The Department of Higher Education and Training is keeping a close eye on the challenges at three universities where leadership challenges made headlines.
According to Minister Blade Nzimande, who provided a written reply to a parliamentary question recently, the department will keep a watching brief at UCT and the Vaal University of Technology before deciding if any intervention may be required in terms of the Higher Education Act.
Last month, the Mail & Guardian reported black staff and academics penned a letter calling on Nzimande to set up an independent commission of inquiry.
In a letter to the university, the Mail & Guardian reported Dr Tiri Chinyoka, writing on behalf of black academics and staff, said Nzimande should intervene with an inquiry into what he called racist false claims about dysfunction at UCT.
It was also recently announced that the hearings into allegations of misconduct against the vice-chancellor of UCT, Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng, and the chair of council, Babalwa Ngonyama, will be held off campus and in camera.
This is one of the clauses in the terms of reference for a five-member independent panel that was adopted by the UCT council.
Phakeng is accused of flouting governance processes, with council chair Ngonyama, regarding the resignation of deputy vice-chancellor Lis Lange.
They are accused of having misled the council concerning Lange’s departure.
The investigations come amid reports of tensions at UCT, with claims that power, race, and governance issues are allegedly dividing top academics and leaders.
“The department is paying attention to the challenges at the University of Cape Town and the minister has formally requested a report from the chair of council. The department and ministry will keep a watching brief on how the university is taking forward the issues currently being faced at a governance level, before deciding if any intervention may be required in terms of the Higher Education Act,” Nzimande said in his parliamentary written reply.
In terms of Vaal University of Technology, Nzimande said a similar approach is under way. The minister has received information from the former chair of council on the reasons for her resignation and intends to meet with the council of the university to receive a report and update on what the council is doing to resolve the issues that it is facing.
At Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), the minister has appointed Professor Lourens van Staden as an administrator to take over the role of council at the university for a period of up to 24 months. The council was therefore dissolved with effect from 28 September to restore the academic project.
The terms of reference, as provided in the gazette are as follows:
(i) Take over the role, powers, functions, and duties of the Mangosuthu University of Technology Council for a period of 24 months.
(ii) Identify and initiate processes and initiatives that will restore proper governance and management at the university.
(iii) Initiate the independent external investigation (a forensic audit) into the range of financial control weaknesses and suspected financial irregularities as a matter of urgency. Further, where criminal activity is evident, full legal processes must follow so that there is visible consequence management for illicit practice.
(iv) Develop and begin the implementation of a 5-year development plan that will address a range of problems and challenges that have been identified in all the independent assessor reports and in the CHE’s (Council on Higher Education) institutional audit reports.
(v) Take responsibility for the appointment and for the filling of senior level posts including that of the vice-chancellor and principal, within 12 –18 months of the term of office of the administrator.
(vi) Review the senior appointments made in 2022 to ensure that the institutional statute and all applicable policies were strictly adhered to. Further to this, the administrator must ensure that there are necessary employment probity assessments for new management recruits.
(vii) Ensure that a new council is constituted in accordance with the institutional statute as soon as is practicable; and that there is a proper induction of all members and an effective handover of the governance role to the new council. The recommendation of a probity assessment for potential members of council must be followed through.
“It is still early to assess what progress has been made, however the number of complaints submitted in relation to MUT have dropped significantly,” Nzimande said.
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