‘Chaos’ if senior varsity staff face axe
The racism spat between the UKZN head and five executives has escalated to possible suspensions
The vice-chancellor of the University of KwaZuluNatal, Albert van Jaarsveld, has warned that he would have to “reconsider his position” if no action is taken against five senior staff members who accused him of having “racist tendencies”.
But the president of the university’s convocation as well as the student representative council (SRC) have said that suspending the four academics and another executive would plunge the institution into chaos.
The deputy vice-chancellors facing suspension include professors Renuka Vithal (teaching and learning), John Mubangizi (law and management studies), Cheryl Potgieter (humanities) and Deogratius Jaganyi (agriculture, engineering and science). The fifth is the director of corporate relations, Lesiba Seshoka. They received notices of intention to suspend on Monday.
According to an eight-page report drawn up by Durban attorney Richard Pemberton, Van Jaarsveld believed that, if his executive management committee continued as it was currently structured, “he would be pulling knives out of his back going forward”.
Pemberton was hired by the university’s council to provide advice on instituting disciplinary action against the five. He recommended that they be suspended followed by a conciliation or relationship-building exercise.
The action followed an investigation by a board of inquiry chaired by Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, which cleared Van Jaarsveld of any wrongdoing. Ntsebeza was appointed by the university’s council in December 2015 to investigate the racism claims.
The five executives, as well as former chief financial officer Bulelani Mahlangu and former executive director of student services Sibusiso Chalufu, landed in hot water after signing a five-page letter in November 2015 in which they accused Van Jaarsveld of “racist tendencies” and incompetence, among other things.
They alleged that Van Jaarsveld had “excluded” Mubangizi from helping to draft an investment proposal for donations to move the university’s business school from the Westville campus to a more “scenic” location at Umhlanga Ridge, north of Durban.
They added that the vice-chancellor opted to rope in two white staffers, one of them Mubangizi’s junior, to draft the proposal and overlooked Mubangizi. This was to avoid scaring off “the whites-only investors”, said the five in their letter.
According to Pemberton’s report, dated December 9 2016, Van Jaarsveld’s general view was that, because of the intensity of the grievances, the executive management committee “can’t work” and that “having regard to the complainants’ seniority, it would be difficult for him to continue at the university with them in such positions”.
“During 2016 he was of the view that the executive management committee made no meaningful progress or decisions on important matters and remained dysfunctional,” said Pemberton, a claim the five denied.
But others at the university have lined up behind the five staffers, saying their suspension would destabilise the institution.
The president of the university’s convocation, Fanle Sibisi, said this week that suspending them “would be very dangerous and detrimental to the university because it would cause a lot of chaos”.
“We are in January and the registration process [for students] has not been finalised,” said Sibisi. “People are worried about #FeesMustFall and free education, and we have people who are on the verge of being disciplined. It’s a miscalculated move.”
He said it was worrying that people who complain “automatically become targets”.
SRC president Noxolo Bhengu said the suspensions “would cause instability to the whole university”.
“We already have so many issues; so more instability would have a very negative effect on the students.”
She said that Vithal, who is in her ninth year as deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning, “was someone we need, especially now at the beginning of the year”.
Ayanda Zulu, KwaZulu-Natal secretary of the National Health, Education and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), said: “If you suspend seven black executives in an institution that is highly dominated by black people, then automatically you are asking for chaos. There will definitely be chaos. We are going to fight as Nehawu to make sure that these executives are not suspended.”
Pemberton stated that Van Jaarsveld was of the view that, if nothing was done, “there will be a lot of academic and nonacademic staff reaction as there is an expectation on their part that such conduct is unacceptable and should be dealt with by the council”.
He said the five executives were prepared to participate in a relationship-building exercise with Van Jaarsveld on a one-on-one basis “but would not do so or would be reluctant to do so if they were suspended”.
“Their view was that, if they were disciplined, they would fight the disciplinary action. They generally did not agree with the [Ntsebeza] report and regarded it as containing a number of factual inaccuracies and that it was biased,” Pemberton said.
Ntsebeza said: “If their view is that it’s biased, I think they can even take it under judicial review if they feel so strongly about it.”
According to Pemberton’s report: “They showed no apparent remorse or preparedness to apologise and withdraw their grievances. They were of the view that they had a right to robust discussion.”
He stated that after their suspension each complainant should be offered a conciliation exercise run by an independent person to see whether their rift with the vice-chancellor could be healed. “If the process fails, then the university reverts to disciplinary action.”
Seshoka declined to comment but promised to do so once he received his letter of suspension. Vithal, Mubangizi and Jaganyi also declined to comment and Potgieter could not be reached.