By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) dismissed the media reports that the university council has decided to suspend Vice-Chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said in a brief statement: “UCT notes media reports around the status of the Vice-Chancellor. The university can unequivocally state that the Vice-Chancellor has not been suspended.”
This follows the formation of an independent panel, led by retired Supreme Court of Appeal President Judge Lex Mpati, to investigate allegations of mismanagement and abuse of power levelled against Phakeng.
The UCT Council made the decision after consulting with two of South Africa’s leading labour law experts, who confirmed that the university would have a prima facie case of misconduct against Phakeng.
The council met last Thursday and decided to remove Phakeng and council chair Babalwa Ngonyama from their positions pending the outcome of the investigation.
Following this consultation, Phakeng was given the option of retiring quietly with a severance package. However, the negotiation fell apart, with Phakeng withdrawing from the talks.
The suspension of Phakeng comes after nearly five months of escalating conflict.
Meanwhile the law faculty dean Danwood Chirwa has sent a scathing letter to the executive, accusing it of knowingly exposing staff and students to danger and doing nothing about it.
The letter, sent on Friday on behalf of the faculty, said staff and students were exposed to “the risk of intimidation, aggression and violence from protesting students, without taking appropriate protective and remedial measures”.
Chirwa says some staff and students were “assaulted” by protesting students while others were met with “extreme rudeness and aggression”.
He alleged the executive “appears to have known or ought to have known that the SRC would stage a shutdown of the university from Monday February 13”, but “failed to communicate to the university community about the planned shutdown and the university’s response to it.”
The letter was sent just hours before the university council had expressed its intention to suspend vice-chancellor Phakeng.