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Professor Peter Mbati writes that he is concerned that an higher education parliamentary committee probe has set a dangerous precedent of fear and paralysis for those Vice-Chancellors who have zero tolerance for corruption.
A choreographed attempt to make adverse findings against my appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University appears to be underway. This is evidenced in the way Phil Mapulane, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology, has chosen to ignore court judgments and decisions taken by the National Prosecution Authority that exonerate me on trumped-up allegations of sexual harassment by a colleague who was dismissed by the University of Venda on account of corruption.
South Africa is a constitutional democracy in which the separation of powers between the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature are sacrosanct. However, the portfolio committee has continued to disregard decisions taken by the court.
Part A of the inquiry was concluded on 5 March 2021 after three weeks, where various witnesses testified before the inquiry.
Part B, which involves testimonies from the Council of Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University will follow at a date to be announced by the portfolio committee.
Mapulane, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, has previously been on record on the radio and other media platforms saying how outraged he was that I was appointed as Vice-Chancellor at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in June 2020, despite having a cloud hanging over my head.
Forensic investigation
The genesis of this decade-old story starts in April 2010 when University of Venda's (UNIVEN) Nehawu branch demanded that a forensic investigation be conducted to unearth corruption in the tender processes at UNIVEN. Corruption was rampant, as evidenced by the Deloitte forensic audit report, which fingered members of senior and executive management and some council members.
Among those that the forensic report recommended disciplinary action against was the Dean of the School of Education Professor Thidziambi Phendla. Irrefutable evidence exists confirming that Phendla was procedurally and substantively dismissed on the grounds of corruption and not on the grounds of sexual harassment as she alleged.
Among the evidence is a Deloitte forensic report of September 2010, which recommended disciplinary action against Phendla for corruption. There is also the outcome of Phendla's disciplinary hearing and subsequent sanction of dismissal for corruption dated 31 October 2011 as well as a nolle prosequi decision from the National Prosecuting Authority dated 10th May 2012 dismissing Phendla's allegations of sexual assault against me. Phendla's appeal against the sanction of summary dismissal on account of corruption was rejected by the University Council while a High Court order dated 30 May 2016 excised substantial sections of the Commission for Gender Equality report after it was successfully challenged in court showing that the report was created unprocedurally and against the commission's own rules. A judgment of the Labour Court dated 12 October 2017 confirmed that Phendla's dismissal was procedurally and substantively fair and not on the grounds of sex. A Labour Appeal Court judgment dated 19 February 2018 rejected Phendla's leave to appeal because it had no reasonable prospects of success, and in effect confirmed the decision of the Labour Court.
READ | I'm no sex pest says Prof
It was only at the insistence of my lawyers that Mapulane did not proceed with attempting a judicial review on matters that the courts had already conclusively dealt with, and which cleared me of allegations of sexual harassment.
In a letter dated 10 February 2021, Mapulane reviewed the terms of reference of the inquiry to respond to allegations relating to the failure of UNIVEN management to implement sound financial and supply chain management processes and to properly manage the institution, including various infrastructure projects; and the fruitless and wasteful expenditure relating to the use of external service providers and legal consultants.
During the inquiry on Friday 5 March, I raised concerns about apparent bias and irregularities, and further put it on record that the outcome of the inquiry was prejudged against me due to comments Mapulane had previously made on Power-FM radio in June 2020 in which he expressed outrage at my appointment at SMU.
I further raised concerns in the manner that the witnesses who testified in the inquiry had been selected, which was not transparent and appeared staged to ensure an adverse finding against me. That out of the more 20 000 people who formed part of the University of Venda community, Mapulane elected to call as witnesses only four former employees of the University of Venda who were dismissed by the University of Venda for serious misconduct during my tenure as the Vice-Chancellor and Principal and therefore were vengeful. The other witness Dr Legoabe is co-director at the HETN with Professor Phendla.
Abandoned projects
The portfolio committee also seemed to be convinced that I was unsuitable to be appointed as Vice-Chancellor at SMU as six infrastructure development projects with the original cost of around R283 million were found abandoned during my tenure at UNIVEN.
In response, I told the committee that UNIVEN had an approved supply chain management policy based on which contractors were appointed for all infrastructure projects.
The Bid Adjudication Committee was a committee of Council chaired by an external Council member. The Executive Management's oversight for Infrastructure projects was placed in the office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Operations. For good governance practices, the university established an Infrastructure Project Board chaired by an external person.
The reports of infrastructure projects from this committee were always submitted to the following committees for further oversight:
(a) Finance Committee of Council;
(b) Audit Committee of Council; and
(c) the full Council meeting.
I further produced evidence that the University Council continued to provide oversight on the significant infrastructure projects.
On 2 November 2015, the UNIVEN external auditors Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo (SNG) at the request of the University Council, produced a report which highlighted challenges on the administration of infrastructure projects. Flowing from the SNG report the University Council instituted a Forensic Investigation to be carried out on 10 major projects, which included the so called "Abandoned Projects".
The recommendations of the forensic report included, among others the Review of the Supply Chain Management Policy, imposing penalties to contractors who had abandoned projects; and disciplining university officials who carried out variation orders without delegated authority from either the Vice-Chancellor or Council. The Council determined that disciplinary action could not be instituted against the named officials as they were no longer in the employ of the university.
The forensic report did not find any wrongdoing on my part as Vice-Chancellor, which seemed to irk the Chair of the Portfolio committee.
Updates on progress
As Vice-Chancellor, I kept the Council of the University of Venda, and the office of the Minister of Higher Education updated on the matter of abandoned projects.
Neither the investigative report by SNG nor the SAB&T forensic report found any wrongdoing on my part as Vice-Chancellor and Principal.
For reasons pointed out the SNG and SAB&T audit reports, contractors failed to deliver on their agreed performance in delivering projects on budget and on time, leading to the abandonment of projects.
A report from the DG, Mr Qonde, that it was only when DHET officials visited the University in July 2017 that abandoned projects were discovered is therefore flawed and incorrect.
The University of Venda recently received a signed report from Lieutenant-Colonel RD Lesufi of the Serious Corruption Investigation Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in Polokwane dated 17 Feb 2021 which cleared me and my management from allegations of corruption.
Disgruntled employees dismissed from the university had apparently pressed charges with the Hawks, allegeding that I, as Vice-Chancellor was corrupt and had possibly benefited from tender processes involving major infrastructure projects.
Another allegation Mapulane raised against me was that I had acted unethically in awarding a contract to Andany Pty while I was a Director of this company.
At the inquiry, affidavits from both Mr Cibi, the proprietor of Andany Pty, and from Dr John Mudau the CEO of UNIVEN UIGC Ltd and a CIPRO company search demonstrated the falsehood of the allegations against me that I was a Director of Black Capitol, Andany Pty and/or its subsidiary companies.
Threats
I further testified at the portfolio committee inquiry that from the time I adopted zero-tolerance against corruption at UNIVEN, I became a target of smear campaigns, endured death threats, armed burglaries at my official and private residences where the intention was to kill me. My family was also harassed.
On several occasions, I was trailed by unknown vehicles.
Additionally, my official car was stolen and there was attempted theft, and vandalising of my personal vehicle.
All these matters were reported to the police.
I impressed on the portfolio committee to institute an inquiry to determine why I was being intimidated.
I am hopeful that the portfolio committee will accede to this urgent request.
The allegation that I was responsible for the misuse of funds donated from the Domba Trust was again nullified following the release of a progress report from Dr Takalani Dzaga, Director Communications, and Marketing at UNIVEN, which demonstrated how the funds had being used to date.
These funds were critical in the development of a new suite of engineering programmes at UNIVEN.
It is my view that this inquiry sets a dangerous precedent of fear and paralysis for those Vice-Chancellors who have zero tolerance for corruption, knowing that those accused of crimes, would get support from parliament to fight their battles against university management even after duly constituted lawful structures such as Management, Council, Law enforcement agencies, and courts have ruled against them.
This precedence will come back to haunt the higher education sector and even destroy the very fabric of management and governance in our universities if not carefully weighed and considered.
- Professor Mbati, is the Vice-Chancellor of SMU. He has published extensively in scientific journals and has supervised over 60 post-graduate students at Ph.D., Masters, and honours degrees in the area of immuno-parasitology and diagnostics of parasites of medical and veterinary importance. Some of his mentees are now senior professors serving in South Africa and abroad.
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