NMMU ‘most transformed in SA’
Bay university rejects United Front claim that it is lagging
THE Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University has hit back at criticism by the United Front, saying it is South Africa’s most transformed tertiary institution with a majority of its students and top management black.
While the university admitted it did not have enough black lecturers, it said this was because many were often lured into better opportunities in the private sector.
This week the UF lashed out at what it said was a lack of transformation at universities.
NMMU, he said, behaved “like they are in Europe”.
UF interim national secretary Mazibuko Jara said the university had very few black lecturers and its course content did not promote African indigenous history.
Yesterday, senior communications director Lebogang Hashatse said NMMU was the only university in the country with a transformation plan already being implemented.
The programme, he said, would see the institution fully transformed by 2020.
He said the university’s vision was to transform its course content mix, value system and culture.
The university’s Vision 2020, now in its second year, was the brainchild of vicechancellor Derrick Swartz.
“We can probably confi- dently say that NMMU is the only university with a formal process,” Hashatse said.
“It might explain that as we now experience uprisings at particular universities, we probably have not experienced that at NMMU because of the interventions,” he said.
“It has also allowed us to deliberately create moments of reflecting on where we are. Those have been called courageous conversations where we address burning issues.
“The majority of our students are from rural areas and townships,” Hashatse said.
Some universities were wary of taking pupils from schools that did not fully prepare them. But NMMU had support and catch-up programmes for such students.
The challenge was transforming the academic staff.
“The academic staff complement is mostly white middle-aged males. The challenge is that the university does not pay as much as the private sector, for example,” he said.
“So even though black lecturers progress themselves in terms of studying, they end up going to the private sector for better opportunities.” THE cover of a storm water drain that went missing during a service delivery protest in Schauderville, Port Elizabeth, more than a year ago has still not been replaced.
Residents claim the open drain poses a threat to children who often play in Searl Street.
The problem was first reported to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in August last year.
Schauderville community leader Richard de Doncker said he had phoned the municipality for a year asking for the problem to be fixed.
“This is extremely dangerous. It needs to be covered and they must erect a barrier,” he said.
De Doncker said a drain in nearby Rose Street was also constantly blocked.
Ward 10 councillor Andy Jordan said he was contacted by residents about both drains.
“We reported it to the council and they gave us a reference number,” he said.
Municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki said the complaint was received and a team dispatched to unblock the drain. “It is possible that the drain has been blocked again.”
He did not comment on the missing cover.