Johannesburg | Tuesday
THE council of the University of South Africa (Unisa) has agreed to find a mutually satisfactory agreement regarding the position of its newly appointed vice-chancellor, Dr Barney Pityana, the Education Ministry said this week.
”They will go and discuss various options regarding his contract and report back to the Minister,” higher education representative Themba Mhambi said following a meeting between council representatives and Education Minister Kader Asmal.
The contract of the previous vice-chancellor, Professor Antony Melck, expired in February this year, but he had to stay on until the appointment of his successor.
In May, he offered to offer to stay on to help with Unisa’s pending merger with Technikon SA (TSA) and the distance education campus of Vista University (Vudec).
Melck resigned early last month, citing silence from the university council on his offer.
Asmal has requested the council not to appoint a successor, but last week it announced that Pityana had been appointed to the post.
The minister has reportedly threatened to withhold the last two payments of Unisa’s state subsidy, amounting to about R200-million.
Monday’s meeting between Asmal, some of his officials and council representatives — council chairman McCaps Motimele, deputy chairwoman Brigalia Bam and acting vice-chancellor Professor Simon Maimela — took place at the council’s request.
In its own statement, Unisa said its delegation explained to the minister the reasons for Pityana’s appointment.
It said Unisa had been going through a slow and often painful process of transformation.
”The constitutional and political imperatives which enabled a rapid transformation of institutional structures in the public service do not operate as directly in the case of a university. The process must be driven from within, often against resistance from established interests. ”Unisa had no option but to transform its structures of governance and administration which were steeped in the style and tradition of the ‘old’ South Africa.”
This process had to a large extent been completed, it said.
”What the university now requires, is strong and visionary leadership to consolidate the gains of the transformation process.”
The university said this need was not diminished by the fact that it was involved in a merger process.
”On the contrary, council is of the opinion that not only the interests of the university, but those of the merger process as well, will be better served by a confident chief executive officer who enjoys the support of council and the university establishment.
”While on paper a merger … envisaged for Unisa, TSA and Vudec may look straightforward, experience suggests that the reality of such a process is mostly very different, much more time, energy and money consuming than anticipated, and ultimately, very dependent on the skills of the managers.”
The council believed the presence of a person of Pityana’s stature could only benefit the university, the merger process and higher education in general.
”He brings much-needed skills and experience into the system.
However, those skills and experience do not come on an acting and short-term basis.”
According to Unisa, Asmal made some suggestions about the term of office offered to Pityana, which were discussed.
The council reiterated Unisa’s full commitment to the merger process, while the ministry said Unisa would participate fully in the establishment of the various committees to deal with common aspects related to the merger.
Pityana, current chairman of the SA Human Rights Commission, on Sunday said he believed that the Unisa council acted within its mandate and jurisdiction when it appointed him.
He said he had received a letter of appointment, but had not yet signed a contract and was not aware of the length of his appointment or other conditions of employment. – Sapa