IN WHAT may foreshadow a climb-down, the council of the University of Natal is to refer the appointment of Malegapuru Makgoba as the new vice-chancellor to the university senate.
Last Friday the council voted by a small margin to consult the senate, as required by national legislation, despite arguments by four lawyers that this might be viewed as riding roughshod over the university’s own rules.
The move comes after the university received a letter from attorneys representing Makgoba requesting information from the university with a view to possible recourse to the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration.
The candidacy of Makgoba, president of the Medical Research Council, has generated controversy since he failed to achieve a recommendation from two-thirds of the selection panel, although he did receive a simple majority.
The two-thirds requirement became part of the university’s internal procedures following the term of office of Professor James Leatt, whose leadership of the university was undermined by a lack of support in the university community.
Council chairperson Alex Rogoff confirmed that the university had received an opinion on the way ahead from advocate Malcolm Wallis, but said it was confidential.
However, it is understood that Wallis counselled against overriding the internal procedures. Three members of council who are qualified lawyers also argued against going ahead with the referral of the matter to the senate.
However, Rogoff told the Mail & Guardian that the internal rules made provision for the council to take the final decision irrespective of the two-thirds rule and that the senate was being consulted as required. “Council has not decided what action to take. We have simply asked the senate to give us their opinion; then we will decide what to do.”
It is understood that Dr Makgoba, who has clashed with the government over its approach to HIV/Aids, is unlikely to have his contract at the Medical Research Council renewed.
The candidacy of Makgoba, an outspoken “Africanist” who has pledged to make the university a uniquely African institution, has divided the university, with student organisations demonstrating in his favour and accusing an “old-guard” of attempting to block his appointment.
Makgoba himself has delivered a conciliatory manifesto in which he deflected criticism of “a lack of transformation among staff and the executive” and said the challenge was “not to point fingers” over the past but to develop for the future.
It is also understood that the Eastern Seaboard Association of Tertiary Institutions, representing, among others, the University of Durban Westville (UDW)and the University of Zululand, has written to Natal to urge the university not to proceed with the appointment, given the proposal that the University of Natal Durban and UDW should merge.
However, the announcement by the Cabinet that it had postponed a decision on the restructuring of higher education has added further uncertainty to the process.