Vaal SACP wants varsity council chairperson out

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Vaal district wants the council chairperson of the Vaal University of Technology (VUT), Mahole Simon Mofokeng, to step down because he was “wrongfully elected”.

The secretary of SACP Vaal, Sello Maetso, said this week the party had raised the issue with the university not as an attack on Mofokeng but on principle and to ensure good governance.

The VUT, one of South Africa’s 26 universities, has been mired in allegations of mismanagement since 2012. That year, the university was placed under administration after an independent assessor, appointed by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, found that its council was guilty of financial mismanagement.

Mofokeng was elected as the deputy chairperson after the university came out of administration in 2013.

This is the same council that controversially extended outgoing vice-chancellor Professor Irene Moutlana’s contract, even though she had been found guilty of financial maladministration. Her term was supposed to have ended in December 2013 but was extended by three years and she will leave office only at the end of June this year.

Mofokeng joined the council when he was executive mayor of the Sedibeng district in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg. He became chairperson of the council in September last year.

But in 2015 he was made the executive mayor of the Emfuleni local municipality. According to the university’s statute, only a district representative can sit on the council, which rules out Mofokeng.

In a letter, the party wrote to the council and the new vice-chancellor, Professor Gordon Zide, and said it was disappointed in “the manner institutional affairs are handled in the university as per the council statute and institutional rules”.

“The current VUT council chairperson is illegitimate and has no mandate to serve and represent any stakeholder in council in terms of his capacity as the executive mayor of the Emfuleni local municipality,” the letter reads.

Maetso also questioned why the other council members had elected him as chairperson even though the rules are clear.

Asked why the party had waited eight months to raise the issue, Maetso said they had thought the institution and those who deployed Mofokeng would pick up the error. When they did not, the party stepped in to alert the VUT.

The spokesperson of the VUT, Mike Khuboni, confirmed that the university had received the letter from the SACP and that the matter would be discussed at a council meeting on June 23, even though council was initially going to be sitting for normal business.

“However, because of the urgency and sensitivity of the matter, the registrar [Dan Mokoena], in his capacity as the secretary of council, will put this matter before council for its deliberation and interrogation,” Khuboni said.

Mofokeng could not be reached for comment and did not respond to an SMS sent to him.

Madikwe Mabotha, spokesperson for the department of higher education and training, said Nzimande: “It is a matter of record that this issue has not as yet been brought formally to the attention of the minister or the department.

He noted that the minister had no statutory powers to intervene and all he could do was to make an official inquiry and recommendation to the council.

“However, the department takes note of the issues raised and the minister undertakes to address the matter with the council of VUT as a matter of urgency and will be monitoring their response accordingly.”

Mabotha added that the university’s statute, which the department approved, does stipulate that Mofokeng should have vacated his position on the council.