DA accuses ANC of double standards
The DA says the ANC is playing favourites by firing Deputy Minister, Andrew Whitfield but letting Minister Nobuhle Nkabane off the hook despite serious allegations.
On Tuesday, the DA hit back by laying charges against Nkabane for allegedly spinning a web of lies about an independent panel that greenlit political appointments to SETA boards.
With budget votes on the horizon, the DA is gearing up to call out corruption where they see it.
Political analyst, Ntsikelelo Breakfast says the DA wants to expose how President Cyril Ramaphosa according to them was applying double standards.
"On the one hand the President dismisses on of [DA's own] for not getting approval for a trip he was not ment to undertake, but on the other hand turns a blind eye to some of the members of the executive who have been at fault," he said.
While Breakfast says he sympathies with the DA, he disagrees with the party on how they have responded to this matter in terms of their announcements of pulling out from the National Dialogue.
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Daily Maverick
7 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
How South Africa fell into the dull political loop of becoming boring
The death of meaningful political advancement means that South Africa has become stuck in a rut of its own carving. Is there a way forward? Remember when South Africa used to be fun? Remember when the memes slammed into each other like neutrons and electrons, causing small explosions every 15 seconds or so? Remember when there was a fancy term for corruption? Remember when optimism and pessimism cycled around each other in an endless loop, and didn't always land on 'this sucks'? Yeah, me neither. South Africa has become boring. I'm not talking about a lack of political spectacle — there is still Floyd Shivambu scurrying around the kleptocratic wilds looking for a political party to hide behind, and the general idiocy at MK, which is eating itself, like faecal parasites. There is still President Cyril Ramaphosa trying to assert himself on the local stage while playing a pliant mouse in the White House. There's still the alleged drama within the alleged GNU, really just a coalition government and horse-trading forum where the Ramaphosa wing of the ANC and the house-trained wing of the DA bargain on behalf of their backers. Nor am I using 'boring' as a simile for 'blandly functional' — a sort of Scandinavian or Botswana-ish plodding along that results in something akin to stability. What I mean is boring in the true sense of the term — an endless drilling down into the depths of utter nothingness. Is anything happening in South Africa that could be meaningfully termed progress? If you're a capitalist, is the economy growing? If you're a socialist, is the economy becoming fairer? If you're a communist, is anyone at all being sent to the gulag? I'd wager no. Apologists for the coalition government point out several areas where something seems to be moving. The Hawks, South Africa's crack cops, appear to have pulled the proverbial thumb out, and have made some big arrests. The National Prosecuting Authority sort of/kind of won a case. The Transnet baddies have finally been arrested, even though most South Africans (outside of Cape Town) have forgotten what a train looks like. But even with these dogged, incremental improvements, crime and corruption are so embedded in the South African political, economic, social and cultural space that it hardly touches sides. Always accomplished sports-washers, South Africans can point to the excellent performance of our major teams in international competitions, but it's worth remembering that tiny East Germany cleaned up at the Olympic Games during the Cold War, and no one in West Germany was risking their life to hop the wall into the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Culturally, the music and movie booms teased during the 90s and noughties have stalled out. There is no meaningful support of artists in this country, which means talent gets strangled at birth. The Sports and Culture minister can't do sport and wouldn't know culture if JM Coetzee's entire bibliography was tattooed on his butt cheeks. The DTIC under Parks Tau has become exclusively focused on ensuring that American preferential trade deals remain in place, despite the fact that America thinks it's being screwed by Lesotho. The department no longer assesses applications for film industry tax rebates, a standard industry stimulus that pertains in any market that hopes to draw filmmaking talent. Tau has single-handedly killed the industry, through sheer ignorance and lassitude. (There are also those sweet sweet Lotto tenders, which may or may not have cost deputy minister Andrew Whitfield his gig.) Sure, there are individual politicians who are truly gifted—I'm thinking Geordin Hill-Lewis in Cape Town, and perhaps a handful of other players here and there. But Helen 'Supreme Karen' Zille has auditioned for the role of Johannesburg Executive Mayor, a role that has not been blessed with talent of late. Zille, a vet of State Capture and Ramaphosa's first-term Race Grift Wars, feels like an absurd anachronism at this point. And the only people keeping Julius Malema alive are her allied American race warriors, who don't seem to understand — because they don't understand anything — that Malema has no constituency, and no power base. So what's next? Zuma for president? Sort of. Deputy President Paul Mashitile, at this point a shoe-in for the ANC's next leader, did state capture before there was State Capture. As a ranking member of the Gauteng ANC mafia, he is adept at taking a piece of the action, and will only entrench and deepen South Africa's kleptocratic tendencies. It's all so boring. So where is the pushback? Part of the problem is that most people seem to be waiting for the coalition to click, and have deferred the responsibilities of citizenship to their proxies inside government. (See: the VAT fight.) But the coalition won't click, as should be perfectly plain now. As this suggests, the bigger problem is an existential exhaustion. First, there was the fight against apartheid. Then, there was the fight against State Capture. Now, there is the fight against reverse anti-white apartheid. (I'm kidding, I'm kidding.) The population of this country has been stirred up into a big mound of lukewarm mieliemeal — cheap carbs, hold the gravy. So much of it comes down to the fact that the dispensation just hasn't served the majority, not even close. I'm going to quote Peter Thiel here. Yup, Peter 'I Pull The Heads Off Babies' Thiel: 'When one has too much student debt or if housing is too unaffordable, then one will have negative capital for a long time … and if one has no stake in the capitalist system, then one may well turn against it.' No shit, homie. Most South Africans have tacitly turned against the system. The MK party's surge at the polls was a protest vote that functioned as a large raised middle finger at the establishment. And so downward we bore, deeper into the Earth's core than our defunct gold mines. It is perhaps ironic that South Africa's most interesting politician just won the Democratic primary for mayor in New York City. I know, calling Zohran Mamdani South African is a stretch, but he was educated here, and one imagines part of his world-view was formed here. Maybe that's why he can so clearly see through the guff, and understand that a politics of fairness, driven for and by the majority, is the only way forward. It's telling that both Republicans and Democrats are flipping out over the guy, as of course would any South African politician. Mamdani's platform leaves no room for grift, for the double-dealing and self-enrichment that has become the hallmark of postmodern politics. That's why we're boring, and why we'll keep digging our own deep graves. And why Mamdani presents a way forward that South Africans would do well to consider. DM
Daily Maverick
7 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Nkabane defends R142bn education budget amid corruption allegations and opposition rejection
Minister of Higher Education and Training Nobuhle Nkabane says her budget is a step towards improving the post-school education and training sector. In a robust parliamentary debate, opposition parties, including the ANC's main Government of National Unity partner, the Democratic Alliance, were vocal in rejecting the Higher Education and Training budget on Thursday, 3 June 2025. Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Nobuhle Nkabane's budget proposals for 2025/26 came under fire over a lack of trust in her and her department. This was mainly due to controversial appointments in the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) and issues with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS. Nkabane has been under fire over her controversial Seta board appointments, along with a panel she established that raised concerns after Nkabane called it 'independent', while it consisted of people who worked in her department. She also named advocate Terry Motau as chairperson of the panel, which Motau slammed as false, leading to Nkabane issuing an apology. Budget tabled Nkabane said she had dedicated the budget to those within education who had recently been killed, such as Sisonke Mbalekwa and Sinethemba Mpambane, both from Walter Sisulu University (WSU). The budget allocation for the current financial year is R142.4-billion, of which Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges are to receive R14-billion. The combined allocation for the Setas and the National Skills Fund is R26-billion. NSFAS funding rises to R48.7-billion this year. Universities will receive R96-billion this year, while Nkabane acknowledged a R1.4-billion deficit in the universities' budget as a result of US funding cuts. She said that the NSFAS budget would 'not [be] sufficient to meet the growing demand for access to higher education'. Nkabane said the budget was a step towards improving the efficiency and performance of the post-school education and training (PSET) system. She said NSFAS was in the process of cancelling the more than R2-million rental contract for its Cape Town office. In addition, 'NSFAS conducted a comprehensive legal review on the contracts of student accommodation intermediaries who are charging 5% fees. We are waiting for a final report for us to decide in this regard. This is our commitment to clean governance, accountability and transparency, and to root out any potential corruption and maladministration in PSET,' said Nkabane. Chairperson of the parliamentary committee on higher education, Tebogo Letsie (ANC), supported Nkabane's budget. Letsie said the budget was a political commitment rooted in the Freedom Charter and shaped by the developmental vision of the National Development Plan. Those who did not support the budget 'will be saying to you that your poor child must not go to school, must not go to university because they are not programming their future… They must be saying that all the owners of properties must lose their properties. They will be saying all workers in our universities, our colleges and everywhere else must go home because those universities and student colleges must close down.' Rejection The Democratic Alliance rejected the budget. The party's Karabo Khakhau said 'the ANC wants the people of this republic to believe that a fight against corruption is a fight against the future of this country… The real enemy of progress against young people here is Minister Nkabane. It is the ANC that is protecting her and corruption. It is President Ramaphosa for refusing to fire her… I dare you: do the right thing in honour of these people (Mbalekwa and Mpambane) — resign.' Sihle Lonzi (EFF) also rejected Nkabane's budget, but said that the DA and the ANC were in a 'fake fight'. According to Lonzi, the DA's narrative was a deliberate distortion at best or sheer ignorance at worst. 'The state of student accommodation in South Africa is not only inhumane; it's gross negligence… Why can you not develop an efficient payment system that will pay students, institutions, and accommodations directly… You must blacklist corrupt board members, Minister. You must blacklist corrupt CEOs,' demanded Lonzi. Sihle Ngubane (MK party) rejected the budget and called out the minister for saying it was dedicated to those who had died, because 'the department, under the minister, and its negligence, caused the death of this student (Mbolekwa),' said Ngubane. 'When you (Nkabane) say drive inclusive growth and job creation, there is no inclusive growth in this government, there is no economy, and there is nothing,' said Ngubane. Other parties such as Al Jama-ah, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the Patriotic Alliance, Build One South Africa and Rise Mzansi supported the budget. When Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training and DA member, Mimmy Gondwe, took the stand, she was immediately asked by the EFF's Lonzi whether she supported the budget. Gondwe did not reply directly, but instead highlighted numerous interventions, oversight visits, partnerships, and student-centred initiatives undertaken under her leadership since July 2024. She emphasised that the budget had to reflect a determination to build an ethical and inclusive education system. DM
TimesLIVE
8 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Parties support Nkabane's education vote, staying out of ANC/DA spat
The DA was warned against diverting attention away from the crucial matters of the higher education sector, with parties saying they refuse to be "swindled" into the DA's spat with the ANC. This follows a recent announcement that the DA intends to boycott the budget votes in departments led by controversial ANC ministers such as Dr Nobuhle Nkabane and Thembi Simelane, who leads human settlements. The DA has called for their axing. The fury of the GNU's second-biggest party was prompted by the ousting of their former deputy minister of trade, industry and competition, Andrew Whitfield, last week. However, parties say they will not allow the budget vote to stand in the way of the department's ability to continue with its functions. EFF MP Sihle Lonzi led the charge, saying that while they do not see eye to eye with Nkabane, they will not be hoodwinked by GNU's trouble in paradise. 'We are perplexed that the DA only discovered corruption when their deputy minister was fired. Before the firing, they were singing praises about the GNU, today they want to behave like an opposition. The people of South Africa are not stupid and can see through your lies. We are not going to waste time on this fake fight between the DA and the ANC. 'The DA will vote for this budget which funds each and every department, including the department of higher education and human settlements. The DA's narrative is a deliberate distortion at best and sheer ignorance at worst. The EFF has been at the forefront of confronting the crisis at higher education even when those who are making the most noise now stood on the sidelines.' The highly anticipated higher education budget vote took place in the mini plenary of the National Assembly on Thursday. Lonzi told the plenary the EFF will not fall for the propaganda of the DA that it can support certain budgets and not other departments, clarifying that the DA's stance is not going to be effective. 'There are four key budget votes in parliament. The first is the fiscal framework and revenue proposals which gives budget bills the blueprint and sets the economic policy direction, which the DA voted in support of. "The second is the division of revenue bill which deals with the appropriation of national and provincial government, the DA voted in support and it passed. "We are now dealing with the appropriations bill which allocates funds to government departments and programmes — the DA cannot cherry pick. Voting for the appropriation bill means approving the entire budget inclusive of all the departments.' Lonzi gave the minister seven steps to turn around the embattled education sector, which included the 'fixing' of NSFAS or complete removal of the controversial institution. 'You must rescue higher education from the collapse. There should be no reason NSFAS still struggles to pay students. We have about 19-million people on SASSA and an additional 9-million people receiving the R350 grant every single month. NSFAS only deals with an odd one-million students, why is there no efficient payment system that will pay students, institutions and accommodation directly?' He added that the minister ought to blacklist corrupt board members. 'You must clean up the SETAs. You must blacklist corrupt board members and CEOs, not this thing you are doing now where when someone is suspended in one SETA, you take them [into] another SETA,' he said. DA MP Karabo Khakhau who led the charge against Nkabane said she was not surprised by Nkabane's actions, saying that it is a result of the culture of the political party that has deployed her. 'To them, corruption is their daily bread. Living in a corruption-free South Africa is a threat against the very core of their existence. Unlike the other political parties who have today pledged their support to this budget under Nkabane, the DA has not forgotten about the people of this country. 'Our loyalty remains to nothing but the people. South Africa can count on the DA to fight for them and for justice against corruption. The real enemy of progress against young people is Nkabane - it is the ANC for protecting her and corruption, it is President Ramaphosa for refusing to fire her, it is the political parties that think R142bn is safe in the hands of Dr Nkabane.' She told Nkabane that she should voluntarily vacate office if she feels strongly about serving the young people of this country. 'Committing fraud under statutory offence under section 26 of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament Act is not only spitting on the graves of the forefathers of this democracy, but it is spitting in the faces if the young people whom you've failed to lead. It is a spit in the face of your DHET staff that you have sacrificed at the altar of your own protection. 'You said that you are dedicating this budget to the memory of the fallen heroes and heroines of the PSET sector. So I dare you, do the right thing in honour of them and resign! Detox the department of the toxicity of your poor leadership, arrogance, effective allergy to honesty and commitment to no-one but yourself. You don't need to wait for President Ramaphosa to fire you, if you mean it that you are a servant of the leadership of the people, serve and be honest and resign.' Build One South Africa's Mmusi Maimane argued that the sector had bigger problems, adding that the starting point was to clear the air around Nkabane's alleged wrongdoing. 'On leadership, we can debate whether this is the right minister or not the right minister. The issue of whether the minister misled parliament needs to be brought to a parliamentary committee and an investigation must be sought so we can get to the bottom of this. It's not a violation of anyone's feelings, it's about a constitutional obligation which must be followed.' He added that the bigger picture is to understand that the ambition of freedom could not be delinked to the sector overseen by Nkabane. 'You cannot delink the ambition of freedom from the ambition of higher education. We focused on the intrinsic nature of education but we've never linked it to our economic outputs. When we derive a plan for what South Africa needs to look like in the future, we become clear about the kind of graduates that we want to produce. 'This department progressively oversees the number of black students declining who go into higher education, but students who are Asian and Indian are increasing. It tells you that our empowerment story has been delinked from higher education.' He urged the ministry to prioritise access to higher education to fully commit to the transformation of the country. 'From a capacity point of view, it's clear that infrastructure build in higher education is poor. We are talking about a shortage of 500,000 beds in this country. If we are going to see the doors of learning open, as is the ambition, we need to fund the capacity thereof. 'It's now common cause that NSFAS is not an efficient institution for managing how many students we want to get in. It's either we reform NSFAS or we shut out the middle man.' Rise Mzansi's Makashule Gana told the committee that he refuses to take part in the scandal and spectacle that has brought attention to the ministry. 'Education, especially higher education, is not a luxury, it is a path out of poverty and is the foundation of a prosperous nation. The department's R142bn budget is substantial but not enough, because our crisis is not just funding — its spatial, access, and a system that is failing the poor. "Nowhere is that failure more glaring than in NSFAS. I'm a product of it, many of us are, but what we see today is heartbreaking because hyenas and tenderpreneurs are circling what should be a lifeline for our students. That R95bn for NSFAS has to go to students, not middlemen.' Despite the minister conceding that there is a R1.4bn deficit in the universities' budget, she vowed that the NSFAS budget would 'not be sufficient to meet the growing demand for access to higher education". NSFAS funding sits at R48.7bn this year, with further increases planned in the coming years. Nkabane's budget covered key higher education sectors, detailing that TVET colleges are to receive R14bn, up from R13.1bn last year. The combined allocation for Sector Education and Training Authorities and the National Skills Fund is R26bn. Meanwhile, university education rises from R91.7bn in 2024 to R96bn this year alone.
