Andy Duffy and Megan Voss
The government is to send independent investigators into the University of the Transkei (Unitra) – the first time it has wielded the powers of intervention recently created through higher education legislation.
The probe, due to start this weekend, will focus on what government officials have termed a “police state” allegedly operating on the Umtata campus, run by vice- chancellor Alfred Moleah.
Student clashes with management over unpaid fees have plagued the campus for months, prompting a recent crisis meeting between Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu and the various Unitra stakeholders.
Bengu has now turned to his newly created Council for Higher Education to appoint an independent assessor to go on to the campus. The assessor – a “rapid response” mechanism set up under the higher education Bill – can recommend suspensions or dismissals. The final decision, however, lies with the university’s council, as the direct employer.
Bengu’s office says the ministry is concerned about Moleah’s alleged dictatorial, autocratic style. But Moleah says Bengu has told him the assessor will look at general management and governance style on the campus, including that operating before Moleah was appointed vice- chancellor in July 1994.
“People have accused me of having an autocratic style of governance which is not consultative,” he says. “I consult as much as I can, but they’re saying I can take no decision without calling a meeting. I’m supposed to be a chief executive.”
The Student Representative Council, which has led opposition to Moleah and levelled many of the charges against him, was unavailable for comment this week.
Bengu’s decision caps a troubled 18 months for Moleah. The university’s previous council suspended him in March 1997 for insubordination. The suspension was lifted when Bengu intervened to rule that the council was actually defunct and had to be replaced, following a change in Unitra’s statute late in 1996.
Moleah has been battling since then with his second-in-command, vice-principal Justice Noruwana, over alleged insubordination, prompting an investigation by the new council.
Meanwhile, a steep drop in government funding this year has forced Unitra to reshape its academic programme, cut operations and seek retrenchments among its 1 300-strong staff. The often violent run- ins with students over unpaid fees brought police in Casspirs on to the campus earlier this year.
Unitra is not the only troubled campus on Bengu’s plate. He is also mulling over the findings of a preliminary investigation at the University of the North (Turfloop).
The probe uncovered serious problems in the performance of Turfloop’s council. “There has been a complete breakdown of authority,” one department insider says.
Bengu wants the entire Turfloop council summoned to meet him before the end of next week. Vice-chancellor Njabulo Ndebele, who asked Bengu to intervene, officially steps down at the end of the month. He is going overseas.
Moleah says he does not know of any vice- chancellor at a “historically disadvantaged institution” who wants to renew the contract. “We meet all the time,” he adds. “We cry on each other’s shoulders and compare horror stories.”
Latest figures show a sharp fall in student numbers at many of these institutions. The decline is likely to form part of the ministry’s thinking as it plans the restructuring of tertiary education – a process that includes closures and mergers.
Turfloop’s student numbers are down more than half since 1994, to just 8 877 this year, the University of the Western Cape has fallen nearly a quarter over the same period to just 10 832, and student numbers at Unitra and the University of Zululand have also dropped.
Pundits say students are more interested in going to “established” universities, such as the universities of the Witwatersrand, Cape Town and Rhodes. Facilities are generally better and the degrees are assigned a higher value.