The Higher Education Department will not be held to ransom by officials resisting governance reforms within the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
Speaking to the media in Pretoria on Tuesday, Minister Buti Manamela said the department remains committed to implementing reforms despite ongoing legal challenges.
“Our interventions have attracted litigation. I will not litigate these matters in public — that is the function of the courts, and we respect the judicial process. What I will say is this: governance reform cannot be held hostage by litigation. We are confident in the legal basis of each intervention. The courts will make their determinations; however, the administration continues,” the minister said.
He noted that the department has already been vindicated in some cases and expressed confidence that the remaining matters would yield similar outcomes.
“Where legal challenges have been brought against these decisions, we will defend them vigorously. Every intervention was preceded by documented evidence of governance failures, every administrator’s mandate is grounded in law, and every action taken has been proportionate to the problems identified,” he added.
Manamela also announced the resolution of a protracted legal dispute with the Auditor-General’s office, describing it as having become detrimental to governance.
“The extended legal dispute with the Auditor-General, which had itself become a governance liability, has now been resolved. The administrator accepted the AGSA’s findings in the interest of institutional stability and governance certainty, enabling the organisation to refocus on strengthening internal controls. The Audit and Risk Committee has since been constituted and is fully operational,” he said.