By Prega Govender.
A subcommittee of Stellenbosch University’s (SU) council will appoint experts to investigate how the report into the Wilgenhof men’s residence was changed.
This followed an explosive affidavit by the chancellor, former Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron, who alleged that the final report of a panel that investigated the contents of two rooms at the Wilgenhof residence had been altered before it landed on the council’s desk.
SU spokesperson Martin Viljoen said in a statement issued on Friday night that the council held an extraordinary meeting, during which it tasked the Social and Business Ethics Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee to appoint and coordinate appropriate independent experts.
The experts will also investigate whether the executive committee of council decided at its 4 June meeting that Wilgenhof should be closed and whether the chair of council, Nicky Newton-King, should have disclosed Cameron’s concern about changing the final paragraph of the Wilgenhof report to council at its 24 June 2024 meeting.
Newton-King and the vice-chancellor, Wim de Villiers, recused themselves from Friday’s meeting to allow for an impartial discussion and decision-making process.