Staff at Rhodes University are seething over the revelation that former vice-chancellor David Woods, who retired in April last year, received a covert gift of R1,67-million paid from university funds. This gratuity was over and above contractual obligations Rhodes had to Woods, such as cash payouts to him for leave untaken by the time he retired.
Now the Rhodes branch of the National Tertiary Education Staff Union (Ntesu) has called on the chairperson of the council, Judge John Jones, to resign, saying he has still failed to provide adequate information about both why and how the council’s remuneration committee decided on the gratuity.
Rumours started flying around the university community in Grahamstown last year about an undisclosed cash gift Rhodes had made to Woods. At the time, Ntesu formally asked Jones for details, and received the reply that the matter would remain confidential until the publication this year of the university’s annual financial report. In June, this revealed that Woods had received R1,67-million.
A general meeting of Ntesu last month unanimously resolved that chairperson Michael Drewett write to Jones expressing the union’s ‘deepest misgivings†about the whole matter and asking for minutes of the relevant meetings.
The letter also asked why, if the money was a ‘parting gift†from Rhodes, staff and students had not been not involved. ‘Instead we are left with the unfortunate impression of the enrichment of an individual, which leaves a serious blemish on the reputation of this institution,†Drewett wrote. The letter called on Jones to resign, saying, ‘We strongly object to the lack of transparency and the autocratic manner in which this process was conducted and your refusal to provide the amount of the payment on request [in June last year].â€
Last month, Drewett wrote to Woods on Ntesu’s behalf, suggesting he return the money to Rhodes ‘in the form of a David Woods Scholarship for financially disadvantaged studentsâ€. Woods had not yet replied, Drewett told the Mail & Guardian recently. Jenny Purdon, manager in the university’s communications division, told the M&G that the newspaper’s written questions had been communicated to Woods, but that ‘he has declined to comment or be interviewedâ€.
However, Ntesu’s letter to Jones did draw a response from the council’s secretary, Stephen Fourie. This says that because the council ‘believes that due process has been followed it cannot entertain [Ntesu’s] call for the resignation of the chairperson of council and it has, in fact, unanimously expressed its confidence in himâ€. Also, the minutes Ntesu had asked for are confidential because remuneration issues are involved, he wrote.
This week, the union responded with an open letter to Jones, saying: ‘To attempt to justify the secrecy surrounding the former vice- chancellor’s payment under the rubric of standard confidentiality surrounding remuneration is disingenuous in the extreme …†The union again called for Jones’s resignation.Fourie told the M&G that Jones was unavailable this week to respond to the newspaper’s questions.
Rhodes staff who spoke to the M&G all contrasted this episode with the announcement last year by Woods’s successor, Saleem Badat, that he would donate R200 000 per year of his annual R1,2-million package to establish a fund that would provide five full scholarships every year to Eastern Cape students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.