The University of Cape Town (UCT) has proposed the appointment of three respected judges to probe the conduct of its embattled vice-chancellor and chair of council.
Former judge president of the Supreme Court of Appeals Lex Mpati will chair the panel that will probe allegations leveled against UCT boss, professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, and council chair Babalwa Ngonyama.
Mpati, the chancellor of Rhodes University, also chaired the inquiry that investigated allegations of corruption at the Public Investment Corporation. He will be assisted by no-nonsense former Constitutional Court judge, Sisi Khampepe, who recently concluded her investigation into racism allegations at University of Stellenbosch, where she found that black staff and students feel unwelcome at the institution.
Khampepe’s last judgment at the apex court was a stinging rebuke of erstwhile president Jacob Zuma for refusing to cooperate with the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, a decision that saw the court sending Zuma to jail for 15 months for contempt of court.
The third judge on the panel is retired Supreme Court judge Azhar Cachalia. He hung up his robes in 2021 after serving in the court for 15 years. Cachalia is a former anti-apartheid activist and former high-profile member of the United Democratic Front.
Sunday World understands, however, that while the retired judges are the council’s preferred candidates to form the panel, they are yet to accept the invitation.
The panel’s investigation, expected to be concluded before the end of the year, will focus on three areas.
First, a divided UCT council has asked the panel to probe whether Phakeng and council chair Ngonyama misled the faculty board, senate and/or council regarding deputy vice-chancellor (DVC) for teaching and learning Lis Lange’s availability for second term and the reasons she did not pursue it.
Second, the panel will “investigate all matters related to executive relationships, including the number of, and reasons for resignations within and beyond the executive, with due consideration of reasons for this”.
And third, the judges have been asked to speak to current or departed staff and members of council on whether “they have signed a non-disclosure agreement or not, from which they are considered released insofar as this is legally feasible”.
In May, UCT announced that Lange had quit as head of teaching and learning with immediate effect. In a May 2 statement, Phakeng said Lange would not seek the renewal of her contract, which was scheduled to end in January 2023.
“It has been agreed that she will relinquish her DVC position with immediate effect and that, for the next two months, she will focus on preparing UCT for the Council on Higher Education’s institutional audit, which is scheduled for later this year,” Phakeng said in a statement at the time.
However, Lange is said to have disputed the reasons put forward by Phakeng for her resignation and blamed her and Ngonyama for her exit. Lange then dispatched a letter to the university’s senate stating her “real reasons” for her resignation.
Ngonyama told a council meeting in October that she had met Lange in January as part of her engagements with senior staff, as is protocol 18 months before the term of vice-chancellor ends.
“I met with associate professor Lis Lange on the 3rd of January 2022 as a continuation of my informal and confidential engagement with the stakeholders of the university on the re-appointment of the vice-chancellor,” she said in her opening remarks that Sunday World has seen.
“During this meeting, when I informed associate professor Lis Lange about the possibility that the vice-chancellor’s term of office would be renewed, associate professor Lis Lange became abrasive, aggressive and abusive, making clear her own ambition to succeed professor Phakeng as the vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town.
“In response, I made clear my view that this level of conflict between senior executives in the university could not be tolerated, and that it would be impossible for her to be a member of any executive team if she had such disdain for her line manager.”
Meanwhile, two council members Zama Khanyile and Kholiwe Makhohliso have resigned, the troubled university has confirmed. The two are seen as being part of the “Phakeng camp” with the 30-member council divided down the middle.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here
