The University of Cape Town (UCT) has hit back at “spurious claims” against its leadership amid accusations of racial tension between the old guard who are resistant to change and black staff demanding transformation.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng and council chair Babalwa Ngonyama have come under fire in the media following claims that they had misled the council about the departure of deputy vice-chancellor Lis Lange from South Africa’s top university.
UCT issued a statement on Friday disputing several inaccuracies in a Daily Maverick report, which also listed the names of several staff with strong links to UCT but whom they denied had been approached for the report.
The Black Academic Caucus (BAC) labelled it “sensational reporting”.
“The BAC does not see what is special about the matter of the erstwhile DVC of Teaching and Learning. Why should she and her fellow white travellers want to drag everyone into her so-called Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)? She never took the university community into confidence when she signed the NDA,” it said in a statement, adding that this was indicative of the untransformed nature of UCT and subtle racism.
When the former DVC: Transformation Professor Loretta Feris, left in January, the caucus noted that “UCT never went into crisis” and that the Senate, made up of around 400, almost 60% white individuals, had not tabled a motion to ask why she left. Feris had been at UCT longer than Lange.
The Caucus accused the Senate of flouting its own governance procedures by “smuggling a letter” into a meeting, while normal protocol for such submissions to be submitted seven days earlier.
The letter was read out to Senate by Professor Tom Moultrie, a breach of protocol, while Professor Sue Harrison who was acting as chair did not attempt to stop him.
Harrison, standing in for Phakeng as Acting Vice-Chancellor, allegedly used the opportunity as one academic suggested “to stab her boss in the back”.
“There is a clear demonstration of anti-transformation and reform par excellence,” said the caucus, adding that they called for amendments in 2019 to bring the Senate in line with the Higher Education Act.
This was not the first attack on Phakeng since her announcement in August that she was going abroad on sabbatical. Last month detractors claimed that she was not eligible for sabbatical, despite UCT policies entitling her to one.
This week as the racially-motivated crisis erupted, Phakeng announced that she would be ending her five-month sabbatical prematurely, returning ahead of February next year.
Some Senate and Council members were furious about how Harrison broke protocols and allowed the details of the letter to be divulged. One academic described it as the “blessing of the old white boys club”.
On Wednesday, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Transformation, Professor Elelwani Ramugondo, said in a leaked letter to Ngonyama that she was concerned about events at the Senate meeting, held September 30, where Lange’s exit was tabled irregularly.
“I was left surprised like everyone else in Senate about the letter ... it is possible that others in the executive might have been in the know. As a new member of the executive and given that issues of collegiality and trust had been raised in the past, and against the Vice Chancellor, it was my hope that in her absence, the rest of us would model exemplary conduct in this regard.”
Reflecting on the racial tension on campus, Ramugondo said she was concerned about “which voices are amplified, and which ones are diminished at UCT ... given that current demographic representation at Senate sits at 11% African, and 57% white.”
On Friday, in another twist, a group of 13 UCT council members, only one of which is an African, Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, head of medicine and Groote Schuur Hospital, said in a statement that a meeting by the Council on Thursday was “irregular” and “flawed”. However, the statement did not complain about the irregular governance breach by Senate.
At the meeting efforts to have an independent inquiry, headed by a retired judge, failed when deputy council chair Pheladi Gwangwa exercised her democratic right and voted in favour of a motion for Council to set up a sub-committee to probe circumstances around the Senate meeting. This was after two motions which each received 14 votes. The 13 members are threatening to go to court “to fight for a white academic while blacks at UCT can have their rights trampled on,” said a council member who wanted to remain anonymous.
However, Gwangwa said in a statement, that the council meeting was “robust” and “cordial”, and that the council would set up a sub-committee to probe governance and procedural matters relating to the Senate meeting.
A council member said Ngonyama told them that 30 minutes before the Senate meeting, she received a note from Harrison, informing her of the note from Lange.
The council member said Harrison allowed extensive debate of the contents of Lange’s tabled letter, and as a result, Ngonyama’s written responses were ignored.
Ngonyama was aggrieved that in her absence, and without any censure from Harrison, she was repeatedly branded as a “liar”.
The Council member said Ngonyama was upset that the Lange letter was deemed admissible and true by members of Senate, even before an investigation or the formation of a subcommittee was proposed.
Negotiations are currently underway to broker peace and end the impasse with Ngonyama which is expected to announce that the Council will agree to a retired judge probing the allegations.- © Higher Education Media Services