Africa-Press – South-Africa. The University of South Africa (Unisa) has confirmed its registrar, Professor Steward Mothata, has been placed on precautionary suspension over allegations of serious breaches of policy and misconduct.
In a statement on Tuesday, Unisa said the issues leading to the suspension had been outlined to Mothata in a confidential letter shared only with him.
“Please note that this is a matter between Professor Mothata and the university, and the standing practice in the university is not to discuss such matters in the public domain, including through the media. There are existing internal platforms for addressing such matters, which all employees are fully conversant with,” it said.
The institution added that it was necessary for the university to put Mothata on precautionary suspension “owing to his conduct which is in breach of Unisa’s university code of ethics and conduct and the employee disciplinary code”.
It said:
The institution added that it had heard speculation that the council was no longer quorate and, as such, couldn’t hold meetings.
“The university has obtained a legal opinion that states that council does quorate and should therefore continue with its business. The university also reassures its community and other stakeholders that the business of the university is continuing as usual, i.e., teaching and learning, research and innovation and engaged scholarship,” it said.
According to a letter signed by vice-chancellor (VC) Puleng LenkaBula, Mothata was told that he had breached policies and procedures in serious allegations of misconduct pertaining to breach of confidentiality, gross abuse of office, gross dishonesty, gross insubordination and giving and making false or damaging statements in the execution of his duties.
LenkaBula’s letter stated:
Mothata has been suspended for 90 days and will still receive a salary and benefits. However, he has been prohibited from entering Unisa’s premises and is not required to attend to his duties.
The suspension comes amid a scathing report by independent assessor Professor Themba Mosia into Unisa’s affairs, which recommended that the institution be placed under administration, and that the council and management be relieved of their duties.
Mosia’s wide-ranging probe was scathing of the university’s leadership and the council.
Mosia found that the registrar’s portfolio was “seriously dysfunctional” due, in part, to “poor consequence management”, outdated policies, a failure to protect student data, and a failure to safeguard certificates, thus compromising the integrity of Unisa qualifications.
The assessor dedicated one section of his report to the relationship between the vice-chancellor and the registrar.
Mosia said LenkaBula told him their relationship was strained, blaming it on Mothata’s “passive aggressive approach”.
Mothata, meanwhile, told the assessor that while his relationship with LenkaBula started well it changed when the vice-chancellor allegedly went over his head, making demands of the directors leading the upgrade of the official residence for the vice-chancellor.
Mosia was scathing of LenkaBula’s conduct on a range of issues, including her leadership performance and her involvement in the multimillion-rand upgrades to Unisa’s official vice-chancellor residence, Cloghereen.
His report details the excessive and alleged wasteful expenditure of the upgrades on the house, with R1 million alone being spent on renovations to the kitchen and minor maintenance.
He said staff who had been given instructions “confirmed that the VC wanted certain brand (Bosch) appliances” and specific curtains.
Mosia’s report reads:
Soon after the report was made public two council members – Belinda Mapongwana and Sedzani Mudau – resigned from the body.
Weeks after the report’s release, Unisa’s council said it was “far from collapsing or being a university in chaos”.
However, the council conceded that the university had serious governance and operational challenges.
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