Roshila Pillay Senior academic staff at Vista University are furious about the extravagance of one of the campus rectors, who commutes between Pretoria and Bloemfontein at a cost of about R1 700 a trip. Professor Talvin Schultz, the principal both of Vista’s Bloemfontein campus and the Thaba Nchu College of Education (which is now managed by the Bloemfontein campus), has been seconded to work on the university’s counterproposal to Minister of Education Kader Asmal’s National Plan for Higher Education. The main campus of the university is situated in Pretoria and according to the university council, necessitates Schultz’s presence in Pretoria while he is seconded. Asmal’s plan calls for the unbundling of the university and the merging of Vista, Technikon South Africa and the University of South Africa. “Since the university’s seat is located in Pretoria, he [Schulz] regularly commutes between Bloemfontein and Pretoria in accordance with his additional assignments,” says Dr Reuben Mbuli, the secretary of the university’s executive council. In February a litany of allegations were levelled at the university’s management by its staff, including mismanagement, embezzlement of funds, abuse of power and nepotism. University staff sent Asmal a letter detailing “how the entire [Vista] management has failed” and alleging that Asmal was “not concerned with the future of the institution”. “The vice-chancellor, Professor [CT] Keto, has never consulted all of the university’s campuses on Asmal’s plans for the university but has decided to oppose the minister,” a senior Vista academic claimed. “At a meeting of the National Institutional Forum, which advises the university council, all members, except those from central campus, opted for unbundling.”
Last Friday Asmal reiterated his intention to proceed with the implementation of the National Plan for Higher Education and expressed his concern at the university’s executive council’s refusal to meet him to discuss the situation unless it was on [the university’s] terms. The university also refused to meet the national working group for the plan. Staff are extremely unhappy at Schultz’s unnecessary travelling expenses at a time when 365 employees are scheduled to be retrenched. A senior academic staff member says there is no one acting on Schulz’s behalf when he is not at the Bloemfotein campus. “They are retrenching people but we have a person coming to work like the premier of KwaZulu-Natal, even though there is no money. He is seconded to fight a losing battle against government policy even though most of the campuses are for unbundling,” says the staff member. Mbuli responded by saying: “Professor Schultz does not exclusively travel by air, and road travel is used where the related stress and fatigue pose no undue risk to his well-being.” Asmal said it came to his attention that Vista’s management has instructed staff and students not to “publicly engage with the issues at hand. Not only is this an infringement of their constitutional right to freedom of speech but it also runs counter to the principle of academic freedom that should be cherished by all educational institutions,” says Asmal.