President Cyril Ramaphosa is reportedly charged with the matter of his higher education and training minister, Nobuhle Nkabane, who has been embroiled in an ongoing saga involving the appointment of some ANC loyalists as chairpersons of the boards of sector education and training authorities.
She further dug a hole for herself by telling the parliamentary committee on higher education that she was advised on the appointments by an “independent panel” which turned out to consist mostly of staff from her office and departmental officials.
Nkabane initially refused to comply with the committee’s request for the names of the panel members. By all accounts, her arrogant performance at a committee meeting left much to be desired.
Legal advice is being sought as to whether she lied to parliament and thereby breached the powers, privileges and immunities of parliament and the Provincial Legislatures Act — a criminal offence. The DA has also laid a complaint against the minister with the public protector.
To his credit, the president demanded that Nkabane report on the matter and account for her behaviour before the committee. She retracted the appointments after a public outcry.
We urge the president to act swiftly and decisively, not a strong point given his previous tardiness in taking decisive action against his ministers.
Ramaphosa took an inordinately long time to demote Thembi Simelane from the justice ministry to human settlements amid allegations about a suspect loan from a VBS Mutual Bank kingpin and left minister in the presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, untouched after allegations of fraud and corruption involving a R2.5m tender to an accounting firm during her tenure as municipal manager of the Ba-Phalaborwa local municipality.
The kind of nepotistic behaviour displayed by Nkabane has not only harmed the ANC at the polls but also demeans the government and should not be tolerated.
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