The council of Cape Town’s Peninsula Technikon has approved a severance package ”not exceeding” R2,3-million for vice-chancellor professor Brian Figaji.
However the National Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) in the Western Cape has called on the national education ministry to intervene to reverse the council decision, which it says sets a bad precedent and is procedurally flawed.
The payout comes ahead of the planned merger of the Peninsula and Cape Technikons into the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, which comes into effect on January 1 next year.
The council said in a statement on Thursday that Figaji had asked for the severance package, and that it would be based on his length of service.
”The departing vice-chancellor, who joined the institution in 1980, will receive an all inclusive pre-tax severance package not exceeding R2,3-million,” it said.
”This is in line with how other merging institutions of higher learning dealt with the same situation.”
The statement did not say when Figaji would leave.
The council said it noted with appreciation the ”enormous contribution” Figaji made to the success of the institution.
Figaji, who currently earns about R650 000 per annum, was appointed rector in 1993.
Nehawu Western Cape regional secretary Soraya Jawoodeen said that the council had not been honest in announcing its decision.
She said the council did not explain that though it was granting Figaji his own proposal of one month of pay for every year worked, the guideline issued by the national ministry, and the amount the ministry would pay out, was only two weeks for every year.
The council was within its rights to top up the two weeks, but its media statement did not reflect that it had done this, or why.
”That’s something the public needs to know,” she said. ”The extra money could have been used for student bursaries.”
She said Nehawu did not agree that the payout should be classed as a severance package, which was something offered to a person whose services were no longer required.
The interim council for the two technikons have only begun the process of finding an interim vice-chancellor, and Figaji had not been informed that he was no longer needed.
In addition, the Peninsula Technikon council could, and should not have made the decision without consulting the Cape Technikon.
Jawoodeen said the package set a precedent for all managers in the two institutions who decided not to stay on, and the institutional coffers, rather than central government money, would be used to pay the extra two weeks.
”The ministry and the interim council must intervene and stop this, and overturn the decision of the council,” she said.
Earlier this week, before the amount of the payout was officially released, the Pentech Employees Union also said it was concerned the package would set a precedent for future packages. – Sapa