Nehawu demands immediate removal of Fort Hare vice chancellor

THE University of Fort Hare (UFH) vice chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu could suffer a big blow following the call for his immediate removal from his position.

The National Education, Health, and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) in the Eastern Cape said UFH had become a mini-war zone since Buhlungu’s arrival.

The union said the laws that govern the institution had been suspended and only Buhlungu’s office was developing new laws.

Nehawu further said that this has collapsed the corporate governance in the institution in such a way that nobody knows if they are still employed by the university.

The union’s provincial secretary, Mlu Ncapayi, said it was against this background that Nehawu has come to the conclusion that until Buhlungu is placed on special leave, nothing would help the institution from going down.

“We, therefore, call on the Minister of Higher Education and Training to urgently put the VC on special leave to save this precious institution that has become a shadow of itself since the arrival of Professor Buhlungu,” said Ncapayi.

Buhlungu, who was appointed in February 2017, was previously accused of having an autocratic leadership style and blamed for being disruptive and pursuing a nefarious agenda under the guise of busting corruption.

He was also embroiled in a controversy over an alleged affair with an employee in his office.

Buhlungu was also embroiled in another scandal in which he allegedly used law firms linked to the university to fight his wife’s legal battle against the Nelson Mandela University (NMU).

This was after he allegedly pleaded with the law firms to help his wife and instructed them to negotiate a settlement with NMU on behalf of his wife.

Ncapayi said the union’s call for Buhlungu’s removal was informed by many allegations, including that he utilised the university’s resources to absorb the legal bills for his wife.

“We have been reporting the allegations regarding his failure to adhere to the university recruitment procedures, where those loyal to him are appointed from contract to permanent positions.

“A case in point is his driver, who is now permanently employed in a position that he does not even meet the minimum requirements,” he said.

Fort Hare spokesperson JP Roodt confirmed that the university saw the statement.

Roodt said the vice chancellor's office does not create or approve policies, procedures, or guidelines. He said within the university, all policies, procedures, and guidelines serve the requisite institutional structures.

“In relation to policies, portfolio heads and extended management team members are responsible for policy development before being presented to council for approval,” he said.

He added that the claim that the governance was collapsing at the university was misleading and untruthful. Roodt said at the end of June 2024, 96% of the university’s consolidated turn-around plan—to address governance failures of the institution over the last two decades that led to Fort Hare being placed under administration—had either been completed or was in progress.

“In fact, 90% of the governance enhancement projects had been completed or were ongoing, and 10% is still in progress. This has also been reported formally to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The new university council has approved 44 policies since December 2020 that are being implemented. To claim there is governance collapse at the university is a far cry from the truth,” Roodt said.

In relation to the matter of perceptions around job insecurity, the following must be stated: “Following the approval of a new strategic plan in November 2021, the council instructed the university to embark on a university-wide organogram review and redesign project to create a fit-for-purpose organisational structure that will enable the delivery of the strategic plan and ultimately benefit students.

“A key component of this is especially to strengthen the academic project with increased positions for teaching, learning, and research. This will greatly further improve the student experience.

“The new organogram has been approved by the council, and the university is currently engaged in job grading of revised job descriptions as well as a skills audit, after which a matching and placement exercise will take place.

“To support this process, the council approved in November 2023 a redundancy, redeployment, retraining, and retrenchment policy and procedure,’’ Roodt said.

The Department of Higher Education and Training did not respond.

Ncapayi said the union’s members and the university community have been complaining throughout the years regarding Buhlungu’s conduct.

He said the union has now reached the point that Buhlungu must be held accountable for the many challenges he created ever since he took over the reins at the university.

He said Minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane must act decisively and place Buhlungu on special leave with immediate effect.

“The previous University Council dismally failed to hold the VC accountable on numerous occasions despite having been presented with evidence about the conduct of the VC. Our members, including other university stakeholders, have used various platforms, including the portfolio committee visits, to express their frustrations against the VC,” said Ncapayi, adding that Nehawu also observed that Buhlungu and his “little army” were now embarking on a strategy to get rid of the union in the university.

Ncapayi said this was another effort to silence the voice of workers using underhand tactics. He said the union also observed how Buhlungu has run the institution as his fiefdom, which is not accepted.

“Hence, we call on the Minister of Higher Education and Training to swiftly act and ensure that the new council will assume their duties on a clean slate and be allowed time to turn around the university to be refocused on its academic mandate,” he said.

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za