South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU) promised systemic reform and improved governance. However, the suspension of a Grades 1–3 textbook catalogue has exposed a bitter departmental tug-of-war, pitting Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube against long-serving Director-General Mathanzima Mweli.
The public dispute between Gwarube and Mweli over the new Foundation Phase National Catalogue for Grades 1–3 is a symptom of a failure to maintain a healthy political-administrative interface, notes Professor Siphamandla Zondi, a political analyst from the University of Johannesburg.
How the catalogue dispute began
The stand-off between Gwarube and Mweli stems from a controversial R1.6 billion Foundation Phase textbook procurement project, over which concerns were raised by the public and publishing industry after a substantial portion of the contract was awarded to a newly registered company, Lighthouse Publishers.
Earlier this year, media reports indicated that Lighthouse Publishers, a company registered just days after tender specifications were issued and lacking a prior publishing track record, secured a R285 million share of the Grades 1–3 learning and teaching support materials (LTSM) contract. Lighthouse Publishers has, in previous media reports, denied anything untoward in the procurement process.
In April 2026, Gwarube formally requested interventions, including National Treasury involvement, an internal audit and an independent external investigation by a law firm to probe potential procedural irregularities and governance issues related to the contract.
The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries criticised the Lighthouse Publishers saga, with committee chairperson Makhi Feni suggesting that the entire process was shrouded in secrecy and lacked the rigorous due diligence required.
Recently, the matter became controversial in the public eye after media reports and some stakeholders alleged that the DG told stakeholders that the 2027 catalogue had been cleared. However, the minister insisted that the textbook catalogue remained suspended after an independent investigation flagged severe procedural flaws.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) accused the DG of misleading stakeholders. This week, the department said the DG would not comment publicly on the matter.
DA and SADTU take opposing positions
Politics has entered the fray, with the DA leadership — a GNU partner and Gwarube’s political party — asking President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene by taking action directly against Mweli or granting the minister explicit administrative authority to discipline or suspend him for allegedly misleading stakeholders and defying her directive.
The ANC-aligned South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), on the other hand, has called on Ramaphosa to sanction Gwarube, claiming that her suspension of the catalogue delays transformation, protects incumbent legacy publishers and amounts to improper political interference in administrative duties.
Zondi said Ramaphosa had had to intervene several times on similar matters, but that this remained a thorny issue for his government.
He added that the spat might also have elements of party politics, given that the minister is from the DA and the DA perceives long-standing senior officials as ANC deployees.
Zondi added that this was because many senior public officials had allowed themselves to associate with party politics, often openly, and had thus risked destabilising the constitutionally defined political-administrative governance interface.
He said the DA was framing the issue as protecting public funds against illegal procurement, while SADTU was framing it as protecting emerging publishers against legacy corporate interests.
Zondi said, “It is unfortunate that the migration of the issues into the political realm robs Mr Mweli of an opportunity to engage in the debate and respond. With or without permission, SADTU is taking his corner and projecting his actions as designed to ensure speedy implementation of decisions and to give a chance to small and black publishers.”
He said that SADTU’s interventions created two dimensions: one drawing the DG into an anti-DA camp, given SADTU’s positions on the DA, while the second drew the DG into the ANC alliance domain.
“These two do not assist Mr Mweli in maintaining that image of being a professional who is not party political. This turns the tensions into a political tug-of-war,” Zondi said.
Asked about the call for Ramaphosa’s intervention, Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said: “Administrative issues are dealt with within the national executive. They don’t need political calls or to be politicised.”
This week, Gwarube announced that she would maintain the suspension of the new catalogue for Grades 1–3. She said the decision had been taken in the best interests of South Africa’s education system and its 13.7 million learners.
“For the 2027 school year, the existing catalogue of previously approved Foundation Phase materials will remain available to provinces and schools for procurement. Each procuring authority must comply with the requirements that apply. In parallel, the legal verification and rectification of the new catalogue will continue,” Gwarube said.
She added that the interim arrangement followed material findings from the independent investigation into the new catalogue and was intended to protect the 2027 school year while those findings were properly addressed legally.
Gwarube said the independent investigation into the development of the new catalogue had identified material areas of non-compliance, governance weaknesses and potential procurement and financial management risks.
She added that she had enlisted the services of the State Attorney to obtain senior counsel’s advice on the matter.
Professor William Gumede, an expert at Wits School of Governance, said that, in South Africa’s constitutional democracy, a minister held political and policy-making authority, while a DG served as the administrative and departmental accounting head, akin to a corporate CEO.
He said the Minister is authorised to ask for another review, despite what has been said. He added that the president is correct in not intervening, because he has to give the minister a chance to ask for another review.
Gumede, who was part of the Ministerial Task Team on the professionalisation of the public service, said the current system is not professionalised and public disagreements, such as the one at DBE, will continue.
“The GNU has inherited many director-generals perceived to be ANC appointees through cadre deployment. Now, the minister can’t fire the DG unless the minister can recommend to the president that they need the DG to be fired and state the reasons. In the past, it was almost easy because it was just the ANC in control of everything,” Gumede said.
He said that between now and 2029, the country must professionalise the public service and public procurement, and ensure that an independent committee appoints all DGs.
“When you are a Minister, and you have a DG, it is important to build a relationship where you agree on how you will work together. Unfortunately, if you are a Minister in the coalition government, and you inherit someone deployed by a political party, there may be differences,” Gumede said.
He added that policy reform is necessary to reduce the president’s powers.
“We can’t have the president appointing every director general, and we can’t have the president appointing every CEO of a state-owned entity,” Gumede said.
gcwalisile.khanyile@nationalmg.co.za