National task force for HE security after attack on university leader

The apparent assassination attempt on one of South Africa’s top university leaders, in which his bodyguard was killed, has highlighted the threat of corruption that appears to have firmed its grip on the country’s tertiary education sector.

“Corruption is a betrayal of our democracy and an assault on public institutions that we established to advance the values of our Constitution and the interests of our people.

“Our post-school education and training institutions – and the University of Fort Hare is part of those institutions – must [be] protect[ed] against any form of corruption, maladministration and capture by private interests,” said the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande on Wednesday 11 January, during a visit to the university in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

Last year, Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, vice-chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, who is in the second term of office, successfully asked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign a proclamation authorising an investigation probe into corruption claims at Fort Hare.

The attack on him has been linked to his role in pushing for the investigation. Buhlungu was not in the car at the time of the attack on 6 January, but his protection officer, Mboneli Vesele, who has worked with him since 2018, was shot and killed.

During his visit Nzimande said Fort Hare University has been identified as one of the institutions of higher learning that will be closely monitored and prioritised on issues of safety and security, according to a report by SABC News.

Nzimande has committed to form a national task force that will work with institutions of higher education to improve safety and security.

The minister has also encouraged these institutions to have their own structures that deal with safety issues. “We are going to leave no stone unturned to fight against corruption in our institutions and also to ensure that Fort Hare is protected. As institutions we want to say to the criminals that they won’t win. We are very determined,” said Nzimande.

Higher education sector shocked, saddened

Buhlungu has come under attack before. In March 2022 incidents of shots being fired at his residence and at the homes of two other senior officials were reported. Though no one was hurt in these attacks, it required the university to improve security at the staff village in Alice (where shots were fired). However, Petrus Roets, the university’s fleet and transport manager, was shot dead in May 2022 in a suspected hit.

Fort Hare is one of the country’s oldest universities. Its alumni include the likes of liberation heroes Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Robert Sobukwe, and Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi in South Africa, Zimbabwean leaders Robert Mugabe and Herbert Chitepo, and Kenya’s Elius Mathu and Charles Njonjo.

In a statement, Universities South Africa Chairperson Professor Sibongile Muthwa said that as vice-chancellors, the body was deeply saddened by the events at Fort Hare, which took place within the premises of a campus.

She said the reports, which indicate that this might have been an attempt on the life of a colleague, Buhlungu, are hugely shocking.

Dr Whitfield Green, the chief executive officer of the Council on Higher Education (CHE), called for decisive action from the highest levels of government and the safety and security structures that must act vigorously “to root out this growing threat to our universities”.

Ambassador Nozipho January-Bardill, the chairperson of the council of Nelson Mandela University, also based in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, extended condolences to the Vesele family and the broader University of Fort Hare community.

“That murder and assassination are taking place in a higher education environment is a shocking reflection of the difficult times we live in as a nation,” she said.

January-Bardill called on authorities to support and protect whistle-blowers and those trying to root out fraud and corruption in higher education and our society broadly.

How widespread is corruption?

A former academic, who did not wish to be named, said corruption had engulfed all 26 institutions in various ways because billions were being spent on infrastructure development, with individuals running it being party to malfeasance. He pointed out multiple shenanigans at several institutions to corroborate the claims.

One of the country’s foremost academics and distinguished professor of education at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, Jonathan Jansen, has lifted the lid on the goings-on at universities in a book, Corrupted: A Study of Chronic Dysfunction in South African Universities, which takes a deeper look at dysfunctional institutions in an attempt to unravel the root causes in a sample of South African universities.

The book’s publisher, Wits University Press, details these concerns in its synopsis on Amazon.com: “At the heart of the problem lies the vexed issue of resources or, more pertinently, the relationship between resources and power: who gets what, and why?

“Whatever else it aspires to be – commonly, a place of teaching, learning, research, and public duty – a university in an impoverished community is also a rich concentration of resources around which corrupt staff, students and those outside of campus all vie for access.

“Taking a political-economic approach, Jansen describes the daily struggle for institutional resources and offers accessible, sensible insights. He argues that the problem won’t be solved through investments in ‘capacity building’ alone because the combination of institutional capacity and institutional integrity contributes to serial instability in universities.”

The challenges at Fort Hare

Nzimande said on Wednesday that the events at the institution are most likely linked to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) work, which has been underway since the Presidential Proclamation of 5 August 2022 (Government Gazette 47199) authorising the investigation of allegations of corruption at Fort Hare between 2012 and 2022.

This was partly a response to forensic work that the university had undertaken, but where it had faced certain limitations as investigators needed to have the statutory powers necessary to undertake specific responsibilities.

The probe relates to: procurement irregularities in cleaning and gardening services (between 2012 and 2019); the leasing of student accommodation since 2013; the appointment of a service provider for maintenance and repair of air conditioning systems (2018); and collusion of officials and suppliers, or service providers.

It also focuses on alleged maladministration in the affairs of the university’s department of public administration in awarding honours degrees, mismanagement of funds, and sourcing public servants to study in various programmes for individual financial gain.

These allegations are also linked to the university’s suspension of Professor Edwin Ijeoma, an employee, who resigned in February 2021. The disciplinary processes continued following his resignation, and he was found guilty of all charges.

Nzimande noted that there were reports of how deep maladministration was entrenched in the institution, which Buhlungu had reportedly been actively rooting out since he assumed office. These endeavours saw several senior managers and staff members suspended, some resigning, and others dismissed.

The minister said that some of the issues investigated by the SIU were also briefly noted in an Independent Assessor Report (October 2019), an investigation authorised by the minister, in which one of the six key findings was that “there are disturbing signs of a widespread belief that the university is a kind of cash cow which everyone is entitled to milk for personal benefit”.

Amid claims that there is tension between the vice-chancellor and the ministry, Nzimande dismissed the narrative that his office has done little or nothing in response to the university’s challenges. The ministry has also supported the Special Investigating Unit’s work since it began in August 2022.

Kaizer Kganyago, the head of stakeholder relations and communications at the SIU, said investigations were ongoing at Fort Hare and updates would only be provided once they were complete. He added that the unit had received complaints about corruption claims at other tertiary institutions.

Which other institutions have been in the spotlight?

On 16 November 2022, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Education, which plays an oversight role and may request information from a ministry,
received updates of problems at several institutions, including the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), University of South Africa (UNISA), and Vaal University of Technology (VUT) – all related to governance issues.

Professor Themba Mosia, academic and former chairperson of the Council on Higher Education, was appointed by the Minister as an independent assessor, or investigator, to probe problems at UNISA in September 2022. UNISA is a distance learning institution.

The Minister engaged with the UNISA council on the findings of the Ministerial Task Team Report of 2021. Mosia’s appointment came after a conflict between trade union NEHAWU and the university leadership over allegations of mismanagement.

The Mangosuthu University of Technology was placed under administration, and an administrator, who acts in a temporary capacity as manager of the university, Professor Lourens van Staden, was appointed on 28 September 2022. This came after an investigation, authorised by the minister, by independent assessor Professor Anthony Staak was not implemented by the MUT Council.

Corruption claims have also been made at the University of Zululand and the University of Mpumalanga.

Committee members discussing events at tertiary institutions around the country in Parliament at the end of 2022 said they were not pleased with poor governance at higher education institutions because essential matters such as the curriculum, the impact of qualifications offered by the sector, and its core business should have been discussed.

“Instead, the committee is always confronted with addressing corruption allegations, maladministration, poor financial management, governance and stakeholder relations.”