Former minister of higher education Nobuhle Nkabane has been found guilty of breaching parliament’s code of ethics over her handling of the process of selecting Seta board chairpersons, which ultimately cost her the job.
The president fired Nkabane over her botched Seta board appointments and for lying to parliament about the process after his analysis of the detailed report she sent to him.
Parliament’s ethics committee has now found her guilty of dereliction of her duties by letting her advisor run the selection process.
The National Assembly has been asked to issue a reprimand of Nkabane, who must also apologise in the house.
“The Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests has resolved that the National Assembly should reprimand the former minister of higher education and training, Ms Nobuhle Nkabane, MP, for failing to exercise due care in the process of appointing the Seta board chairpersons. Ms Nkabane will also be required to enter an apology in the house,” the committee said in a statement.
The finding against Nkabane stems from a complaint laid by DA MP Karabo Khakhau who serves on the portfolio committee of higher education.
The committee says in its investigation it went over and above what was initially contained in Khakhau’s complaint.
“This investigation revealed that the former minister had left the recruitment and selection panel for the appointment to her advisor, Mr Asisipho Solani, and did not follow up with him on whether the panel was appointed,” the committee statement read.
“Ms Nkabane blamed Mr Solani for the entire debacle but accepted the joint committee’s finding that she breached the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interests.”
The committee found that Nkabane breached item 5(1)(c) and (e) of the ethics code.
“In considering the penalty, the joint committee considered in mitigation the fact that the President of the Republic of South Africa had already dismissed Ms Nkabane from her cabinet position,” said the committee.
Ramaphosa fired Nkabane just days before the budget vote in parliament after the DA and government of national unity partners threatened to vote against it if she was still in her job on the day.
“We don’t play poker; therefore, we don’t bluff. We never threatened to leave the GNU (government of national unity); we said we would not support the budget of higher education as long as Nobuhle Nkabane was the minister,” said DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp at the time.
DA federal council chair Helen Zille echoed these sentiments, saying this is what they proposed to the ANC when its leaders came to lobby their support for the budget ahead of the vote.
“We were dead serious about our position, and we told the ANC this when they sent people to lobby us,” she said.
Tensions between the DA and Ramaphosa at the time reached boiling point when he said the DA would have to leave the GNU if they voted against the GNU budget.
But the DA later announced that they would support the budget after Ramaphosa axed Nkabane from his cabinet in dramatic fashion after ordering her to cancel her planned trip to China while she was already at the airport.
According to Sunday Times sources at the time, Ramaphosa had told Nkabane not to go anywhere until his address to the nation.
TimesLIVE
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