CPUT mum on Nevhutalu’s ‘special leave’

CPUT management has refused to give reasons why vice-chancellor Prins Nevhutalu has been placed on special leave.

Spokesperson for the university Lauren Kansley said the matter was being dealt with on a council level.

“I am not mandated to comment on the matter,” Kansley said.

This came amid a demand from the Cape Peninsula University Employees Union for CPUT to make public an independent report on allegations of corruption levelled against Nevhutalu last year.

Nevhutalu had been accused of corruption, purging students who were involved in protest action, refusing to insource services, sexual harassment and refusing to write off student debt despite CPUT council’s request.

CPUT’s council appointed attorneys Peter Williams and Stratford Lemboe, of Robert Charles Attorneys, to conduct an independent and objective assessment and evaluation of all documentary and oral evidence related to the allegations.

In the final report handed to CPUT’s council executive members, it was detailed how the main allegation – that there was a corrupt relationship between Nevhutalu and the front runner of a R65 million transport tender at the university – had no substance.

#FeesMustFall student activist Lukhanyo Vangqa, who was interviewed by the attorneys, said yesterday: “He (Prins) is not coming back, this is his exit strategy and they’ll use a health-related reason to terminate the relationship.”