Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
The deputy vice-chancellor at Vista University, Professor Kingston Nyamapfene, has been accused of running a private education business from the institution, using its resources.
CompuVista, a computer literacy business, allegedly uses Vista’s Bloemfontein computers, facilities and lecturers.
This accusation is one of several allegations of corruption contained in a report compiled by a high-powered Vista transformation forum made up of campus principals, student organisations, staffers and unions, asking the university council to launch an investigation.
The council has agreed to set up a commission of inquiry, but it has not been appointed.
Vista National Transformation Forum (NTF) claims Nyamapfene collaborated with the former head of Vista’s computer science department, S Haupt, to run the business on campus.
CompuVista is also operating at Thaba Nchu College of Education in Bloemfontein. An official at Thaba Nchu college said CompuVista courses were accredited by Vista University and the staff members were qualified lecturers from Vista’s Bloemfontein campus.
However, the Bloemfontein campus denied involvement with Thaba Nchu college, saying CompuVista used to operate at the Bloemfontein campus premises, but was shut earlier last year – according to staff, after it emerged that the university was not benefiting financially from the business.
At Thaba Nchu College, CompuVista co- ordinator Jos Chittilabilly said students were paying R600 for four modules and the certificates issued were signed by a Lomond de Jager, who was working for Vista. The Bloemfontein campus denied this, saying it had never heard of De Jager.
The NTF is not impressed. “A plethora of questions have not been answered about these courses. When did senate and council approve of such courses; the syllabi, credit ratings, fee structure and so on?” reads the report.
“Should we allow a privately run organisation to use university facilities without any pre-agreed payments? To what extent are these short courses in competition with our CI100, an approved university [computer] course? Who is benefiting financially, and how much?”
The Mail & Guardian sent some questions, including “Did the university benefit from CompuVista?”, to Vista’s Bloemfontein campus principal, TG Schultz. He replied that since some of the information requested “is only available from our central campus, Pretoria, I am unable to adequately respond to all your inquiries. I have, therefore, provided a brief to the vice-chancellor, Professor [Hugh] Africa, and requested him to respond completely on the university’s behalf.”
However, Vista representative Karl Smith said the university is not prepared to comment as the matter is being investigated internally.
The terms of reference for the commission of inquiry were leaked to the M&G. It will “investigate allegations that the management is autocratic and arrogant and its [management] style is based on personal whims, patronage and personal vendetta. The management style has caused serious deterioration in the entire administration of the university and lack of accountability and discipline.”
The probe will also focus on Africa, who joined Vista University in 1996. According to the documents, Africa “has built a luxury private bathroom attached to his office”.
Furthermore, Africa promoted the secretary to the registrar (administration), S Carstens, to be his assistant and gave her a salary hike from R100 000 to R250 000 per annum.
The transformation report also said: “Professor Africa was asked about this appointment during [an] NTF and management meeting on March 6 1998. The best he could say was that he has the prerogative from the University Act to appoint whomever he fancies, and at whatever salary scale.”
What also emerges from the report is that Vista University is “a consultants’ paradise”.
“We are utterly horrified,” says the report, “at the new levels of extreme [sic] the new management has taken the appointment of consultants/agencies and the extent to which they appear to have bizarre ‘personnel policy’ of disempowering employees in order to appoint over-priced consultants/agencies.”
The report also claims that the transformation forum, unions, affected departments and employees are not consulted when the management appoints consultants.
“The Vista council is ultimately responsible for all appointments and, therefore, we need to appeal to council members to investigate such appointments as a matter of extreme urgency,” reads the report. “At the same time, serious consideration must be given to referring these cases to the public protector, the Heath special investigation unit and the Office for Serious Economic Offences for investigation.”
The NTF questioned the appointment of Danie Kok as executive director of the Vista Foun- dation, which raises funds for the university.
“As a consultant,” the forum said, “Danie Kok reportedly gets an astronomical retainer of R35 000 per month from Vista coffers with a guaranteed 10% increase per annum until the year 2003.”
Kok, whom the forum claims has a “long- standing personal relationship” with Africa, “allegedly simultaneously works for two other institutions and Vista apparently pays for his plush offices in an exclusive Sandton office block, his expensive furnishings and a rapidly increasing staff complement, which includes, would you believe, his wife.
“Despite the fact that he [Kok] would, therefore, have to bring in enormous sums of money just for Vista to break even on his expenses, in the two and a half years he has been associated with Vista University, he has failed to raise any substantial funds and much of what he has raised are donations that were made on a regular basis to the university long before Kok arrived on the scene.”
The report also claims that “about R480 000 was spent in July 1998 on the so-called Inter-Vista Games in Durban”.
This, according to the report, “happened, we were told in an NTF meeting on August 25 1998, even though our executive management was aware that there would be no real games played in Durban. In effect, the money was spent on what some students call a ‘jol’ to relieve examination stress.”
Finally, the report claims that R1-million was spent on the inauguration of Vista’s chancellor and Africa.