Parly committee urged to lodge criminal complaint against Nkabane over SETA board selection panel
Members of the higher education portfolio committee want further action taken against Nkabane for misleading them in the SETA board selection process, despite her decision to release the names of the five-member “independent” panel after she initially refused.
Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane. Picture: @GovernmentZA/X
CAPE TOWN - Members of Parliament (MPs) have called on the higher education committee to lodge a criminal complaint against Minister Nobuhle Nkabane over her Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) board selection panel.
Members of the higher education portfolio committee want further action taken against Nkabane for misleading them in the SETA board selection process, despite her decision to release the names of the five-member "independent" panel after she initially refused.
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The SETA board chairperson selection process, which was restarted following an outcry, saw politically connected individuals appointed as board chairpersons.
Members of the committee accused Nkabane of misleading them in her initial refusal to release the names of the panel that selected the board chairpersons in the now-abandoned process.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Karabo Khakhau has called on Nkabane to release one more name that she left out of the list and also accused her of lying about the panel.
"We’ve cited this, as a committee, before in the past, that it is a criminal offence for anybody to lie to Parliament and equally we would like to move that you, as the chairperson, must consider to go lay criminal charges on behalf of this committee."
African National Congress (ANC) MP David Kgabo, questioned the independence of the panel, calling it an extension of the director-general (DG)’s office.
"The minister and DG will have to explain their interpretation, and we plead with them to not send us to Google or an encyclopaedia. What would be their interpretation of an independent panel, because what you are seeing here is nothing independent but rather an extension of the administration office of the director-general."
Committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie said they would follow the process outlined in the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliaments and Provincial Legislatures Act on how to deal with people who mislead Parliament before a final decision was taken.