Mungo Soggot
COLIN BUNDY, vice-rector at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), has emerged as a leading contender for the politically charged top job at Wits.
The widely respected historian, closely associated with UWC’s transformation, confirmed this week he had accepted nomination for the post. Bundy, it is believed, enjoys strong support on the Wits campus and is said to have the backing of several black academics.
The university’s student magazine, Wits Student, this week gave Bundy its backing, dubbing him a “healthy contender for vice- chancellorship”.
The university’s selection committee is due to meet next week, after the deadline for applications for the post closed last Monday. It is believed that only two candidates have been nominated. Other candidates could emerge at a later stage of the selection process.
A second nomination is Mala Singh, director of the Human Sciences Research Council. Singh, formerly at University of Durban- Westville, previously applied for a deputy vice-chancellorship at Wits. She could not be contacted at the time of going to press.
Wits was forced to readvertise the post in February after being dumped at the eleventh hour by Professor Sam Nolutshungu, a South African currently teaching at the University of Rochester in the United States.
Nolutshungu was chosen to lead Wits into the next century after beating two rivals – Wits deputy vice-chancellor June Sinclair and University of the North vice-chancellor Njabulo Ndabele. He scored over them at a public grilling in the university’s Great Hall last October.
But Nolutshungu faxed the university in January to say he was pulling out for “health reasons”. He has, in the meantime, accepted a new, better-paid post at Rochester.
Nolutshungu’s antics meant Wits had to start all over again. Robert Charlton, the current vice-chancellor, retires at the end of the year but several academics say there is already a power vacuum.
In an apparent snipe at Nolutshungu, the Wits Student said Bundy is “no foreigner to the challenges facing institutions of tertiary education, no lily-livered import”.
The selection committee, which includes representatives from several campus constituencies, is also empowered to hunt for and to nominate candidates. But one academic says Wits was unlikely to have been swamped with applications from capable candidates in the wake of the last selection process.
Judge Fikile Bam, chair of the university’s council, has previously said the recruitment process would be a mix of advertising and head-hunting, where identified candidates would be “encouraged” to apply.
Bundy was first touted as a contender before the post was advertised, enjoying support among constituencies who had previously favoured Ndebele.
Both Ndebele and Sinclair decided not to submit themselves to the Wits process again. The latter, previously linked with Crawford College’s plans for an “Ivy League” university, confirmed this week that she had been offered a senior administrative post at the University of Pretoria.
It was still unclear this week whether the South African Students Congress (Sasco), a strong proponent of radical campus transformation, will throw its weight behind Bundy’s appointment.
A spokesman said the organisation had not yet decided on its support. He said Sasco would be meeting this weekend to discuss its stance.