Mungo Soggot and Sechaba ka ‘Nkosi
The public protector tried to shield the disgraced rector of Vaal Technikon, who was fired after a commission of inquiry found him guilty of financial impropriety and abusing his position.
The technikon’s council ousted Professor Aubrey Mokadi and attached several of his assets this week despite a threat from Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu to cut off its funding. Bengu has consistently defended Mokadi, a close associate and confidant, since he was suspended last year for nepotism and misappropriation of funds.
But it has now emerged that Public Protector Selby Baqwa has effectively backed Bengu in his extraordinary defence of Mokadi for some time, going as far as to seek legal aid for Mokadi in March.
Baqwa’s office has written six letters to the technikon’s council. The latest, dated November 9, instructs the council to hold fire against Mokadi and effectively endorses Bengu’s threat to cut off funding.
Mokadi’s departure ends a year-long battle between the minister and the technikon over its decision to suspend Mokadi. Bengu dispatched an “independent assessor” to investigate the technikon’s troubles – after a commission of inquiry had got under way. At one stage the technikon council was poised to take the minister to court over his intervention.
The commission of inquiry, headed by Johannesburg advocate Roland Sutherland, SC, found Mokadi guilty on five counts of misconduct, including granting himself a secret salary increase and attempting to sack a subordinate who blocked his attempt to buy a R1,2-million house at the technikon’s expense.
Sutherland also accused Mokadi of riding roughshod over technikon regulations. But he did not broach more salacious allegations against Mokadi such as his decision to grant favours to a woman with whom he was caught in a compromising position in a car outside a local school.
The woman masterminded Mokadi’s plot to secure himself a housing subsidy.
Sutherland – whose intervention was initially welcomed by Mokadi – said his decision to turn this woman into a scapegoat highlighted “the fact that he consciously and deliberately behaved in an patently underhand manner.
“Such findings in respect of Professor Mokadi are tragic. He is manifestly a talented and gregarious person,” Sutherland’s report says.
In his November 9 letter, Baqwa throws his weight behind Bengu’s “independent assessor”, Professor Jaap Durand, who found that the council was responsible for many of the problems at the institution, and recommended it be dissolved.
Durand, former deputy vice-chancellor of the University of the Western Cape, accused the council of using Mokadi as a scapegoat for its inability to embrace transformation.
Baqwa’s letter to the technikon last week endorses Bengu’s attempt to cut off its funding.
Baqwa wrote this week that he was “in receipt of a copy of a letter [from Bengu] which is addressed to yourself pertaining to the conditions set by the Minister of Education for the continued allocation of money and the implementation of the recommendations of the independent assessor”.
He said the ousting of Mokadi would justify “the enforcement of Section 42 of the Higher Education Act”.
>From the beginning of the correspondence, which started last November, Baqwa’s office was at pains to explain that he merely wanted to ascertain the facts surrounding Mokadi’s suspension.
In one letter, dated December 10, Baqwa’s assistant wrote: “At the same time it should also be explained that the public protector is not acting on behalf of Prof Mokadi as his legal representative or spokesperson, but the aim of the inquiry is to find the facts to enable him to determine whether Mokadi is being improperly prejudiced.”
The public protector also pointed out in two letters that Mokadi himself asked for help to secure legal aid.
However, the fact that Baqwa had copies of correspondence from Bengu’s office suggests the minister actively sought the involvement of the public protector in his battle with the technikon.
In its initial correspondence with the technikon, Baqwa’s office did not suggest the council stop its action against Mokadi, but raised concerns that the council might be improperly biased against the former rector.
Baqwa – who has had to fight corruption with a measly budget of R7-million and a staff of 32 – was this week applauded at the anti-corruption summit in Cape Town, where the government announced it would increase his staff to 150.
One of the misconduct allegations against Mokadi related to a high-profile bash organised at the technikon’s expense to give Bengu an award for an outstanding role and leadership in education – an event which coincided with the birthday of Bengu’s wife.
Council sources say Mokadi could owe the institution as much as R100 000. Mokadi will not receive any money from the technikon, which plans to reclaim R30 000 he ran up on his credit card while on suspension and R32 000 for his housing subsidy.
Bengu’s office confirmed it had forwarded its correspondence to Baqwa who, it claimed, had been contacted by Mokadi last year. The council declined to comment on the role of the public protector in the affair.
Mokadi’s departure has not put an end to the technikon’s troubles: council members claimed they were threatened this week by the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union, which has supported Mokadi and Bengu throughout the affair.