Johannesburg – Black university leaders are treated differently from their white counterparts. This is the observation made by Dr Sean Muller, a senior researcher at the University of Johannesburg.
This comes on the heels of the purging of former University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice Chancellor (VC) and principal Dr Mamokgethi Phakeng, the attack on UUnisa VC and principal Professor Puleng LenkaBula, and many other black and mostly female VCs across the country’s publicly funded universities.
Muller was speaking to Michelle Craig from “Newzroom Afrika” on Wednesday morning as he was responding to questions about recent allegations of corruption and mismanagement at Unisa.
Two weeks ago, an independent assessor report by Professor Themba Mosia made damning findings against LenkaBula following an investigation into allegations of maladministration as established by the Minister of Higher Education Dr Blade Nzimande.
Last year, Phakeng resigned as UCT VC after an elaborate suspension following accusations of bullying and intimidation, while the assessor's report also found LenkaBula to have bullied and intimidated her staff members, among other things.
This comes amid accusations that Stellenbosch University (SU) VC Wim de Villiers allegedly used his discretionary powers to secure a place at the university’s medical school for his wife’s nephew and assisted another member to be placed at the university. This bit of news came to light when an applicant with better matric results was not accepted.
However, former public protector Thuli Madonsela, who is the Social Justice chairperson at the university, said this matter was not viewed in context.
"This matter has to be viewed in context. The RDP is not an automatic dispensation. When you don't get a placement, you apply for the RDP. The student who didn't get the RDP was not disfavoured because they did not apply for the RDP," she said.
Taking all these incidents into consideration, Muller said there has to be a bit of consistency in how we deal with issues of race and privilege, which continue to influence decisions and reactions about black university leaders when compared to their white counterparts.
"It is really disappointing to see the inconsistency in moral and ethical principles applied to different VCs. We have seen how Phakeng was removed from UCT.
“What is interesting to me is that Phakeng was removed following concerns about bullying, which is a very serious issue but is quite subjective, as far as the University of Stellenbosch VC is concerned, who is said to have engaged in nepotism. We have seen senior figures like the former public protector (Madonsela) using their position to protect this individual. We don’t see that kind of thing happening for the Unisa VC. The question is, why and what is the difference?" Muller asked.
The Star