UCT accused of covering up drugs and fire-linked prof row

WHISTLE-BLOWER and former employee Professor Ndangwa Noyoo has accused UCT of dishonesty and covering up for Associate Professor Leon Holtzhausen who is linked to the burning of the institution’s office.

This was after university spokesperson Elijah Moholola told the Sunday Independent that UCT conducted two investigations on the scene,found no conclusive evidence and recommended no action against Holtzhausen.

Noyoo, former head of UCT’S social development department, said this was a cover-up for Holtzhausen.

The incident happened in 2018, and it’s alleged that Holtzhausen, who is allegedly a drug user, started the fire to conceal the evidence implicating him from being discovered.

Noyoo said while the internal investigation conducted by the Campus Protection Services (CPS) and head of investigation Warren Pekeur implicated Holtzhausen, the second one was initiated to cover up for him.

However, Moholola said UCT reiterated that both investigations found no conclusive evidence and recommended no action against Holtzhausen. He said the university noted with concern that a “former staff member” continues to share inaccurate claims in the media.

He added that the university did not wish to go into details at this stage.

“The claim that the internal investigation ‘established that the fire was not accidental but the arson (sic)’ is incorrect. The internal CPS report … states that the investigating officer was unable to find the exact cause of the fire and who was responsible for the fire,” said Moholola.

He said UCT was awaiting a report on the incident from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).

Pekeur, in his report, said the footage showed Holtzhausen carrying a box that was identified by CPS as the box that was in his office when they entered it to extinguish the fire.

Pekeur added that pictures of the office showed that someone was using or smoking a hookah pipe in the office.

Noyoo said it was his responsibility as the then-hod to take the matter further and he recommended disciplinary action against Holtzhausen to his immediate superior, line manager, and the dean of the Faculty of Humanities. Noyoo said the university did not act.

“What should have happened are two processes which the dean should have spearheaded: Recommended that Holtzhausen appear before a preliminary investigation committee (PIC) which is chaired by independent academics with legal standing and other credentials. Since Holtzhausen was an associate professor, this PIC should have been chaired by a deputy vice-chancellor,” said Noyoo.

He said the dean should have furnished the PIC convenors the arson report. “Then the PIC should have tested the veracity and seriousness of the evidence against Holtzhausen and ascertained whether there was a prima facie case against him or not.

“If the PIC had established that Holtzhausen had a case to answer, then the matter should have been referred to the committee of inquiry (COI), which if it had found that Holtzhausen was guilty as charged, could have recommended his dismissal, among other things.”

He said he also reported the matter to Professor Shose Kessi after she was appointed as the new dean in November 2019 but she decided to constitute an ad hoc committee comprising her friends and Holtzhausen’s friends.

“They recommended to quash the matter altogether. After this, the matter was supposedly buried forever,” said Noyoo, who added that Holtzhausen’s appointment as HOD was a staged affair rigged by Kessi. He said Kessi also secured the services of a “so-called” investigator to look into the fire incident to cover up for Holtzhausen.

“I was approached by the said investigator via an email to have a meeting with her on Zoom. I knew from the way it was constituted that it was a cover-up. Nonetheless, I reluctantly accepted her invitation. It became clear to me that this ‘investigation’ was a sham and cover-up after the said investigator asked me leading questions and made suggestions that exposed her intentions.”

Noyoo said this was after the investigator allegedly asked him: “But don’t you think that it was a student who crept through a small window at the back of the office to smoke the drugs?“.

Noyoo said he felt insulted by the question. “I also felt that my intelligence was insulted in the same breath because this investigator was not there when the fire was doused in 2018 …

I was one of the first UCT officials to arrive at the scene of the crime.

“This is the investigation that Elijah Moholola refers to as an external investigation, which found no conclusive evidence and recommended no action against Holtzhausen,” he said.

Asked if it was true that Noyoo was asked the question, Moholola said UCT wished to not comment further at this stage. He said it should also be noted that Kessi only started serving as acting dean on March 1, 2019 (some five months after the fire incident), before being appointed on a substantive basis in December 2019.

Moholola added that a dean or line manager does not appoint investigators. According to UCT processes, HR recommends an investigator to line managers, who then make the appointment.

A report by the DHET recommended that UCT reopen the investigation into the manner in which the debacle involving allegations of Holtzhausen’s drug abusive behaviour was handled by the senior management. The department also said the university should reopen the investigation into the cause of the fire and Holtzhausen’s culpability in it.