Failing universities face Pandor’s wrath
Asilent crisis is unfolding at four historically black universities, but its scale and depth has confounded parliamentarians on what steps are to be taken to tackle it.
Higher Education and Training Minister Naledi Pandor and her director-general, Gwebinkundla Qonde, have their work cut out dealing with the entrenched culture of administrative rot that has set in and is eroding the efficacy of the University of Zululand (UniZulu), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Walter Sisulu University and the Mangosuthu University of Technology.
Pandor and her team will have to dig deep to rescue the institutions from the administrative precipice that threatens their viability. The institutions are failing to deliver on their core mandate, which is to deliver quality higher education to students.
The environments in which the four institutions operate have turned so volatile and toxic that the provision of education has taken a back seat.
At a little-reported meeting of the portfolio committee on higher education in March, the untenable situation at UniZulu was laid bare. The meeting had been called to discuss a report commissioned by Pandor’s predecessor, Blade Nzimande, into the university.
Present at that meeting in Parliament were the MPs who serve on the committee as well as Pandor and Qonde, and a delegation from the Council on Higher Education. UniZulu was the focal point, while MPs made an undertaking to turn their attention to CPUT soon after.
The absurdity and tragedy of what was happening at UniZulu was highlighted by the fact that R11m had “disappeared” from its system, underscoring an ingrained culture of corruption.
This happened against the backdrop of its students bemoaning the paltry disbursements they received from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
In addition to this, UniZulu students had to contend with creaking infrastructure and vicious labour spats between the university administration and staff, which rendered the institution an unconducive setting for study.
For her part, Pandor vowed a crackdown on the rot and graft, expressing a strong aversion to “corruption, dishonesty and a lack of integrity”, according to a report of the committee meeting captured by the Parliamentary Monitoring Group. “And she would be particularly nasty” when handling corruption.
The existential calamities besetting the four institutions are symptomatic of the woeful state of institutions in rural areas generally. UniZulu has to grapple with administrative bungling, as well as nonexistent checks and balances, which plunge already disadvantaged students further into the education abyss.
Council on Higher Education CEO Narend Baijnath told the higher education committee that “dysfunctionality of the university had been a great concern for decades”.
He said UniZulu was one of the poorest institutions in the country, that its students came from poor, rural families and often under-resourced schools.
Its counselling services were stretched, safety was a concern and relations between the university management, students and workers were troubled. Also, UniZulu was situated in a violent area and although students were safe on campus where there was security, they faced many dangers once they left the campus, Baijnath told MPs.
There was agreement all round that something had to give, because all signs were that the system was broken, with some calling for the implementation of section 42 of the Higher Education Act.
But the department has to tread a fine line between institutional autonomy and exercising oversight.
May Pandor be vicious in turning the UniZulu situation around as part of the new dawn. The students deserve no less.