Sunday Times reports that the Council of the University of SA (Unisa) has been hit by two resignations in the wake of a damning assessor’s report into the affairs of the embattled institution.
Belinda Mapongwana, chair of council’s social and ethics committee, resigned with immediate effect on Friday without providing a reason. But a council member said it was linked to the council's failure to call a special meeting on Friday. On Saturday, Sedzani Mudau informed the council that she was also resigning, and that her decision was triggered by a resolution taken during a council meeting on Thursday to ask Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande to grant an extension of 21 working days to respond to the report. Nzimande had given the council 14 days to respond. Mudau had been the chair of the audit and risk committee and was praised by independent assessor Prof Themba Mosia in the report as performing well in her role. Mosia made 26 recommendations to Nzimande, which included placing Unisa under administration and relieving the Council and management of their duties. A council meeting, scheduled for Friday, where the suspension of vice-chancellor Puleng LenkaBula was expected to have been put to a vote, was cancelled. According to the institutional statute, at least seven days’ notice was required before an extraordinary meeting could be called. During Thursday’s Council meeting, member Prof Muxe Nkondo proposed that LenkaBula be temporarily suspended and subjected to a disciplinary process which would “give her space to defend herself”. Sources who attended Thursday’s Council meeting said while most had agreed LenkaBula be suspended, a minority was “hell-bent on protecting the maladministration”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Unisa council divided on VC's fate, at City Press (subscriber access only)
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