrim and while they have only begun uncovering the mess, they have the right ideas including the use of courts to extricate NSFAS from onerous contracts.
Nkabane in as immersed student who holds a PhD and working on two additional master’s degrees. But she recognises that not everyone needs to go to university, and she is rejuvenating the TVET college sector as well.
This is through the construction of new TVET colleges alongside the expansion of universities by building new campuses and new universities in Ekurhuleni and Hamanskraal.
Nkabane should therefore be given the time and space to deliver on these goals and be judged according to those, not a single set of appointments to important bodies.
Thebe Mabanga is the Contributing Editor and Senior Writer at Inside Education