Johannesburg – Minister of Higher Education Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, has given the University of South Africa (Unisa) council seven days to make its representation to him before he places the embattled institution under administration.
On Monday, the minister, through his spokesperson, Ishmael Mnisi, confirmed that Nzimande had written to the Unisa council chairperson, James Maboa, on Friday, August 4, informing him of his intention to appoint an administrator.
Mnisi said the minister intended to exercise his powers in terms of Section 49B of the Higher Education Act, 101 of 1997, which empowered him to do so.
It is not yet known who the administrator will be.
Unisa said that, in terms of Section 49E of the Higher Education Act, the Council of Unisa would be dissolved upon the appointment of an administrator sometime next week.
Nzimande’s decision follows reports by an independent assessor, Professor Themba Mosia, and the Ministerial Task Team on Unisa, chaired by Dr Vincent Maphai, which made damning findings against the University.
“Minister Nzimande is satisfied that the independent assessor’s report reveals financial and other maladministration of a serious nature that affects the effective functioning of Unisa,” Mnisi said.
“The report reveals that the appointment of an administrator is in the best interest of Unisa and of higher education in an open and democratic society.”
The decision to place Unisa under administration comes after numerous calls from political parties, civil society movements, and unions for the institution to be placed under administration because of the corruption, maladministration, and alleged abuse of power flagged by the independent assessor's report.
Mosia recommended that an administrator be appointed, the council be disbanded, and Unisa vice-chancellor Puleng LenkaBula be relieved of her duties.
It is not clear if Unisa will oppose the minister's decision. The university said earlier that it intended to take the independent assessor's report under review following what it said was an unfair appraisal of the real situation at the university.
Attempts to get comments from the university were unsuccessful at the time of publication, but last week, Unisa chancellor and former president Thabo Mbeki indicated that the institution had written to the minister to inform him of its decision to take the report on review.
“We are taking it (the report) on review because we do not agree with what it says. It does not talk about the university but talks about something else. Because it was in the public domain, we thought it would be better to take it under review. We have written to the minister. This is the view of the council and the VC that this is necessary,” Mbeki said last week.
Mnisi said the minister’s action was warranted after two reports probing issues of maladministration and other challenges in the institution.
“The Ministerial Task Team conducted an independent review of Unisa’s ‘mission drift, which had massive implications for the financial sustainability and future of Unisa. The task team also made a rigorous assessment of how the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its associative disruptions and shifts will affect many aspects of the academic mission, academic programmes, markets, and operating model of Unisa,” he said.
The Star