Lange set to leave deputy vicechancellor post at UCT
ALL eyes will again be on the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) for teaching and learning position at UCT, as Associate Professor Lis Lange has vacated the position.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said Lange will not be seeking renewal of her appointment, which was scheduled to end in January 2023.
Phakeng said it has been agreed that Lange relinquish her DVC position with immediate effect, and she will now join the Centre for Higher Education Development.
“For the next two months, she will focus on preparing UCT for the Council on Higher Education’s Institutional Audit, which is scheduled for later this year. We thank Associate Professor Lange for her intellectual and strategic contribution to the development of the university,” said Phakeng.
In the meantime, UCT council has approved the appointment of Professor Harsha Kathard to act in the vacant position.
“Professor Kathard has previously served as head of the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and as chair of the Education Committee of the Health Professionals Council of South Africa.
“I have no doubt that Professor Kathard will hit the ground running in the position of our acting DVC for Teaching and Learning,” said Phakeng.
Lange’s appointment in 2017 as the DVC made headlines after Professor Elelwani Ramugondo, supported by Black Academic Caucus (BAC), claimed that UCT flouted its rules when it appointed Lange.
Ramugondo, who had lost to Lange, took the university to court to challenge its process in appointing a white candidate from Argentina, with activists saying she did not meet the equity requirements nor key criteria as advertised for the post.
The Western Cape High Court dismissed Ramugondo and BAC’s application in 2020.
“We have consistently called for the university to follow its own recruitment policies and the laws of the country as set out in the Employment Equity Act. Our previous court challenge sought to vindicate the laws of the country and to ensure that everyone is accorded just administrative action as enunciated in the Constitution,” said BAC secretary Dr Sabelo Hadebe. He said they noted that Lange will be joining the Centre for Higher Education Development, a faculty within UCT.