Court orders UWC council members to quit

TWO members of UWC’s council have been ordered to step down by the Western Cape High Court over discrepancies with their election.

Judge Jody Kollapen declared the June 3, 2017 election of two members of the UWC convocation to serve on the university’s council or governing body, to be “unlawful and set aside”.

The judgment means Judge Nathan Erasmus and Reverend Llewellyn Macmaster must vacate their seats on the UWC council.

The two were respondents in a case brought against them and the university by two members of the convocation, Sinazo Raphahlela and Sihle Masika.

The case involved the convocation electoral processes by the UWC administration, under Rector Tyrone Pretorius and the Registrar Nita Lawton-Misra.

In their case, the applicants had asked the court to direct the council to convene an urgent meeting within two weeks of the judgment to hold fresh elections.

However, in his judgment, Judge Kollapen said: “Given the size of council as well as the very short period of time between this order and the next election date in October this year, an order of setting aside is unlikely to have any effect on the functioning of council between the date of this order and the next election of convocation.”

“This order shall be prospective and not have any retrospective effect and shall not in any manner affect the workings and the validity of any decisions of the council of the university taken before the date of this order,” he said.

On the issue of Judge Erasmus’s candidature, Judge Kollapen said the case advanced by the applicants was “lacking in factual or legal force”. The applicants alleged that Judge Erasmus has used his office and stature of a judge to advance his candidature for election

Judge Kollapen awarded costs against the applicants for their allegations against Judge Erasmus.

UWC spokesperson Gasant Abarder said the university welcomed the fact that the judge found in favour of the university in four out of the five points.

“The judge found that the elections were free and fair but not compliant with the statute requiring convocation members to inform the Registrar in writing of their intention to vote before being allowed to vote,” said Abarder.

“UWC has always advocated inclusive participation… The court found that the decade-long standard practice of allowing members attending the convocation AGM to vote in person… was not compliant with the university statute.”