The Economic Freedom Fighters has criticised the chairperson of parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education and training Tebogo Letsie accusing him of shielding ANC public office bearers from accounting for alleged nepotism.
The criticism follows the forceful removal of EFF MP and interim leader of its youth command Sihle Lonzi from a meeting of the portfolio committee on Letsie’s orders.
Lonzi was removed after refusing to abondon a question that Letsie deemed irrelevant. He had asked the Director General of of the Department Education and Training Dr. Nkosinathi Sishi if he was aware that a son of ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe who also serves as energy minister had been appointed as a board chairperson of one of the SETAs ( Sector Education and Training Authority).
The red berets argue in a statement that it was not the chairperson’s place to decide if Lonzi’s question was relevant or not.
“Instead of allowing the DG to respond to this legitimate inquiry, Chairperson Tebogo Letsie, backed by ANC-aligned committee members, shut down the question, disrupted proceedings, and proceeded to call in parliamentary security personnel to forcibly remove Commissar Lonzi from the meeting. This undemocratic act was not only unparliamentary in nature, but a violent suppression of accountability and a direct attack on the political rights of Members of Parliament to exercise oversight over the Executive,” said the EFF.
In shooting down the question Letsie claimed the Director General should not answer as he was not responsible for appointments, a claim that is disputable.
“The DG will not answer that” said Letsie to Lonzi also indicating that it had been decided that questions on the said appointments be posed to minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane whom he stated the committee was trying to secure her appearance before it.
The appointments in question — leaked to the public and sparking national outcry —
include:
● Buyambo Mantashe (MERSETA Chairperson) – son of Mineral Resources and
Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe
● Nomusa Dube-Ncube (BANKSETA Chairperson) – former Premier of KwaZulu-
Natal
● Siboniso Mbhele (TETA Board Member) – Head of the KZN Department of
Transport
The EFF accused the committee chairperson of trying to shield ANC wrongdoing.
“Instead of upholding the integrity of Parliament, Chairperson Letsie acted as a shield for corruption, using his position not to ensure accountability, but to protect ANC. leaders from scrutiny and silence those who seek the truth. His conduct constitutes a gross abuse of authority, bringing the Portfolio Committee into disrepute and
undermining the credibility of Parliament itself,” said the EFF.
Letsies’s competency called into to question. Meanwhile faces legal action by the University of Limpopo after publicly accusing the institution of not understanding the National Qualifications Framework. His comments followed a high court ruling that ordered the institution to revisit a decision on whether two students who had been barred disqualified from studying towards Masters Degrees on the basis that their undergraduate qualifications did not meet the requirements should be allowed to graduate. The ruling had been widely misinterpreted to mean the two should be conferred with Masters degrees when it merely directed the university to follow its own rules in making a decision.
Letsie has already refused to withdraw and apologise to the institution, even boosting on his Facebook page that he will not do so.
“We have responded to their letter and the only post they will get from us here is this one We will not be Bullied we will not be dictated how to do our job outside the formal parliamentary,” said a buoyant Letsie in a Facebook post attached to a letter responding to the university’s legal representatives,” asserted Letsie in the Facebook post.
He also shared his letter responding to lawyers representing the university in which he refuses to retract his statements and levels more allegations at the institution including that its top leadership was appointed unlawfully.
Ironically, the back and forth with the University of Limpopo has exposed Letsie’s own shortcomings on comprehension, spelling as well as punctuation.
In the letter that lacks punctuation, the committee chairperson consistently refers to statue where he seemingly intends to say statutes indicating he does not know the difference between the two.