The University of Cape Town (UCT) council has a prescheduled meeting on Saturday at which it is likely to discuss the university chair’s call for an independent investigation into the resignation of a deputy vice-chancellor and a contentious senate meeting that ensued.
The university has made headlines after the Daily Maverick broke the story on leadership struggles within its council after another early departure of a senior administrator. Deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning, Lis Lange, resigned from the post in May.
Her departure follows the resignations of several senior staff, including deputy vice-chancellor for transformation Loretta Feris in April 2021. Dean of commerce Linda Ronnie resigned at about the same time. The head of UCT’s convocation, Eddy Maloka, resigned that year, too.
According to the Daily Maverick article, a letter citing the reason for Lange’s resignation was read out at a senate meeting on September 30. In it she describes being pushed out due to a break down in her relationship with UCT vice-chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng.
Council deputy chair Pheladi Gwangwa has said in a statement there were “concerning governance and procedural matters” in the way the senate meeting was conducted. The senate is an academic body of 400 professors.
After this meeting, Phakeng returned early from her sabbatical, which was due to end on February 2.
A special council meeting was held on October 6 to vote on whether there should be an internal or external investigation into Lange’s departure and how the senate meeting unfolded.
The vote was tied and the deputy chair of the council’s deciding vote resulted in a decision on an internal investigation. This led to further media leaks from 13 council members who disagreed and felt there would be a cover-up.
In response, UCT chair Babalwa Ngonyama said in a statement at the weekend that the council had felt “that internal processes have the potential to foster reconciliation and avoid polarisation”. But she has since changed tack, saying an independent investigation led by a retired judge should take place.
“The past two weeks have been challenging for the University of Cape Town, with a potential for significant damage to the university’s reputation, stability and academic credibility,” Ngonyama said in a statement.
She said she would ask the council to support an external inquiry.
Former presidents of convocation — a statutory body that represents graduates, academic staff and retired academics — Barney Pityana, Eddy Maloka and Lorna Houston met on Sunday to discuss the saga, and its “damage to the UCT brand”.
On Monday, they issued a statement appealing to UCT’s leadership “to avoid the temptation of defensiveness and sweeping challenges under rugs at the cost of finding solutions”. They called on the council to use its next meeting “as an opportunity to calm down the situation”.
Business Unity SA CEO Cas Coovadia, who served on the Wits council for nine years, explained the importance of a stable council. He did not comment on the UCT developments.
“The council is the critical structure of sound and ethical governance and we have already experienced the negative impact of poor governance in a number of universities.”
UCT’s first ombuds, Zetu Makamandela-Mguqulwa, released a report in 2019 in which 37 academics accused Phakeng of bullying. Makamandela-Mguqulwa was served with a suspension notice after she refused to withdraw the report. Phakeng challenged the report in court before withdrawing the lawsuit.
Makamandela-Mguqulwa’s position remains vacant.
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