The beleaguered higher education and training minister, Buti Manamela, has been taken to the high court once again, this time over his controversial directive for the re-advertisement of the chief executive post at the National Skills Fund.
Dr Innocent Sirovha, who had been recommended for the post, has approached the Johannesburg High Court seeking an interdict against Manamela.
According to his notice of motion founding, which we have seen, Sirovha argues that he was duly selected for the position following a rigorous recruitment process that he aced and was recommended for appointment.
He insists that his appointment was almost complete when he was even called to do fingerprints until Manamela’s drastic measure was issued to the director-general, Dr Nkosinathi Sishi, to start the process from scratch.
‘Manamela usurped DG’s powers’
Sirovha is adamant that Manamela does not have such powers, adding that the minister has in fact usurped powers vested in Sishi’s terrain.
“Be pleased to take further notice that the applicants (Sirovha and the SA Youth Economic Council) intend to make application to this court on the same papers, supplemented as needs be and as envisaged under Rule 53, for an order declaring that section 29(1)(d) of the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 vests the power to appoint the Chief Executive Officer of the National Skills Fund exclusively in [Sishi], to the exclusion of [Manamela],” Sirovha states.
“Applicants further seek an order declaring that the decision of [Sishi] to appoint [Sirovha] as Chief Executive Officer of the National Skills Fund, communicated to the first applicant personally during February 2026 and confirmed through the taking of his fingerprints during March 2026, is final and binding and is not susceptible to revocation by [Manamela].
“[We also seek an order] Reviewing and setting aside the directive of the first respondent dated 17 June
2026 as unlawful, invalid and of no force or effect and directing [Sishi] to finalise [Sirovha’s] appointment and to issue the first applicant a letter of appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the National Skills Fund with effect from a date to be agreed upon between the [two parties]; alternatively, directing Sishi to complete the appointment process and issue such letter of appointment within 30 days of the order.”
Sirovha wants appointment memo tabled before cabinet
Sirovha is further seeking relief that in the event that the court finds that his appointment should be concurred to by the cabinet, DPSA minister Mzamo Buthelezi, or Presidency DG Phindile Baleni, table a memo for his appointment before the cabinet within 15 days of the order.
Sirovha is adamant that Manamela did not just act outside powers he does not have as per the Skills Development Act but that he went further to recreate the powers, giving himself authority he does not have in law.
Moreover, Sirovha charges that Manamela’s reasoning that he issued the instruction for the post to be re-advertised because Sirovha was the only candidate recommended and that there was an absence of comparative assessment records is bogus.
In any event, he goes on, Manamela enters nowhere in comparing candidates competing for such a post.
“The manner in which the minister has acted compounds the unlawfulness. He issued the directive on 17 June 2026, acknowledged my attorneys’ letter of demand of the same date, and then, on 19 June 2026, answered an earlier complaint as though the demand did not exist, concealing the directive and declining to engage it.
“The inference is that he sought to duck accountability for the re-advertisement and to defeat my right to be heard before the irreversible step was taken.”
- Dr. Innocent Sirovha, recommended and nearly appointed as CEO of the National Skills Fund, has taken Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela to Johannesburg High Court to interdict Manamela’s directive to re-advertise the position.
- Sirovha claims Manamela overstepped his legal authority by overriding Director-General Dr. Nkosinathi Sishi’s exclusive power to appoint the CEO as per the Skills Development Act.
- He argues that his appointment was nearly finalized, including fingerprinting, before Manamela's directive abruptly reset the process, which Sirovha labels unlawful and invalid.
- Sirovha is seeking a court order to confirm his appointment or alternatively mandate Sishi to complete the hiring within 30 days, with provisions for cabinet concurrence if required.
- Sirovha accuses Manamela of acting in bad faith by ignoring demands for accountability and transparency, including concealing the directive and denying him a fair hearing before the re-advertisement decision.
