The University of South Africa (Unisa) will approach the high court on an urgent basis on Monday to challenge higher education minister Blade Nzimande’s announcement to place the institution under administration.
On Friday, Nzimande appointed the former vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, Prof Ihron Rensburg, to act as administrator for two years after dissolving Unisa’s council.
The minister’s decision to place the university under administration follows reports from independent assessor Prof Themba Mosia and the ministerial task team report on Unisa chaired by Vincent Maphai.
In a statement issued yesterday, Unisa said Nzimande’s announcement was “premature” and in contempt of a court order handed down by judge Harshila Kooverjie in the North Gauteng high court on October 6 ordering him to withdraw his notice of intention to place Unisa under administration.
“This matter has not been finalised and is still before the courts. The university is also of the strong view that the announcement of the minister’s decision at a time when our students are in the middle of exams is ill-timed and insensitive,” Unisa said.
“It must be made clear that the university is not fighting the minister and the responsibilities that he has. However, the university is also of the view that all citizens need to be protected by the prescripts of the law of the country.”
In a statement issued yesterday, Nzimande said in making his decision to dissolve the council and appoint an administrator, he carefully considered the findings and recommendations made by Mosia, the responses from the council and government’s responsibilities in protecting public interests in the governance and management of Unisa.
“There are strong overlaps and areas of strategic convergence in the findings and recommendations of the reports of the Independent Assessor and the MTT [ministerial task team]. The MTT concluded that, based on the evidence presented to it, Unisa suffers chronic management failures in many of the key support systems, and the council was the root cause of the problems at the university.”
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