The government denies that it aims to close down the University of Transkei, and says the retrenchments are part of restructuring
Glenda Daniels and David Macfarlane
The University of Transkei (Unitra) has been flung into crisis and conflict over the retrenchment of 300 staff members both lower-skilled workers and academics.
Union sources say this is part of a government agenda to close down the university.
The National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) says Unitra retrenched 26 academics and 274 workers last week after just eight days’ warning, and so flouted labour laws that require employers to adequately consult unions and provide alternatives.
But Unitra’s state-appointed administrator, Professor Nick Morgan, says the deadline for finalising consultations on retrenchments, April 30, was communicated last year.
He says that engagement with the Nehawu provincial office continues, and “the nature of our discussions suggests that the unions have accepted that retrenchments cannot be postponed … All [Unitra] structures were involved at every step to ensure that the university was applying the labour laws correctly in every instance.”
The government denies that it aims to close down the university and points out that this is part of Unitra’s restructuring a process direly needed in the light of the institution’s “serious financial deficit, which by the end of this financial year will be in the order of R100-million”, says Minister of Education Kader Asmal.
Talks between Unitra and the universities of Fort Hare and Rhodes are taking place about possible institutional collaboration. This is in accordance with the national plan for higher education that Asmal unveiled in March and all tertiary institutions will be involved in such processes.
Nehawu representative Moloantoa Molaba says: “The university was told by the Ministry of Education not to accept new students this year. We suspect this is to prepare the ground for closure.”
The union also says that the government is ignoring Unitra’s economic and social context.
“The university is surrounded by a sea of poverty and underdevelopment. If the university is focused with visionary management, it could help assist the province to overcome its difficulties, including the problems of governance, corruption and inadequate service delivery.
“The university is a critical source of economic activity. The retrenchments will add to the lack of education, unemployment, skills shortage and poverty crisis in the poorest province of South Africa. Unitra contributes towards the local economy: we need such institutions but the mess has to be sorted out,” says Molaba.
“There is a history of mismanagement at this university. In four years there have been four heads of the institution. It’s an unstable institution but the government is not doing anything about the problem.”
Asmal says the government is “well aware of the particular context in the Eastern Cape and job losses will obviously be kept to the minimum. However, without the implementation of the current staff restructuring proposals the university will not be able to keep within its overdraft and the immediate future of the institution will be under serious threat.”
Molaba says the “key problem is the Ministry of Education’s neo-liberal thinking instead of solving the financial crisis, it adopts fashionable business trends of looking at ‘core and non-core functions’ where staff are the targets and victims”.
Morgan says Unitra is concerned with “easing the distress of retrenchments through the implementation of [a] social plan … The university realises that it is still in the early stages of achieving the restructuring milestone it has set itself but it is committed to turning the institution around.”
Nehawu this week said it would attempt “political intervention” (with the provincial African National Congress) first to resolve the crisis, but would consider an urgent labour court interdict to stop the retrenchments if this fails.
l Meanwhile, Vista University has backed off from plans to retrench 365 staff, including nearly 20% of its academics, at the end of the month. The university has finalised an agreement with unions “in relation to voluntary severance and early retirement in order to address a surplus of 365 in all staff categories”, says vice-chancellor Professor CT Keto.
The Mail & Guardian last month reported that unions had formally declared a dispute with the university over its retrenchment plans, and that Keto nevertheless confirmed the retrenchments would go ahead on schedule.
Keto says Vista has to find ways of slicing 20% off its operational budget and salary bill. Reasons for the university’s financial crisis include “lack of controls on the hiring of new employees” between 1997 and 2000 which led to an almost 30% increase in the salary bill, Keto says. There has also been a steady decline in student enrolments, which has diminished the university’s income from student fees and government subsidies (which are calculated on the basis of numbers of students currently registered).
Keto says Vista is offering staff a “generous package”, well beyond the legal requirement of one week’s salary for every year of completed service. Staff who receive the package will leave the university at the end of July.