By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Higher education minister Blade Nzimande has expressed concern at the Pretoria high court ordering him to withdraw his notice of intention to place the University of South Africa (Unisa) under administration.
Nzimande’s decision to place Unisa under administration follows reports from independent assessor Prof Themba Mosia and the ministerial task team chaired by Vincent Maphai.
Mosia as the independent assessor to investigate all affairs at Unisa. His assessment revealed a cauldron of instability, characterised by a culture of fear, intimidation and bullying, instances of maladadministration and financial irregularities.
Others included human resource failures, a fragile and troubled ICT environment, poor student services, academic malpractices, leakages of confidential records, and questionable management and council decisions.
The court order came after an urgent high court application brought by Unisa’s council on Thursday.
Nzimande said: “I remain concerned that though the order granted by Justice Adams on August 24 has noted the urgency of this matter, the court has not demonstrated any sense of urgency in finalising this matter.
However, he said the court is able to hear an urgent application by Unisa. To me, this resembles an inconsistency in the application of the principle of ‘urgency’ or prioritisation of issues by the court.
He added that he was concerned that the court system may have been used to curtail his authority, as detailed in the Higher Education Act.
“The minister believes in the supremacy of the Constitution, the law and the doctrine of the separation of powers between the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. He hopes that this should not be one of those instances in which one of that constitutional principle is violated,” a statement from his office read.
Adams had ordered Nzimande not to act on the recommendations of the Mosia report until two separate applications challenging it are finalised. One application was brought by the chair of Unisa’s council James Maboa, who sought an order to interdict Nzimande from appointing an administrator.
In a separate application, vice-chancellor Prof Puleng Lenkabula sought an order to review and set aside Mosia’s report.
Judge Harshila Kooverjie’s Friday ruling stated Nzimande’s notice of intention was “in breach” of Adams’ order.
Kooverjie ordered Nzimande “to immediately cease and desist from taking any steps to publish and implement the notice or to take any steps of whatever nature to implement the notice.”