“There is no such thing as bad publicity”, the well-known phrase goes, but the University of Cape Town (UCT) may well disagree as reports of the “imminent” suspension of their vice-chancellor, Mamokgethi Phakeng, as well as a campus-wide shutdown by the Student Representative Council (SRC), flooded media channels last week.
In fact, a media statement released by UCT on Saturday 18 February, said as much.
In it, Babalwa Ngonyama, chair of UCT council, said there had been various concerning developments unfolding at the university in the past few weeks.
These include industrial relations issues with the Academics Union and Employees Union, instability within the executive team and student issues.
“These developments have caused instability at the university. This is not how we envisaged 2023 beginning. We expected the university to return to a level of normalcy,” read the statement.
A day prior to Ngonyama’s statement, News24 reported that UCT’s council had decided to suspend Phakeng at a meeting held on Thursday 9 February – pending the investigation into her and council chair Ngonyama by an independent panel.
Elijah Moholola, the spokesperson for the university, was quick to rubbish this claim.
“UCT notes media reports around the status of the vice-chancellor. The university can unequivocally state that the vice-chancellor has not been suspended,” Moholola said.
In October last year, UCT council made the decision to establish an independent panel, headed by retired Supreme Court of Appeal President Judge Lex Mpati, to investigate complaints and a formal grievance against Phakeng.
“This investigation will focus on the circumstances related to the departure of a former UCT Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning (Lis Lange), as well as matters related to executive relationships and resignations within and beyond the UCT executive management team,” Pheladi Gwangwa, deputy chair of council, said at the time.
Lange left the university in May last year.
In a statement sent out in the same month, Phakeng said Lange would not be seeking a renewal of her appointment, which was scheduled to end in January this year.
At a UCT council meeting held a few months later, allegations surfaced that Phakeng and Ngonyama had lied about the true reasons for Lange’s departure.
In a statement released over the weekend, Ngonyama confirmed that the UCT council had met on Thursday 9 February “to discuss issues around the vice-chancellor and the instability of the executive team and took certain resolutions”.
“We have scheduled a meeting early next week to thoroughly and thoughtfully consider options and potential resolutions, after which we will report back to you with the way forward. We do not want to pre-empt any outcome,” Ngonyama said
In the meantime, the independent panel’s investigation is underway.
In a communique with “colleagues and students” dated Thursday 16 February, UCT’s Communication and Marketing Department confirmed that the panel established by the council “was authorised to interview current and former members of staff as well as current and previous members of UCT’s council”.
“The panel will approach potential interviewees directly,” it read.
Current and former members of staff, as well as current and former members of UCT’s Council, were told that they too could contact the panel themselves by Friday 24 February “where they believe that they are able to offer information that is relevant to the work of the panel and where such input falls within the terms of reference that the UCT Council has set for the panel”.
While this issue still hangs in the air, an interim interdict against disruptive SRC members and students has seemingly restored peace on campus.
Last week, News24 reported that UCT had to move its teaching and learning programmes online following a campus-wide shutdown by the SRC (on Monday 13 February) in protest against fee blocks and access to student housing.
WATCH | UCT classes move online amid SRC’s campus-wide shutdown
This week, Moholola told People’s Post that UCT had commenced with the teaching and learning programme, and research operations, face-to-face yesterday.
“While the right to lawful protest must always be upheld, it is equally important to act when any incidents are outside the boundary of what is legitimate protest action. For this reason, the Western Cape High Court was approached for an interim interdict in order to restore order on campus and protect the rights of all in the UCT community,” Moholola said, adding that the interdict required lawful conduct and provides that law enforcement agencies, including the police, enforce the court order.
He added that there had been engagements with the SRC following last week’s shutdown.
“As per the update shared on 16 February, approximately 4 000 students who ordinarily would have had fee blocks have now been able to register for the 2023 academic year due to these various measures put in place. This includes those who were able to register due to council increasing the fee block threshold from R1 000 to R10 000 (over 3 400 students), those who had successful grace period applications (over 350 students) and those whose financial aid appeals were approved (over 250 students).”
Moholola said university management had also put an additional R5 million on the table to assist students with fee blocks, “on condition that the SRC match this amount through SRC-led fundraising initiatives”.
- Persons who wish to contact the panel directly may write to communication@heroldgie.co.za
