Mukoni T Ratshitanga
The University of the North lost a four- year dispute this week when the Pretoria High Court ruled that an academic fired by the university should be reinstated.
Sipho Ndlela, former head of the optometry faculty, was fired in March last year after more than two years of internal strife over his appointment as acting head of the faculty. Ndlela, who has worked at the university for 21 years, was appointed acting head of optometry in 1991.
The exact nature of the university’s problem with Ndlela is unclear. His appointment was followed by a spate of resignations by white academic staffers, some of whom were reported as saying they did not “want to work under a black head of department”. In 1992, students joined the row, demanding his resignation.
A meeting of students, management, staffers and Ndlela appeared to resolve the issue. But in November 1993 the university demoted Ndlela from his position as head of optometry without giving him reasons. He continued receiving his old salary, and the university later called him to a disciplinary hearing in an attempt to recover the funds.
Ndlela claims it was only after he wrote to Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Kader Asmal that the university management listened to him. Asmal was then chair of the university council.
“The rector [Njabulo Ndebele] appointed a two-man committee to sort out the mess,” Ndlela said in court papers.
But the committee failed to resolve the dispute, partly, says Ndlela, because “while we were dealing with the matter, the university appointed Professor Joubert, who had vacated the position when I took over.”
Ndlela then went on a one-man strike – he abandoned lectures and refused to mark the 1994 end-of-year examination scripts. The disciplinary hearing found him guilty of insurbodination.
He was suspended and ordered to apologise to the university’s management. Ndlela refused, choosing instead to appeal against the findings of the hearing. University management rejected his appeal and fired him in March last year.
Ndlela responded by refusing to vacate his university residence. He reconnected his electricity when the university had it cut off earlier this year. Ndlela’s lawyer, Gilbert Ngoepe, said this week that the university now owes his client back pay.