NDANGWA NOYOO: Killings just the most extreme expression of criminality at SA’s universities

A few weeks have elapsed since another senior SA academic met a violent end. The former deputy vice-chancellor of Walter Sisulu University,  Sinethemba Mpambane, was shot dead while seated in his vehicle at the university’s Nkululekweni facility.

By all accounts this heinous crime bears the hallmarks of a targeted crime or contract killing, which is becoming all too common in SA. According to Mark Shaw, director of the Global Initiative, contract killing and targeted “hits” in SA have become widespread and deeply embedded into parts of the country’s history of systemic corruption. 

This is not the first time an academic has been callously gunned down. The then-dean of the arts faculty at the University of Zululand, Gregory Kamwendo, was shot dead in the driveway of his home in Empangeni in May 2018. Subsequently, two individuals were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Pietermaritzburg high court.

Shockingly, one of the perpetrators was a lecturer at the University of Zululand. After this verdict, former higher education minister Blade Nzimande noted: “This was a double murder as it took the life of Prof Kamwendo at the height of his career, but also this killing exposed corruption and self-interest, which seeks to destroy the image and credibility of not only of UniZulu but of the higher education system as a whole.”

Kamwendo was killed for exposing a fraudulent PhD syndicate, and for merely doing his job. Nonetheless, the university management vehemently denied that such fraudulent activities were taking place in its faculties. 

In January 2023, the vice-chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, Sakhela Buhlungu, survived an assassination attempt but his bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, did not, after he was shot multiple times. This had not been the first attempt on Buhlungu’s life — in March 2022, unknown assailants fired shots at his home. It is disconcerting that universities, which are supposed to be not only spaces for teaching and learning but environs where an unfettered pursuit of knowledge should transpire, have been turned into dens of criminality.

The police minister recently remarked while decrying criminality in schools, “Like churches, schools are sacrosanct.” I would like to echo the minister’s comments and add that universities should be revered and treated as sacred places. What is especially numbing about this increasing trend at SA universities is the way the country has responded to it. Despite outrage from some quarters, the gunning down of a senior academic at a university has become an almost matter-of-fact issue.

After a matter of weeks the country will go back to “business as usual”, if it has not already, and the whole issue will be forgotten. Perhaps it is not fair to expect much more from a country that is heavily weighed down by criminality and needless death. South Africans are exhausted with crime, and one cannot blame them. 

However, it is important not to lose sight of the bigger picture. When academics, as well as teachers, doctors and priests, can be killed at will at their workplaces and no longer feel safe to do their jobs, there is a serious problem in society. This is because these individuals touch the lives of millions of South Africans, especially young people, in fundamental ways. They safeguard the country’s future as they nurture and mould the next generation of leaders through their efforts.

It is disturbing that these crimes are perpetrated by those who are part of the university community. Criminals do not just waltz into universities, but are aided and abetted by both academic and non-academic university staff. When examining the two cases cited above it is notable that both Kamwendo and Buhlungu were leading crusades against corruption and maleficence in their respective institutions. At Fort Hare, Buhlungu was almost killed twice for his efforts to clean up this university and institute good governance.

Unfortunately, at SA universities some individuals want to cut corners and not have to work hard to achieve their qualifications. Conventionally, universities are supposed to be highly meritorious. But this is no longer the case in SA as some universities are perpetrating corruption, maladministration and malevolent leadership. Killings are merely the most extreme expression of criminality at universities.

What is happening in these places is that certain cabals or “cults” hound or ostracise those who try to expose criminality. It is not uncommon to find heads of department who have never worked anywhere else apart from their universities, who are not published in peer-reviewed journals and edited books, and exhibit no academic leadership beyond their departments.

Some professors do not have one monograph or any book to their name, while some associate professors have paltry publications. The question remains: what are the criteria for promoting such individuals? There is also a phenomenon of “jobs for pals” at some universities. In terms of teaching and learning, some academics who stand in front of students do not research or publish. One wonders what they teach students.

Some PhDs and master’s degrees are allegedly bought or simply fast-tracked by academic departments. Other academics award marks to their favourite students while independent and critical thinkers are penalised.

Such practices are deeply ingrained at some institutions, and this goes for both previously advantaged and disadvantaged universities. Is it any wonder that so many SA graduates are unemployable functional illiterates?

Sadly, SA universities are slowly losing their intellectual and moral gravitas. Unless something drastic is done by the SA authorities, in this case the president, universities will soon implode. A commission of inquiry should be launched into our universities to root out the subterranean criminality that is being nurtured in these once sacred spaces.

• Prof Noyoo is a director of the Southern African Policy and Development Nexus and a research fellow at the University of the Free State.