Ntuthuko Maphumulo
The academic staff and employees at Mangosuthu Technikon went on strike this week after the new technikon council reinstated suspended principal and vice-chancellor Professor Aaron Ndlovu.
As the strike continued, a dramatic plea by the student representative council to the National Union of Technikon Employees (Nutesa) to suspend the action until the completion of student registration was refused.
The problem has been brewing since August 1999 when the Ministry of Education appointed an independent assessor, Jaap Durand, to investigate allegations that Ndlovu was misusing his position.
The Durand report to Minister of Education Kader Asmal in September 1999 listed allegations levelled by Nutesa and students against Ndlovu, accusing him of favouritism, nepotism, victimisation of staff and unauthorised expenditure (such as R500000 on security during a strike in August 1999 that resulted in the wounding of students and staff).
The report recommended that the technikon council terminate the services of Ndlovu as principal and vice-chancellor. It also stated that if the matter could not be resolved by the end of 1999, the minister should use his power to appoint an administrator.
The technikon council read the recommendations of the report, took a decision at the beginning of January 2000 to suspend Ndlovu on full pay and instituted a disciplinary inquiry, but two months later its term of office came to an end and the new council aborted the inquiry.
The union went to the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in September, but the dispute over the continuation of an inquiry was not resolved. Instead Nutesa was given a certificate that allowed them to go on a protected industrial strike a move agreed to by 84% of the members.
In December the new council decided that Ndlovu be allowed to resume his duties at the technikon with immediate effect. A letter written by council chair Obed Mlaba, who is also the Durban mayor, asked that Ndlovu’s return be made as smooth as possible. Ndlovu was duly reinstated as vice-chancellor and the technikon closed two weeks later for the holiday season.
The technikon reopened last week and days later the union embarked on a strike, demanding that Ndlovu’s suspension be reinstated and the disciplinary inquiry resumed.
The deputy chair of Nutesa, Njabulo Zuma, says the union will abide by the findings of the inquiry.
“The strike will continue till the council or the Department of Education intervene,” says Zuma.
However, Ndlovu says, “The management have talked to their attorneys, who have advised them to apply for a court interdict and a restraining order in the high court.” They had not done so by the time of going to press.