The University of Limpopo (UL) is crumbling under poor management and governance practices, a ministerial report has disclosed. Drafted by ministerial appointee Professor Bennie Khoapa, the report recommends that he and his task team help the university fix wide-ranging problems in the next eight to 12 months. These exist in areas such as financial administration, human resource management, academic planning, governance and management.
This is the third government investigation in eight years into problems at the university. Two of the earlier probes focused on the University of the North (Unin), which merged with Medunsa (the Medical University of Southern Africa) in 2005 to become UL.
The latest report follows a meeting between Education Minister Naledi Pandor and the UL council on February 12. She subsequently appointed Khoapa as an independent assessor. His report was presented to Parliament in August and has been gazetted.
The report follows years of student protests and rumblings of an imminent institutional collapse. Insiders claim the latest findings pinpoint the historical problems that have plagued Medunsa and Unin since the 1980s. These included corruption, misappropriation of funds and weak management, in particular at Unin.
Khoapa’s report says UL’s databases finance and human resource sections are in disarray and its top management team is “considerably weak”.
The report states: “There is a need to help the vice-chancellor [Professor Nehemiah Mokgalong] increase his management capabilities.”
One of the problems Khoapa identifies is the number of vacancies at deputy vice-chancellor level. “If these positions are not filled in the next six months, the senior management of the university will collapse with immeasurable consequences for the university.”
The investigation found that UL also needs help with its weak governance structures. The university council, for instance, failed to form a quorum for five consecutive meetings and was unable to discharge its fiduciary duties properly.
The report says financial statements dated between 2000 and 2002 “indicate deficits amounting to more than R500million”. Last year’s draft income statement indicates a deficit of R73million.
The university community believes the department of education’s enrolment capping, whereby the government limits student numbers and thus income from student fees, is one reason for its financial woes.
Previous high-level investigations into the institute include a 1998 investigation of Unin into “improper or unlawful conduct by employees of the university, unlawful appropriation or expenditure of public money or property” and “corruption in connection with the affairs of the university” that took place between 1987 and 1998.
In 2000 former education minister Kader Asmal appointed Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo as an independent assessor. Nhlapo produced a damning report that revealed a “total lack of leadership, a succession of weak and ineffective management teams, financial mismanagement and a deepening financial crisis, unchecked and unpunished corruption, as well as fraud, unbridled factionalism, personal hostility and self-interest”.
Patrick Fitzgerald, who later became Unin’s administrator, confirmed this week that during his two years at Unin there were problems with the running of the university. He said key to those problems were a legacy of “divisive conflict within the ranks of the staff and between the university and students and poor management of human, infrastructural and finance resources”.
University spokesperson DinÂkwanyane Mohuba said: “Prior to the current management assuming office, a certain regime prevailed and strategies were followed — some successfully, others less so — that led to negative conditions developing. The current management and council are assiduously engaged in rectifying the resultant deficiencies.”
The Pan Africanist Student Movement, which represents the largest constituency of students at UL campuses, remains sceptical about the outcome of the latest report. It has called for the expulsion of the “entire council and executive management of the council”.
Pandor accepted Khoapa’s recommendations, but the ministry has directed further queries to the university’s council.
Job Mokgoro, chair of the UL council, said a recovery plan has been implemented. A decision was taken in July to establish a task team that would look into Khoapa’s recommendations. The council is trying to set up an appointment with the minister to present her with a progress report.
“We are looking into the issues of poor leadership, management and finances,” said Mokgoro.