Investigators urge removal of top management from ailing Gauteng institution
South Africa’s Vaal University of Technology is in a state of “large-scale collapse” and requires “urgent and deep interventions”, according to an independent report published in the Government Gazette on 14 February.
The report cites evidence of widespread financial and staffing irregularities at the university. “There is no institutional culture of accountability, responsibility, honesty, efficiency, service and selflessness at this institution,” it states
VUT is the second South African university to receive a damning independent assessment in a short time. A report into the University of Fort Hare, published last December, found a lack of accountability and signs that the university was seen as a “cash cow” that people could “milk for personal benefit”.
Both VUT and UFH are under national government administration—something higher education minister Blade Nzimande noted last month while naming corruption “one of the most serious challenges” facing the country’s higher education system.
VUT, whose main campus is in Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng, has been plagued by allegations of mismanagement since it was established as a university of technology in 2004. A 2006 commision of inquiry, a 2012 independent assessment, and numerous forensic audits have all pointed to major problems at the institution.
The latest report is by a team of assessors appointed in May 2019 by former science minister Naledi Pandor following warnings that the university’s situation was worsening. The assessors investigated allegations ranging from corruption to whistleblowers being threatened with physical harm.
The assessors found multi-million rand projects, such as the university’s R32 million (US$2.1m) upgrade of student residences, peppered with irregularities. Some paid-for work on the residences was defective; other work had not been done at all.
They also found many irregular appointments, suspensions and people occupying acting positions—something they say paralysed the institution. An interim chief financial officer, Athol Rhoda, was brought on board in 2018 on a short-term contract that earned him R146,542 a month. Rhoda was at VUT three days a week, commuting from Cape Town, with the university covering his travel costs, accommodation and car hire.
The assessors found that the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union had crippled effective management and undermined good governance by being involved in, and believing itself entitled to, co-management of the institution.
The reviewers suggest the removal of all top management, including vice-chancellor Gordon Ndodomzi Zide, whom they describe as unable to provide leadership or to realise change. They also recommend a review of the university’s governing council, which has been plagued by resignations and unable to make decisions due to a lack of sufficient members remaining on the council.
The report says that all senior managers at VUT should be subjected to lifestyle audits, to gauge whether their lifestyle matches their income. It suggests the Special Investigation Unit, South Africa’s forensic investigation and litigation agency, should be asked to investigate the vice-chancellor, everyone involved in supply chain management, infrastructure, and logistics, as well as campus security and former student leaders.
Adam Habib, the outgoing vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, said internal stakeholders trying to feed of universities is a "serious problem" in South Africa. At VUT, "the entire community around the university was feeding off it", he said, adding that such pressures existed at all universities but some were able to push back.
Habib blamed corruption in higher education in the country on a lack of management skills, "a culture of feeding frenzy, and a failure of decisive leadership".