Ex-Unisa tutor becomes South African higher education minister

A former university tutor has been appointed South Africa’s higher education minister.

Cabinet newcomer Nobuhle Nkabane takes on the post after the higher education and science portfolios were separated and Blade Nzimande, who previously oversaw both, was handed the latter brief.

Mr Nzimande, who had been in the role almost continuously since 2009, had in recent months faced repeated calls to resign over his management of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), including allegations of corruption, which he denied.

Ms Nkabane previously spent three years as deputy minister of mineral resources and energy. A member of the African National Congress, which was forced into a coalition with smaller parties after losing its majority for the first time since the advent of democracy in 1992, Ms Nkabane has a doctorate in administration from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Before being elected an MP in 2019, Ms Nkabane was working as a tutor at the University of South Africa – an institution that might be seen as an exemplar for some of the challenges she will face as a minister, because it has spent recent years in the grip of allegations of financial mismanagement, maladministration and bullying.

The ANC made little mention of higher education in its manifesto, with some observers suggesting that the NSFAS scandal had made it “not a good issue for them to talk about”.

But while one of Ms Nkabane’s deputies, Buti Manamela, also hails from the ANC, the other, Mimmy Gondwe, is a member of the Democratic Alliance, historically South Africa’s main opposition party.

In its manifesto, the DA said the fee-free higher education model was “unsustainable” and was not helped by poor fiscal management, corruption and a declining economy.

It proposed reforming the NSFAS into a tiered system of bursaries and loans to ensure opportunities for the “missing middle” and establishing an effective debt collection system.

President Cyril Ramaphosa had previously expressed his intention to shrink South Africa’s Cabinet, but “due to the need to ensure that the national executive is inclusive of all the parties to the government of national unity, this has not been possible”, he said in a televised address.

“In some instances, we have considered it necessary to separate certain portfolios to ensure that there is sufficient focus on key issues,” Mr Ramaphosa said.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com