Vuyo Mvoko
The Ministry of Education says it wants to avoid a collision with the Witwatersrand University Council for now, but threatened yesterday if the council did not heed proposals it had made on Wednesday, it would “act”.
“It is not something we want to talk about now … but we have a responsibility to ensure that higher education funds are well-spent,” the ministry’s spokesman, Lincoln Mali, told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday: “We do not want to look at the power that we have legally and constitutionally. The ball therefore is in the court of the council.”
On Wednesday education minister Sibusiso Bengu told a press conference that Wits vice- chancellor Robert Charlton and his council would have to find a “transparent and inclusive mechanism” for solving the impasse around the suspension of deputy vice-chancellor Malegapuru William Makgoba. The mechanism, he said, would have to be agreed to by all involved, including Makgoba, and should be subject to legal advice.
On Thursday the ministry said it was confident the council would abide by its resolutions. “This is a test case; we also need to look at the implications it will have. We have never had anything like this before,” Mali said.
On Wednesday two members of the council, Doctors Ntatho Motlana and Enos Mabuza, indicated they would not renew their membership, which expired on Thursday. Aggrey Klaaste, editor of Sowetan newspaper, walked out of the council meeting which deadlocked on the isuue of Makgoba’s suspension.