Prof Norris- Unions’ war rages on

University of Botswana Vice Chancellor is not in the least perturbed by the attack unleashed on his leadership style by the university unions.

The unions this week unleashed a storm on Professor David Norris following his media interviews with regards to some of the unions’ leaders at the university. The trade unions, expressed concern about the “biased and one- sided reporting” about their petition, demanding the dismissal of Prof Norris, which was delivered to the Minister of Tertiary Education. “We are also puzzled that the VC found it fitting to use UB funds to buy newspaper space to publicly state his case, although the petition was not addressed to him. “While we saw it fitting to await the response of the Honourable Minister to our petition without engaging the media, the recent series of public presentations by the VC in local radio, Newspapers and TV interviews contained gross falsehoods. “Therefore we have no other choice, but to respond to his inaccuracies and union attacks,” the unions said in a statement. The unions argue that instead of addressing grievances expressed in their petition, the professor has chosen to construct a narrative whereby Union leaders are portrayed as mediocre, without publications, as not working and without bringing any Pula to the University. According to the unions a brief look into the minutes of UB’s appointment and promotion committees would clarify that the Union leaders have an excellent academic standing in all areas. “He should know that UB has a rigorous process for promotions, which go through various academic boards, and are subjected to both internal and external review. “If there is a professor at UB without any publication as he alluded to in his recent interview in Duma FM, then he is responsible for such, and should step down because he has allowed this unthinkable incident to occur at the detriment of the University. “The VC conveniently forgets to mention that the petition has been signed by all three unions indicating a systemic problem at UB. By attacking academic staff Union leaders singularly, it is obvious that the VC intends to divide Union solidarity,” stated the union. Prof Norris is however unshaken. He maintains that he responded to the claims by the union by way of stating facts. According to him he will no longer waste time on the trade unions as he has an institution to run. “My simple response is that I responded to the Unions and I won’t be wasting valuable time responding to their misinformation any longer. I have a new strategy to run and transform the institution,” Prof Norris said in an interview this week in response to the claims by the unions. Regarding UB financial management, the Unions said that they have no formal information to verify the claim that it was the VC who led UB out of the red and consolidated the budget of the institution. “In the framework of the Joint Negotiation Committee ( JNC), UB Management is obliged to financial transparency and to support claims about the financial situation of the organisation with concrete data. “Despite many requests by the Unions to provide clear financial statements, the VC has opted to withhold this information,” the unions said.