Rehana Rossouw
After months of negotiation and consultation, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) is expected to announce next week that it has a new rector — Professor Cecil Abrahams.
The announcement has been delayed by weeks of sensitive negotiation about the rector’s salary package and tenure, which has been improved considerably. Unlike Professor Jakes Gerwel, who left UWC to take up the position of Cabinet secretary last year, Abrahams will reside in a house purchased for him by the university. The university has also managed to secure the donation of a luxury car for the rector’s use.
Abrahams is currently vice-rector at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Born in Johannesburg, he left South Africa in the 1960s and has been in self-exile in the United States and Canada since.
UWC has offered him a permanent appointment as senior professor and five years tenure as rector, which may be extended for a further five years. There is no guarantee, however, that he will serve a second term as rector.
Abrahams, aged 55, has been anxious to secure a package which would make it worth his while to relocate to South Africa for the last 10 years of his career. Sources at the university said this week that he was satisfied with the current offer.
The decision to offer him the position was unanimous in every constituency of the university. UWC’s senate, council, academic community, students and workers were all part of the selection process.
Despite misgivings about the rector-designate’s appointment being rasied in academic circles because of his failure to publish pathbreaking articles in his field of literature, UWC is confident that they have found the right person for the job.
“In terms of administrative skills, we are confident that he will be head and shoulders above Gerwel,” said a senior staffer involved in Abrahams’s salary negotiations. “In terms of political clout in the broader community, there’s no comparison with Gerwel, though.
“But at this stage in UWC’s history, it is imperative that the university has to become more inward looking and Abrahams is the best person to spearhead that process.”
Abrahams has expressed a commitment to working with UWC and the private sector to secure bursary funding for UWC. He has also stressed the importance of promoting the tradition of UWC to engage in social tranformation.
UWC is also expected to announce the appointment of three vice-rectors next week. They will be charged with the responsibility of academic planning and development, student affairs and services.