retrenchments
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
Final examinations at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) hang in the balance this year following ongoing unrest on the campus.
Examinations have been postponed for two weeks, but the administration has not yet set a date for them to begin.
In an extraordinary move, UWC’s senate has censured its rector, Professor Cecil Abrahams, for the “short- sighted, inhuman and mechanical manner” in which he implemented a retrenchment process.
At a meeting this week, UWC’s senate called on Abrahams to issue an apology to the university community “at an appropriate time”. Ironically, the rector has left on a fund-raising trip to the United States and will only return on October 29.
There have been several protest meetings, a workers’ strike and a student boycott at UWC over the past two weeks in protest against the proposed retrenchment of academic staff.
Students and academic staff have lodged a motion of no confidence in Abrahams.
At the senate meeting Abrahams admitted knowing how bad the university’s financial crisis was when he assumed his post two years ago, but that he had done nothing to change its income and expenditure pattern.
The rector’s office has decided to refuse admission to students who are unable to pay their fees, and to retrench 41 academic staff members.
There is also a growing possibility that hundreds of non-academic staffers will be retrenched
The university’s decision came after months of discussion on cost- saving measures. But students and staff members are demanding that the administration withdraw its decision.
The academic staff association said UWC’s administration did not properly consult them about the retrenchments. They said Abrahams was spreading misleading information about the retrenchments.
Abrahams said in an open letter to staff and students that negotiations about retrenchments began in May, and that the academic staff association failed to negotiate by not responding and by postponing meetings. He said he did everything possible to avoid retrenchments.
But the academic staff said Abrahams had never attended a single meeting to negotiate retrenchments and had not responded to a single letter they wrote him on the issue.
“This from a rector who claims to be sensitive to issues affecting the livelihood of staff, but who, on the other hand, admitted that he took bad decisions regarding finances which, among other things, resulted in the huge deficit the university is facing,” the UWC staff association claimed.
“It is this deficit they now claim to be the reason for retrenchments.
“This also from a very open and honest rector who, together with his three vice-rectors, earn more than R2-million in salaries, according to the university budget. It is a feature of the current administration at UWC that promises made are not kept, agreements are broken and patent incompetence goes unmentioned.
“It is as if the senior administrators, when applying for their jobs, ticked the columns for large amounts of money, high status and other prerequisites, and placed neat crosses next to columns for accountability, accepting responsibility for errors and competence.”