Programme Director
Vice Chancellor of Wits University, Professor Adam Habib
Ministerial Appointees to our University Councils
Officials from my Department led by the DG, Gwebinkundla Qonde
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Morning
Thank you for honouring our invitation to attend this workshop aimed at empowering our ministerial appointees on university councils. A programme of this nature should not be taken lightly considering the demands associated with managing universities in a country like South Africa where we are battling with issues of transformation, confusion on the role of councils and sometimes even corruption involving council members who run universities like fiefdoms.
Briefly, it is advisable for you as council members to know what your role is so that if I ever have to read you the riot act, you should not be able to say “I didn’t know”. This initiative to train university council members is the first undertaking of its kind in this country but it has been well received within the world of higher education. For instance I have regular meetings with the Universities Council Chairs Forum of South Africa (UCCF-SA) and they have informed me that they are working closely with my Department to introduce a similar programme for the benefit of all university council members across the country. This is how important this initiative is.
Yesterday we were at Walter Sisulu University where we organised an Imbizo, a summit, which included all the institution’s stakeholders. Many of you will recall that WSU is one of the four universities that were put under administration by my office. The others are Tshwane University of Technology, Vaal University of Technology and the University of Zululand. Believe me, it is never the preference of any Minister of Higher Education and Training to put an institution of higher learning under administration. But the question is: what can one do when an institution is teetering on a slippery slope and members of council either turn a blind eye or at times are actively involved in a university furore for their own benefit? Surely, as the responsible Minister I cannot fold my arms and watch as an entire public institution, funded through taxpayers’ money, goes downhill. Ngeke nje sivumele our public institutions aphenduke what we call in township lingo kwamagida’ sbhekane - house of madness. No, never!
I had no choice in the cases of those four institutions whose wheels came off but to use my powers, vested in me as Minister of Higher Education and Training, to put them under administration. The beneficial results of putting these institutions under administration are there for all of you to see. However, one hopes that they will not slide backwards and that problems similar to the ones which characterised those that were put under administration will not occur at any other public university. And it is up to you, the members of the various councils who are supposed to be the eyes and ears of the institutions you serve, to ensure that they are properly run. As government we want to ensure that you clearly know your role and responsibilities as members of university councils: this is what has brought us here today.
You will recall that all my predecessors in the democratic dispensation, Professor Sibusiso
Bengu; Professor Kader Asmal and Ms Naledi Pandor, were also obliged to put some universities under administration or to appoint independent assessors to decide on the fate of the institutions concerned. Clearly, my action in placing four universities under administration at different times was not exceptional. So people must not go around saying that uNzimande does as he pleases. Any principled Minister of Higher Education and Training who puts a university under administration takes the decision seriously and with regret after applying his or her mind extensively to the issue: period.
We should encourage our institutions not to fall into the culture of poor governance and leadership that besets some of our institutions of higher learning. If we do not act to stop this pandemic of mismanagement and maladministration, we will be haunted for years to come by the results of our failure to act swiftly. Poor governance and leadership at our higher education institutions will be entrenched, becoming a way of life that will eventually erode the academic enterprise and spread like an uncontrollable fire to our entire higher education system. These workshops are one way of avoiding these dangers. They are a contribution towards attaining and maintaining high standards of governance at our universities and indeed to expanding the cadre of capable and willing people that can be asked to assist where there are potential governance problems within the post school sector. Therefore, my dear trainees, take this workshop very seriously.
In fact let me outline to you in bullet form what different independent assessors appointed to
investigate wrongdoing at our institutions of higher learning single out as the main contributing factors that lead to the collapse of institutional governance. These are:
- Ineffective leadership by the council chairpersons and/or deputy chairperson;
- Fraught relationships between councils and management, particularly vice-chancellors;
- Lack of capacity by council members and lack of understanding of their functions;
- Lack of understanding of fiduciary responsibility by council members;
- Inexperience of council members;
- Ineffectiveness of institutional structures such as senates and institutional forums;
- Management failures in decision-making in important areas such as human resources, finance and the Office of the Registrar;
- Senate not exercising its strategic role of being the centre of business, resulting in erosion of the basic academic culture of the institution;
- Unacceptable conduct by council members; and
- Lack of understanding of procedures to be followed in meetings.
Sadly, partly because of the legacy of apartheid and partly because of our own doing, institutions where independent assessors or administrators have had to be appointed are largely our historically disadvantaged institutions. Therefore, those of you who are appointed as council members in historically black institutions have a particularly serious obligation to play a meaningful role in providing and driving the vision of these institutions, ensuring that they run smoothly and do not get to such a state that they must be put under administration.
However, this does not mean that former white institutions are spotlessly clean. For instance, the issue of transformation at our universities remains critical. I have indicated before that the slow pace of transformation at our universities causes me sleepless nights. Now and again we hear of incidents of racism in white universities such as the University of the Free State. As though that was not enough, racism has now taken its worst form, fascism, as demonstrated recently at North-West University. This is the most appalling thing I have seen since taking over as Minister of Higher Education and Training in 2009: 20 years deep into democracy we have a section of the country’s youth giving a Nazi salute. I ask you: is it for this that we struggled for freedom?
Can this be defended in the name of institutional autonomy?
Higher Education and Training institutions are expected to have systems and structures in place to rid themselves of the scourges of racism, sexism, discrimination against people with disabilities and all other forms of discrimination which threaten to reverse the gains of liberated and democratic South Africa. The 2008 report by Professor Crain Soudien from the University of Cape Town entitled “Transformation and Social Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions”, which was commissioned by my predecessor, Minister Naledi Pandor, made recommendations for stakeholders in the higher education system.
Importantly, the Soudien Report recommended that "the Minister should consider establishing a permanent Oversight Committee to monitor the transformation of higher education".
I responded positively to the recommendations of the Soudien Report by appointing a Ministerial Oversight Committee on Transformation (TOC) in January 2013. The brief of this group of esteemed experts, led by Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, is to monitor progress on transformation in the country’s public universities. The report should be taken seriously and even expanded where it falls short. As members of different councils you must read this report so that you have a sense of what we are dealing with in these various institutions. University managements and their respective councils must take responsibility and act against those that are involved in despicable deeds such as racism and for that matter, Nazism. So those of you who are council members in former white institutions are up against a different from of animal, faced with such things as racism and victimisation, often not overt, but rather a question of undercurrents and underhand tactics. Victimisation can manifest itself even in black institutions, of course: it must be fought wherever it occurs.
It is not smooth sailing for me as Minister of Higher Education and Training in dealing with complex issues such as maladministration and racism in universities. On many occasions, when intervening in a crisis, I have been met by a barrage of media sensationalism and a bellicose response from some institutions and their councils, mischievously alleging that we are encroaching on their institutional autonomy. This may happen even when it is perfectly clear that some of them have been heading for a near-dysfunctional state. If you read White Paper 3, you will see that we are all responsible for striking a balance between institutional autonomy and accountability to the state, while implementing co-governance. This is not the responsibility of the Minister and the Department only, but also that of councils and university managements.
Indeed, the Department and I commit ourselves wholeheartedly to the notion of institutional autonomy, but such a value can never be an end in itself for a public institution, sustained through public funds, that is subject to the imperatives of a developmental state like ours.
Moreover, institutional autonomy should constantly be reviewed and defined by all role-players in higher education in relation to the changing context. It should not be cast in stone.
Apart from the governance and leadership challenges at some of our institutions, the picture of our post-school education and training is not characterised by doom and gloom. Instead there is a lot that we have achieved since the dawn of democracy. We now have more black and female students enrolled at our universities than when we started under our democracy in 1994. Overall student enrolments at universities have almost doubled since 1994. Enrolments in scarce skills programmes such as Science, Engineering and Technology, and Business and Commerce have also improved and now beginning to reflect the demographics of the country. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has grown from around R400 million in 1999, to a staggering 9,6 billion in 2014; tripling from R3.1bn in only the last five years since 2009.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges have now become institutions of choice. For example, for the 2012 academic year we set a target of 550 000 student enrolments at TVET colleges. Instead, we achieved a total of 657 690, an increase of 54% when compared to the preceding academic year. Over the 2013 Medium Term Expenditure Framework period, we allocated R17.4 billion to ensure that TVET college enrolments continue on this trajectory. A key strategy to support this expansion has been significant infrastructure investments amounting to R6.8 billion between 2007 and 2011, and a further commitment of R6 billion over the 2012 to 2014 Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
Towards closure: As council members you are torch bearers of your respective institutions and ought to familiarise yourselves with government policies especially within the post-school sector. For instance, in January we launched the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training, whose aim is to create a framework that defines DHET’s focus and priorities, enabling it to shape its strategies and plans for the future. The White Paper sets out policies to guide the DHET and the institutions for which it is responsible in order to contribute to building a developmental state with a vibrant democracy and a flourishing economy. It is intended to bring about a single, coherent, highly articulated and diverse post-school education and training system, with all sub-sectors and institutions playing their unique role. You must, as members of councils, read this White Paper on post-school education and familiarise yourselves with the direction that DHET is taking.
Let me remind you that you were appointed to the councils owing to your expertise. I call upon you to use this expertise in a meaningful way. Of course, as DHET we intervene strategically, as we are doing through this workshop, to empower you and enhance your understanding of the post-school sector. Workshops of this nature will enable you to clearly understand your roles as council members. Therefore you must not allow the institutions you serve to fail under your watch. Councils are the highest decision-making body of universities and your overall responsibility is to ensure good governance and provision of good leadership. As council members, both the academic performance and the social standing of institutions you are meant to serve rest on your shoulders.
Looking into the future, there remain challenges which require collective effort from government, university management and institutional leadership. Some of the key challenges are:
- to rejuvenate our academia;
- to improve management and governance capacity;
- to transform the Higher Education system to be instrumental in guiding and contributing to the democratic era and human development;
- to constantly develop the quality of our programme offerings and maintain high standards where they currently exist; and
- to develop articulation, horizontally, with other higher education institutions and, vertically, with other post-school education institutions.
Ake nis’khokhele ke ladies and gentlemen - lead us from the front as university councils. Do not act like pressure groups only surfacing when there is trouble on campus.
Once more, thank you for agreeing to participate in this important workshop. Most importantly, thank you for accepting the challenge of making positive contributions to our institutions. We appreciate your support and we also value your contributions to your respective councils. Time does not allow us to focus on all the positive contributions you are making, but rest assured that they do not go unnoticed; hence we are also able to identify prevailing cracks.
Professor Adam Habib, thank you for hosting us in this beautiful campus and we are looking forward to an interactive and lively workshop. I would like to thank members of my department, through you Director General, Mr. Qonde, particularly the University Branch under Dr. Di Parker for bringing us together under one roof.
Thank you.
