Cape Town - While the Unisa Council admits the institution has “serious governance” issues amid damning findings of an independent assessor’s report, it remained adamant, there was no chaos.
Unisa has been scrambling for more than a week to respond to allegations made in the leaked report into the university’s affairs and its vice-chancellor Professor Puleng LenkaBula’s governance style.
On May 12, it only confirmed receiving the report and that they would respond to Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, but it was still “studying the report”.
Unisa wrote to its community on Thursday, assuring it that their concerns over “matters such as job security, continuation of the academic programme as well as the integrity of your qualifications, amongst others, are top of mind”.
“Please rest assured that the university remains in a stable financial position as also affirmed in the report of the independent assessor.
“We are steadfast and committed to improve our rankings further. The university also welcomes any further investigations by relevant bodies as it believes it needs to own up on both its successes and failures,” it said.
The council issued a statement saying it was still processing the report and preparing an official response.
“The university has serious governance and operational challenges; however, it is far from collapsing or being a university in chaos. The allegations made against any of the officials of the university, will be tested through relevant internal processes designed for such purposes or through the legal systems of our country,” it said.
Nzimande appointed an independent assessor, Professor Themba Mosiato, to investigate all affairs at Unisa, Africa’s largest open distance learning institution.
Mosiato recommended the “full administration of Unisa, where both council and management are relieved of their duties”.
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education expressed its “grave concern” that the ministerial task teams (MTTs) Independent Review Report on Unisa and the independent assessor’s report on Unisa were leaked before due processes were finalised.
Committee chairperson, Nompendulo Mkhatshwa, said: “The committee notes the urgency to consider the independent assessor (IA) report. However, it will not act outside the legislation passed by Parliament by considering a leaked report. We request the interested parties allow the legal processes to unfold. After the report is tabled before the National Assembly the Speaker will refer it to the committee for consideration, in terms of the Rules of the National Assembly.”
Mkhatshwa said through their oversight functions, they held the department of higher education and the university to account.
“We anticipated that the IA work will be finalised and tabled before the National Assembly during this term. Hence we included a briefing on the state of governance at various institutions, including Unisa, as we developed this current term programme. This will include an update on the implementation of the MTT recommendations and the outcomes of the work of the IA. We are scheduled to receive a briefing from the department before the end of June,” she said.
Cape Times