The Institute of Directors in South Africa (IoDSA) has called for transparency in the appointment of Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) board chairs with guidelines to ensure good governance and improve organisational oversight.
IoDSA CEO Parmi Natesan said even the creative reframing of the withdrawal of 20 SETA board chair appointments – as an example of democracy in action – could not hide the fact that governance failures like these could be easily avoided. “This isn’t rocket science,” said Natesan.“The public sector needs to get its nomination processes up to scratch. There is no excuse for not appointing the right people in the first place.”
Higher Education Minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane was criticised for appointing prominent ANC politicians and others linked to the party as SETA board chairs. As pressure grew, she decided to “recalibrate the process” and form an independent panel to oversee the new nominations and recommend suitable candidates.She said in a statement the new process would focus on merit, competencies, and relevant experience, while also ensuring a balanced representation of race, gender, youth, and persons with disabilities.
The ANC reacted by welcoming the decision as a principled act and reaffirmation of the party’s commitment to ethical governance and democratic accountability. In turn, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africans should be grateful to have a government that listens when it has made mistakes.The IoDSA said it agreed that restarting the nominations process was the correct approach to rectify the flawed initial process, but Natesan said she was concerned about a possible clash between so-called cadre deployment and a fair transparent process.
“Who actually knows what their new process is?” she asked.“What we need is transparency and a clear guideline used in all public sector board appointments to ensure good governance and improve organisational oversight. The criteria for appointing senior roles should no longer be politically motivated.”Natesan said the IoDSA had provided extensive input to the Public Services and Administration Department into the planned update of the “Handbook for the appointment of persons to boards of state and state-controlled institutions”, but this was not approved by Cabinet.“We were hopeful that an updated handbook may make a positive difference, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that a sound nominations process was applied in the SETA appointments or by the public sector in general,” she said.
SETA board chairs should have started serving their five-year terms on April 1, overseeing each of their organisations' mandates of addressing the mismatch between the available skills and those required by the labour market.Nkabane tried to defend her previous chair appointments, listing their academic degrees and areas of expertise - but without mentioning any actual board experience.
However, the King IV report on corporate governance in South Africa makes clear that chairs require not only the right skills but also the right experience, in addition to being independent.“This recommendation is designed to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the organisation, rather than being unduly influenced by a single shareholder,” said Natesan.
She said it was encouraging that the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education still expects Nkabane to account for the original appointment process, including the composition and credibility of the panel tasked with making the recommendations.“We can only repeat our pleas to strengthen the nominations process and the professionalisation of board members in the public sector,” said Natesan.“The framework and guidance for appointing the right people, based on competency rather than political connection, are readily available. They just need to be applied.”