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Chiara Carter
A damning report on the conflict-ridden University of the Transkei (Unitra) recommends that its principal, Alfred Moleah, take early retirement and the university’s finances be investigated.
The report by independent assessor Louis Skweyiya was requested by Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu. Skweyiya found that the relationship between Moleah and the rest of the university had “irretrievably” broken down and there was no chance of normality at the university while he remained in office.
Skweyiya recommends that Bengu persuade Moleah to go on leave and that council devise a retrenchment package for him. Should this not happen, council would have to deal with him, but should follow legal procedures. Moleah’s post should immediately be advertised and a caretaker management should be installed for an interim period.
The report outlines how, although ultimate authority rests with the university council, Moleah had refused to implement decisions by the previous council and held the view that he had the right to make appointments. It mentions examples of unhappiness over “irregular” appointments.
The report also paints a picture of an extraordinary state of paranoia surrounding Moleah, who refused to allow his vice-principal to park his car alongside his because this would threaten his safety. Moleah moves around campus with an armed bodyguard and has security guards at his house. He also has a closed-circuit television system in his office – a situation the report says is “unhealthy” and infringes on the privacy of colleagues.
Skweyiya says Moleah governs through a management team that has no credibility among students or senior academics. Meetings are described as haphazard. Committees which are supposed to let staff and students participate in running the university are described as “dysfunctional and [a] shambles”. The report says essential services have collapsed.
The report also deals with unhappiness about the new council, which it says is perceived to have been “handpicked” after Moleah clashed with the previous council.
Skweyiya found no substance to allegations of impropriety in the renting of a property known as the White House to staff by council chair Dumisa Ntsebeza. However, after a letter from Ntsebeza to Moleah became public, there were perceptions among staff that Ntsebeza backed Moleah.
Skweyiya said the university’s financial affairs were “alarming. In 1995 Unitra was R60-million in credit; the following year the university was R40-million in the red.”
He said the university council should facilitate a probe into Unitra’s finances to look into “rampant allegations” of corruption of “alarming proportions”, theft and fraud.