Committee calls for the review of the Business Model of Tshwane University of Technology Enterprise Holdings
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology held a fruitful engagement with management, council and stakeholders of Tshwane University of Technology yesterday, 6 February 2020 at TUT main campus in Pretoria to assess the state of readiness for the 2020 academic year and to follow up on the issues discussed with the university in November 2019 in Cape Town.
The committee is generally satisfied with the level of readiness of the university for the 2020 academic year.
As at 30 of January 2020, the university has managed to register a total of 45 632 students, of which 8 841 of registered students are first-year students. Registration has been progressing well and the committee is satisfied that the university will reach its registration targets.
Following on the engagements with the university in November 2019, during which the portfolio committee expressed grave concerns on and called for thorough investigations against the Tshwane University of Technology Enterprise Holdings (TUTEH) and yesterday's engagement with the TUT and its various stakeholders, the committee is convinced that the current business model by the university in leveraging a third stream income through TUTEH, is fraught with serious difficulties in terms of the financial risks vis-à-vis value for money, in terms of its operational model including its procurement processes which are susceptible to unethical business practice, including corruption, conflict of interest in its governance and management structures, unsound financial practice of billing its service providers through the university and irregular appointment of staff including senior managers, among others.
Most stakeholders believe that the enterprise is duplicating the services that are managed by the university and had not brought in new innovations with regard to sourcing a third stream income. We strongly believe that the current business model of TUTEH is not in the best interest of the university and therefore must be reviewed by council as a matter of urgency.
The committee has noted with concern the high vacancy rate and acting positions in senior management levels, including the prolonged suspension of senior executive managers. Of the four deputy vice-chancellors, only one was substantive and three were acting. We call on the university to urgently attend to this situation.
It’s unacceptable for a situation where senior executives are suspended for long periods of more than a year without any disciplinary processes being initiated or concluded.
The committee further calls for the speedy verification of the qualifications of the Chief Financial Officer, Mr Mahlalela.
“It is neither in the interest of the university nor that of Mr Mahlalela to allow these allegations of lack of qualifications to linger on without being attended to, as they impact adversely on the academic reputation of Mr Mahlalela.
“In bringing this matter to finality, the university is directed to verify Mr Mahlalela’s qualifications with the South African Qualifications Authority and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, and bring that report to the attention of the committee” said the Chairperson of the committee, Mr. Philly Mapulane.
“The committee wishes to reiterate the call to the university management which we made in November in 2019, to open channels of communication with its stakeholders, especially labour unions, to address issues that affect employees.
It is imperative for management to open up space for the free expression of views in campus, irrespective of whether they accord with those of management or not.
The reported incidents of victimisation should be done away with in a public and an academic institution such as TUT” the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee Hon. Philly Mapulane remarked.
