David Macfarlane
Did Unisa receive presidential approval for its current court action against Minister of Education Kader Asmal? Or is Unisa’s new vice-chancellor, Dr Barney Pityana, claiming rather more exalted support for his part on the ongoing warfare against Asmal than the facts warrant?
Senior Unisa academics raise the possibility that President Thabo Mbeki has sanctioned legal action against one of his own Cabinet ministers. They say Pityana last week told a meeting of deans that the university’s court action against Asmal was taken after consultation with Mbeki creating the clear impression, according to academics present, that the president supports the action against Asmal.
But Pityana denies this. “No, I never said that,” Pityana told the Mail & Guardian this week via Unisa representative Laurika Alwagen. “I had no consultation with the president at all.”
Launched late in December, Unisa’s court action seeks to delay the merger of Unisa with Technikon SA and Vista’s University’s Distance Education Centre, alleging inadequate consultation on Asmal’s part and unrealistic time frames. Asmal announced in the January 4 Government Gazette that the merger would take effect on February 1.
The merger is a prominent part of Asmal’s national higher education plan, released early last year, which seeks to transform the tertiary landscape by eliminating decades of apartheid-era inequities and inefficiencies. The new mega-institution of distance learning is to be called the Open Learning University of South Africa.
Asmal’s notice in the gazette appeared to signal an end to months of conflict within Unisa, and between the university and the government. The notice in effect dissolved the university’s controversial council, headed by the equally controversial McCaps Motimele, and installed an interim council headed by former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa. No Unisa representatives appear on this council because, Asmal said at the time, the university failed to meet the December 13 deadline for nominations.
Pityana lashed back last week, justifying Unisa’s court action. This drew a scathing response from Asmal on Monday. It is “unbecoming of the vice-chancellor to publicly engage and to question the integrity of the processes initiated by the minister of education … when he has been in office for just under two months. More importantly, Dr Pityana seems to be conflating and confusing his role as the chief executive officer of Unisa with that of the council, which is responsible for the overall governance of the university.”
Even so, Asmal agreed to delay the merger till April 1 conditional upon Unisa withdrawing its court action. Unisa is now in negotiations with the government, and by the time of going to press had not withdrawn its court application. The case is due to be heard on January 22.
Pityana told the M&G via his spokesperson that he alluded to the president at the meeting of Unisa deans last week “in a context of [referring to] concerned stakeholder groups”. He said he “bumped into members of the presidency in Zimbabwe” late last year who expressed concern about the situation at Unisa. “But it’s not the case that there’s support … or sanction from the presidency” for the Unisa action against Asmal. The M&G’s attempts to obtain comment from the Office of the President were unsuccessful.
Motimele’s affidavit to the high court in support of Unisa’s action says the university “has every reason to believe that this overhasty decision [to implement the merger and establish an interim council as of February 1] … was prompted by [Asmal’s] desire to remove the Council of [Unisa] with whom he has had an acrimonious relationship in the past”.
The affidavit also refers to Asmal’s “personal animosity towards me [Motimele]”: “It was clear to me … that [Asmal] disliked me intensely … It was pointed out [in a council memorandum] that [Asmal’s] complaint that he has not been formally invited to visit [Unisa] and his expressed desire to have an honorary doctoral degree conferred upon him by [Unisa] should not … influence his attitude towards [Unisa] and myself.”
Among the sticking points between the Unisa council and Asmal have been the university’s disregard of the minister’s request that no long-term senior appointments be made pending the merger (Pityana’s five-year appointment was controversial for this reason); Motimele’s role, which Unisa staff have called dictatorial, authoritarian and far in excess of a council chairperson’s conventional functions; and the lavish remuneration of council members, which the auditor general last year found seriously problematic on multiple grounds.