South Africa higher education minister clashes with top official over university and skills entities
?s higher education minister, Buti Manamela, is locked in a dispute with his director-general over who controls the department’s sprawling networ...
South Africa’s higher education minister, Buti Manamela, is locked in a dispute with his director-general over who controls the department’s sprawling network of universities, colleges and skills bodies. The fight has widened into a clash over appointments, board dissolutions and the future of the top civil servant’s contract.
People familiar with the matter say the tension has built since Manamela took office about a year ago. The dispute now reaches into the administration of 26 universities, 21 sector education and training authorities, 50 TVET colleges and several quality councils.
Boards dissolved, appointments questioned
At the centre of the row are decisions Manamela has taken to dissolve boards and make key appointments. The minister and director-general Dr Nkosinathi Sishi have reportedly crossed swords over those moves, with Sishi pushing back against actions he believes should not have gone ahead in the way they did.
Manamela is understood to have told Sishi that performance across the department’s entities has been poor under his watch, and that this justifies not renewing his contract when it ends in October. That would be a major step. A director-general’s contract renewal normally requires prior agreement from President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The minister has been accused of already deciding unilaterally that Sishi’s contract will not be extended. The allegation has sharpened an already rocky relationship inside one of South Africa’s most sensitive departments, which oversees institutions central to training, skills development and access to higher education.
Pressure on the department
The public clash comes at a difficult time for the sector. South Africa still has about 23-million people living below the lower-bound poverty line, according to official figures released in April. Education and training remain closely tied to economic mobility, and the department’s institutions carry heavy expectations.
Manamela has already faced scrutiny over controversial appointments in the sector. In September 2025, he named administrators for the Construction Seta, Services Seta and Local Government Seta, a move that drew criticism in parliament and led MPs to call for the appointments to be withdrawn.
Those administrators said they should be judged on their experience and what they can deliver, not politics. Manamela said at the time their mandate was to restore integrity, enforce consequence management where needed and protect learners and workers from institutional weaknesses.
For now, the focus has shifted back to the minister himself and the top official who runs the department. The question hanging over the ministry is whether Sishi stays on until October — or whether the standoff ends with Ramaphosa having to weigh in.
