Africa-Press – South-Africa. The University of Cape Town (UCT) council has slammed “false, untruthful and malicious” claims after questions arose regarding the employment of interim vice-chancellor Professor Daya Reddy – who happens to be the brother-in-law of the institution’s registrar Royston Pillay.
UCT was hitting back at a City Press report after it was alleged that the council had flouted governance processes in forcefully approving a R4 million payment for Pillay after he resigned in December, ostensibly owing to strained relations with the former vice-chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng.
The newspaper reported that Pillay and Reddy were related and the council had allegedly chosen to ignore the conflict of interest when Reddy was appointed in March this year.
“It must be noted that Emeritus Professor Reddy was identified for consideration as vice-chancellor (interim) by the former chair of council, and that in considering his appointment, his familial relationship to the registrar was made completely transparent and appropriate arrangements made for dealing with areas which might give rise to potential conflicts of interest,” said UCT’s deputy chair of council Malcolm Campbell.
Reddy was appointed amid a public fallout between the council and Phakeng.
Campbell said he was concerned about the representation of what had transpired at the level of the UCT council over recent months as a “factional battle which led to the ‘orchestrated’ exit” of the former vice-chancellor.
“Professor Reddy’s appointment was overwhelmingly supported and approved at council, following the support by some 87% of the senate,” he said.
Pillay, Campbell continued, had always “acted with integrity, professionalism and impartiality and assiduously advised council in ensuring the observation of good governance in the exercise of its duties”.
“He is to be commended for his steadfast and consistent approach during a tumultuous period in which he has had to endure severe stress and has since been subjected to unsubstantiated personal public attacks from elements who buy into the ‘orchestration’ narrative,” Campbell said.
City Press reported that after tendering his resignation, Pillay had retracted, with council thereafter passing a motion offering him 18 months remuneration.
Campbell said that there had been no payout to the registrar yet.
“This would only occur upon the early voluntary termination of his contract, and forms part of approved policies and practices of UCT with respect to incentivised early retirement (IER) and the executive transformation incentive (ETI).
According to Campbell the “persistence of leaks of sensitive and confidential council information demands investigation and urgent action”.
“And it appears that we are getting closer to identifying the source of these leaks,” he said.
An independent probe led by retired Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Lex Mpati was set up following a council meeting in October.
The panel was constituted last year following allegations that former council chairperson Babalwa Ngonyama had supplied false reasons to the UCT senate for the early departure of Professor Lis Lange, the deputy vice-chancellor for learning and teaching.
According to Ngonyama, Lange chose to leave of her own accord for personal reasons.
However, Lange denied this, saying Ngonyama had effectively pushed her out and told her Phakeng didn’t want her to continue as her second in command.
Ngonyama resigned from her position last month.
Campbell added that in approving and supporting the appointment of Reddy, the council had endeavoured to ensure that there was stability at a senior leadership level and that UCT’s reputation was restored following the upheavals of the preceding months.
“This, we have noted, has been the case over the past few months: the university is now on a sounder footing and will emerge more strongly despite this latest attempt to bring about instability at UCT,” he said.
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