Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela appeared in Parliament on Friday to account over his 4 May decision to place NSFAS under administration.

• Buti Manamela appeared in Parliament on Friday to account over his 4 May decision to place NSFAS under administration.
• Former board members claimed Manamela interfered with the process to appoint a CEO, even calling a meeting with no agenda to do so.
• Manamela denied this claim one week before next week's court hearing to set aside his decision to dismiss them.

Minister of Higher Education Buti Manamela has denied that he gave instructions to the dissolved board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to stop their progress in appointing a new chief executive officer. This eventually resulted in the aid scheme being placed under administration.

“I didn’t instruct anyone,” said Manamela in response to allegations made by former board members that he, via intermediaries and during an April meeting, had given instructions to pause their process to find a permanent chief executive for the scheme. NSFAS is meant to disburse tuition and accommodation to qualifying students in the higher education sector; it has been crippled by maladministration and repeated audits.

Manamela spoke on Friday during a meeting between Parliament's higher education committee, his department and axed board members about his 4 May decision to place the ailing scheme under administration.

Manamela appointed Professor Hlengani Mathebula as administrator, the third such administrator in recent years. Based on Mathebula's qualifications and experience, Manamela said: “I believe that he is the right person” to help stabilise NSFAS as an institution.

READ | Ex-SARS head explained Nugent commission criticism before I hired him at NSFAS – Manamela

Mathebula was implicated in the Nugent Commission for his role in the breakdown of governance at the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

When MPs asked Manamela about Mathebula's involvement at SARS, the minister said he had gone through the reports and found that there were no disqualifications for Mathebula serving on the board or in any executive role and that he had met the requirements for the role.

Friday’s meeting had been highly anticipated as MPs told Manamela earlier this week that accountability to Parliament over his decision was not an option.

Much of Friday's meeting focused on a 13 April 2026 meeting between Manamela and the former NSFAS board, during which the minister is alleged to have instructed the board to pause the finalisation of a new chief executive for the aid scheme.

In Parliament, the only thing the minister and the board agreed on was that the board had a 30 May deadline to recruit and appoint a new chief executive. But according to axed board member Richardt Tlou Ramashia, the board’s human resources committee had already finalised the process and had recommended a candidate.

However, what is in contention at this point is an alleged instruction, according to board members, from Manamela to pause the process. Ramashia told MPs the meeting was “strange” because one board member was not invited, and no minutes were taken.

READ | Bongekile Macupe: Buti Manamela had the advantage – and squandered it

The axed board members claimed Manamela instructed them – even through other intermediaries in the higher education sector – to stop the process because he had another candidate in mind for the role. One example Ramashia gave was receiving a call from someone in the higher education sector who claimed the minister was unhappy with the “trajectory” of the board’s decision.

Another example was of Ramashia speaking to a woman named Florence, whom he understood worked for Manamela. He told MPs that she had claimed that Manamela expressed concern that acting chief executive Wassim Carrim was not “ready to take up the responsibility” of the role permanently. The same Florence told Ramashia that the minister had a “preferred candidate” for the role.

Ramashia told MPs that, in his view, this was “what I consider to be the level of interference” in the process.

However, Manamela dismissed this and repeated at several points during the meeting:

Manamela reiterated his stance: he called the meeting, which was an official meeting to get an update on the process, but he did not interfere with the process – he just wanted to check on the progress ahead of the 30 May deadline.

At some point during the meeting, the EFF’s Sihle Lonzi said: “Someone is lying, but we don’t know who.”

Ultimately, Manamela decided to fire the board and appoint an administrator.

Ramashia told MPs that under the laws governing NSFAS, the minister could only appoint an administrator under specific conditions, including after a ministerial investigation finds the need for an administrator.

Manamela’s decision is now a matter for the courts, as the former board members have an urgent interdict in the Gauteng High Court to set aside Manamela’s decision to place NSFAS under administration.

As the ANC’s Yanga Govana reminded the meeting, lying to Parliament was a criminal offence, but she would leave that to the chairperson of the committee to determine.