The Bhisho High Court has ruled in favour of Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane, finding that the University of Fort Hare (UFH) acted unlawfully when it deregistered him from its Master of Administration programme.
The ruling comes after the institution deregistered Mabuyane without first allowing him an opportunity to be heard.
In a judgment delivered by Judge Lindiwe Rusi in the High Court on Thursday, the court reviewed and set aside the university’s March 2021 decision to exclude Mabuyane from the postgraduate programme because he allegedly did not meet the minimum admission requirements.
The dispute centred on whether Mabuyane, who holds a three-year Bachelor of Commerce degree, had been lawfully admitted under the university’s Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy.
The university argued there was no record that he had applied or been approved through the RPL process, while Mabuyane maintained that his application had been assessed and accepted in line with the institution’s procedures.
Failure to follow principles of procedural fairness
The court found that the university failed to follow the principles of procedural fairness before making its decision.
“As its justification, it states that it was manifest that the applicant’s admission was irregular since he did not possess the honours degree. The respondent (Fort Hare) did not afford the applicant (Mabuyane) an opportunity to make representations before it made the decision on March 12, 2021 to deregister him,” the judgment states.
Judge Rusi emphasised that administrative decisions affecting a person’s rights must comply with the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA), which requires a fair hearing before such decisions are taken.
Quoting the law, the court highlighted that administrative action that materially and adversely affects the rights or legitimate expectations of any person must be procedurally fair.
Reasonable opportunity to make representations
He added that administrators must provide a reasonable opportunity to make representations.
The court also mentioned the importance of hearing the affected party before taking action.
“A person can only be said to have a fair and meaningful opportunity to make representations if the person knows the substance of the case against her.”
Although the court found that Mabuyane had delayed bringing his review application by more than two years, it ruled that the interests of justice required the matter to be heard because he had reasonable prospects of success.
The judge rejected Mabuyane’s argument that the university lacked the legal authority to deregister students, holding that Fort Hare has an implied power to do so.
However, the court cautioned that the power to deregister students cannot be exercised willy-nilly; it must be exercised in accordance with the principles of administrative justice.
- This story has been updated
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