Did he lie or didn’t he? University of Durban-Westville (UDW) vice-chancellor Saths Cooper’s various statements about his remuneration package are now at the centre of the governance crisis rocking the conflict-ridden campus.
A UDW staffer present at last Wednesday’s special senate meeting told the Mail & Guardian that Cooper claimed his remuneration amounted to R1,28-million. He apparently compared this with the package of his predecessor, Professor Mapule Ramashala, saying she earned far more — R1,9-million.
However, the M&G has a copy of Cooper’s March payslip. It reflects total earnings of R122 352,08. Multiplied by 12, that gives annual earnings of R1 468 224,96 — more than he allegedly told his senate. A well-placed UDW official also says that Cooper’s annual performance bonus amounts to 50% of his annual earnings — giving a bonus figure of R462 000.
This amounts to a total package of R1 930 224,96.
In April, the M&G wrote to Cooper, saying: ”The M&G understands that your package is worth R1,5-million —and will rise to R2-million with a bonus.”
Responding for Cooper, UDW executive director Dasarath Chetty said: ”The vice-chancellor revealed his salary scale to the full senate of the university earlier this year. The package is nowhere near the [R]1,5-million you quote.”
When in May the M&G again wrote to Cooper about this, Chetty referred the M&G to his original response. And when in July the M&G again asked Cooper about his package, and cited UDW representatives’ additional concern that the package had not been approved by the appropriate council committee, Chetty responded that ”the figures you quote are incorrect”. He declined the M&G’s invitation to provide documentary proof of this.
Chetty added that the remuneration package ”has been ratified by the extended remuneration committee, which includes members of the finance committee” — the same answer council chairperson Namane Magau gave the M&G in response to similar questions.
The M&G’s subsequent request to Magau to explain what the ”extended remuneration committee” and its status are went unanswered.
UDW staffers also say that Cooper’s claim to the senate about his predecessor Ramashala’s package is puzzling. Contrary to Cooper’s claim that she earned R1,9-million annually, figures the Department of Education supplied to Parliament in 2001 show that she earned R1 452 000.
Concerned UDW officials say the controversy over Cooper’s package extends beyond the precise figures, his claims about them to the senate (a university’s highest academic body), and its alleged lack of ratification by the council (the highest decision-making body). They point out that Ramashala’s earnings, at the time the highest of any tertiary leader in the country, came under fire within UDW staffers who subsequently supported Cooper’s candidacy for the vice-chancellorship.
But they have been notably silent about Cooper’s seemingly far higher package, the M&G has been told.
Last Friday the council met, apparently to address controversies over Cooper’s leadership. Discussion of these had been held over from an emergency meeting of the council three weeks before that. Five councillors had written to Magau demanding the emergency meeting to discuss Ramashala’s defamation suit against Cooper and the council. Ramashala’s suit derives from remarks Cooper made about her on e.tv news in May.
The five had also asked Magau to table ”matters of governance” on the agenda of the emergency meeting, but this was not done, the M&G has been told. As a result, last Friday’s meeting was to address this omission.
But UDW officials say much of the meeting was taken up with arguments over whether Professor Anand Singh, president of UDW’s Academic Staff Association, and Professor Kanthan Pillay, UDW executive director of finance — both of whom Cooper suspended two weeks ago — should be allowed to attend the meeting. After a narrow vote against their attendance, four councillors walked out of the meeting, accusing Magau (who was in the chair) of ”bias”.
The net result once again is that discussion of ”matters of governance” was avoided, the M&G has been told.
The M&G’s detailed questions this week to Cooper and Magau about all these allegations elicited a response from attorneys Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala. It accuses the M&G of ”harassment against our client”, and ignoring answers sent to the M&G.
”For the record, Dr Cooper’s salary was ratified by both the Remuneration Committee and Council. They have also discussed Dr Cooper’s key performance areas and indicators, and he may get a bonus which is non-guaranteed …
”Regarding last Friday’s Council meeting, it is not true that four council members walked out accusing [Magau] of being biased. They walked out because they had lost the vote. Council overwhelmingly asserted that the suspended staff members should not be invited to the meeting.
”In fact, it was Dr Magau who had proposed that the two suspended staff members attend …
”In conclusion, we find your persistent enquiries unprofessional and smack of some hidden agenda, probably influenced by your bias and the composition of your editorial board.”
The M&G does not have an editorial board, but Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, vice-chancellor of the University of Natal, is chairperson of the board of directors. UDW is due to merge with Natal in January, and Cooper is widely assumed to entertain leadership ambitions in the merged institutions. His one-year contract with UDW ends in December.