Blade Nzimande
2009 – present
As the crisis at the University of Cape Town (UCT) rages on, black staff and academics want higher education minister Blade Nzimande to set up an independent commission of inquiry.
In a letter to the university last Thursday, seen by the Mail & Guardian but not yet made public, 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.
Nzimande’s office could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.
The university, ranked as the best in Africa by five international bodies, is engulfed in a crisis of governance which has forced vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng to cut short her sabbatical in Britain and Europe, amid mounting opposition to her leadership.
Chinyoka’s letter was released after it emerged that the committee set up by the UCT council to draw up a list of names for an independent panel to look into charges of misconduct against Phakeng wanted deputy council chairperson Pheladi Gwangwa removed from the process.
The council will now meet next month to try to find a way forward, the Mail & Guardian has learnt.
On Friday, nine of the 28 council members asked registrar Royston Pillay to arrange an urgent special council meeting to discuss a motion of no-confidence in Gwangwa. The black academics and staff say they are driving a racist agenda, a charge the council members have rejected.
The UCT Academics Union had claimed earlier in the week that Gwangwa was conflicted because of her role on the university’s human resources committee. But a high-ranking source said the claim was baseless as she was not involved in discussions around the departure of former deputy vice-chancellor Lis Lange.
According to sources, during a marathon council meeting on 15 October, the divided council members unsuccessfully pushed for Gwangwa’s recusal on the grounds that she, in the words of some council members, was conflicted because of an article she had written on the matter on the UCT website.
In his letter to the university, Chinyoka rejected suggestions from the UCT Senate and the Academics Union of a management crisis at the institution.
“It is therefore not surprising that the UCT academic structures overwhelmingly dominated by white persons, namely the senate, the sub committees of the senate, the Academics Union etc., are at the front-and-centre of the current ‘crisis’,” he said.
“The commitment to retain the status quo and preserve white privilege is glaring. We are therefore called upon to reject the systematic and underhand attempts by the predominantly white structures to unseat black leadership.”
Chinyoka said the problems at UCT were structural and systemic and could be traced back to colonialism and apartheid.
Last Tuesday, the former dean of the Centre for Higher Education Development Professor Alan Cliff told a retirees dinner that claims regarding racism at UCT must be taken seriously, in addition to what he called the “white supremacist” thinking still present at the university. Cliff said there should be a thorough and independent investigation of the crisis.
“As a white male, I am uncomfortably aware of my historical position of privilege and that I now need to call myself to greater accountability in contributing to transformation. Suppose we can contribute to redressing and transforming the next generations of academics. In that case, that may well be one of the most important, ongoing contributions we can make as retirees,” he said.
Last Wednesday, the UCT Senate, which is 60% white academics, met to endorse the call for a probe into Phakeng and council chair Babalwa Ngonyama made during the previous full council meeting on 15 October.
According to a Senate member, they were concerned about leaks from the university, in particular, a new report by an independent law firm related to a probe into allegations of bullying against Phakeng launched last year after a complaint by Professor Jeremy Seekings. Ramushu Mashile Twala attorneys in Sandton investigated and found no evidence of misconduct against Phakeng in respect of this complaint. — © Higher Education Media Services
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