Anti-graft stance puts Fort Hare boss in danger
Armed bodyguards watch ‘clean regime’ vice-chancellor 24/7
● Professor Sakhela Buhlungu’s attempts to root out corruption and maladministration at the University of Fort Hare have landed him with 24-hour security.
Dodgy property leases, degrees for sale, unprocedural contracts and poor performance are among the issues Buhlungu tackled head-on when he became vice-chancellor a year ago. But his tough stance has made him so unpopular that a recent security assessment found he required bodyguards around the clock.
In November the university council, concerned about Buhlungu’s safety, brought in a security firm from East London to do an assessment at his home and at the university’s three campuses, in Alice, East London and Bhisho. The risk assessment recommended several stringent security measures, including placing two armed guards with him at all times. He also had an escort car and a guard outside his house.
On November 19 Buhlungu was placed under 24-hour security.
On Thursday all four tyres of a car belonging to a Fort Hare auditing unit employee were slashed at the East London campus.
“I know I have upset a lot of people, there is no question about that. I also unknowingly may have obstructed or frustrated a lot of people in whatever they were trying to do. Whether that could lead to them to cause me harm, I’m not sure,” Buhlungu told the Sunday Times.
He replaced Mvuyo Tom as vice-chancellor in February last year.
In an exclusive interview at his East London office, Buhlungu conceded that his nononsense approach may have upset some people.
He said that when the university’s council first discussed his security, he agreed to it because it was not only a personal issue but also an institutional one.
“Do I feel that I am in danger? No, but I am not a security expert,” he said.
One of Buhlungu’s controversial decisions was to not renew deputy vice-chancellor Professor Larry Obi’s contract, citing underperformance.
Obi was appointed in 2012 after he left Walter Sisulu University amid a forensic probe into possible corruption. The probe, by then WSU administrator Lourens van Staden, was done on the instruction of then higher education minister Blade Nzimande and led to the suspension of several senior managers.
Buhlungu said that after hiring Obi, Fort Hare withdrew the appointment, but then reappointed him after Obi’s legal team demanded R8-million for terminating the contract. “I could not have lived with my conscience if I renewed his contract. There is a culture here of shying away from taking decisions.”
Buhlungu’s second deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Gilingwe Mayende, resigned in December, citing nonconducive working conditions, among other things.
“If anyone leaves Fort Hare they leave it out of their own demons. I’m not going to drop my expectations and standards. If people are not up to it, they must make way for those who can do it.”
Criminal convictions
Buhlungu said he also fired a former dean of students, who he declined to name, after discovering that he had a criminal conviction.
“Everyone knew about this but nobody briefed me. When I discovered it, I gave the guy two days to go.”
Buhlungu said the university’s controls in critical areas were “extremely weak”.
An example was a near-crisis last year about student accommodation in East London.
“We lease from property owners, which is a breeding ground for mischief. At the end of last year more than 10 leases expired. Whoever was supposed to get the processes going did nothing about renewals or putting it out to tender. In December, we go to council and the relevant portfolio requests an extension of the current leases. Of course, council explodes on us.”
He said council members had claimed the officials had failed to act on purpose, to precipitate a crisis. “The trick, I suspect, is that you create a crisis and in the process you extend the existing [lease] and favour the existing landlords. That is shenanigans.”
Earlier this year, Mthatha businessman Wandisile Mti was arrested by the Hawks after allegedly forging Buhlungu’s signature to get a R9.5-million loan from a bank.
Mti allegedly signed a lease agreement in November with the university to accommodate students in East London. He allegedly then used the letter to obtain a loan of about R9.5-million from a bank in Mthatha.
Buhlungu said he was also following up
I know I have upset a lot of people. I also unknowingly may have obstructed or frustrated a lot of people in whatever they were trying to do Professor Sakhela Buhlungu Vice-Chancellor, University of Fort Hare
on information on the selling of higher degrees, especially master’s degrees and PhDs.
Student representative council secretary Ahlumile Mafu said there was good and bad in the SRC’s relationship with Buhlungu.
“There are things he has done well, and one of them is cleaning up the university. But he is not treating the SRC as people who are supposed to co-govern.”
Fort Hare council chairwoman Thandi Orleyn said the council was 100% behind Buhlungu.
“There is a big culture of corruption, where people see these institutions as looting places . . . We are rooting out the corruption. Sometimes you will find student unrest that is caused by people with an interest.
“Professor Buhlungu also approved a policy called consequence management to make sure that senior managers are held accountable.”