Mukoni T Ratshitanga
The University of Zululand has failed to send audited statements for millions of rands given to it by the Kagiso Trust for student loans and bursaries.
Last week, the Mail & Guardian published a statement by the university’s rector, Charles Dlamini, saying Kagiso’s claim that it had not received statements was “false and malicious”.
This week, Kagiso handed documents to the M&G showing that the university has not provided statements since 1992. For two years alone – 1992 and 1993 – the amount involved totalled R5 671 000.
On September 19 1996, the university’s financial accounting director, Arnold Clarke, wrote to Kagiso giving his “apologies for the delay” in providing audited statements.
The letter gave details of the 1992 and 1993 allocation of funds to students. Clarke said: “These still have to be audited, but as promised they are forwarded to enable you to start working on them.”
But the Kagiso Trust has yet to receive the promised audited statements.
In 1993 and 1994, Kagiso gave R231 000 to the university for “administrative, academic development support and database management”. Again, no audited statements have been received.
Other letters handed to the M&G reveal that Kagiso has been struggling – thus far unsuccessfully – since at least 1994 to get audited statements from the university.
Some information sent to Kagiso by the university has been rejected as “unacceptable”. Thus, on June 22 1994, Kagiso told Dlamini that Clarke had been given a detailed explanation “what the shortcomings were and he undertook to rework it. This has not been done.”
Kagiso added that Clarke’s attitude was “defensive” and “unbecoming in a relationship involving so many students and vast amounts of funds”.
Revelations about the university’s failure to submit audited statements began to emerge two weeks ago after the M&G reported details of a probe last year into payments by the university to an individual which were said to be “outside the scope of normal business practice”.
These had to do with internal catering. There were also details about the spending of hundreds of thousands of rands on curtains and linen goods.
The report included a comment by the director of tertiary education, Itulmeleng Mosala, that Dlamini had “closed the door” to the Ministry of Education.
Last week, Dlamini responded with an angry letter that also drew Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu into the row. Bengu chastised the rector for his “unfortunate insinuations” that the Ministry of Education was “worse than the worst of apartheid ministries” in running higher education.