Students and staff at North-West University’s Mankwe campus near Rustenburg fear that the campus will be closed down and say the university has reneged on promises that the campus will stay open. They have called on the government to intervene.
Daisy Sedumedi, convenor of a staff and student task group to save the Mankwe campus, told the Mail & Guardian that vice-chancellor Theuns Eloff promised twice ”while he was campaigning to become vice-chancellor” that the campus would not be closed down. But now he has shown his true colours,” she says. ”This is a racist move to close down the campus.”
The former universities of North West and Potchefstroom merged to form the North-West University at the beginning of the year. If the Mankwe campus closes, staff and students will have to move to the Mafikeng campus, 195km away.
The jobs of about 65 staff members, of which 17 are permanent academic staff, will be in jeopardy. About 400 full-time students and 500 part-time students will also be affected. In total, 46 732 students study at North-West University. The Potchefstroom campus, the nearest campus, is 185km from Mankwe.
The university council set up a management investigating team to look into the future of the 100% black Mankwe campus in June.
”We only became aware of the existence of a management investigating team on August 13,” says Sedumedi. ”We learned later that it was constituted on June 18. No information to was communicated to Mankwe staff.”
Staff at Mankwe campus became conscious of the proposed closure in August when the investigating team’s report was leaked to staff and students at the Mafikeng campus.
Sedumedi says Eloff promised Mankwe ”the world” before his appointment in order to gain support for the vice-chancellorship. Two other staff members and a student told the M&G Eloff promised students and staff in a speech at the academic opening of the Mankwe campus in February that the campus would be developed as one of four campuses of the new North-West University, and that there would be no possibility of closure.
The staff members say Eloff again promised at a breakfast meeting in March that the campus would not close. He also promised to fix the campus’s ”operational problems”, such as shortage of staff.
Questions directed to Eloff were answered by Shamiela Letsoalo, the university’s manager of corporate communications.
She denied that guarantees were ever given to Mankwe and said Mankwe staff misunderstood the vice-chancellor.
”Mankwe was only told at the time that the campus would be kept open as a place of learning.”
She says a place of learning is a place where people can receive an education, ”but what kind of education we can’t specify at this stage, because the campus is still under investigation”. Eloff and the council are still open to all options at this stage, she added.
Letsaolo said that after months of investigations it became apparent that the current Mankwe campus is not making a profit.
The Rustenburg Herald reported last month that Mankwe costs R6-million a year to run, but the university declined to disclose the exact figure to the M&G.
The campus is part of a close-knit rural community and a councillor from the local Moses Kotane municipality, Peter Bosielo, says the closure will have a negative impact on the development of the whole area.
”The campus is part of our integrated development plans, and also fulfils the brief to promote local economic development in the area.”
North-West University has had no shortage of teething problems.
The appointment of Eloff in May elicited claims of racism against the Potchefstroom campus. And the M&G reported at the time that four black candidates for the vice- chancellorship are taking legal steps against the university, because they felt that Eloff was not the best candidate. Ahmed Essop, chief director for higher education in the Department of Education, confirmed that the department had received a request for help from Mankwe staff and students, but said, ”The vision for the campus is a matter for the university.”