The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, has slapped Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande with a contempt of court order after the minister was found to have breached a recent court order interdicting him from placing Unisa under administration.
On Wednesday, the high court declared that the minister’s decision to place Unisa under administration is in breach of a court and therefore in contempt of court and was ordered to withdraw the notice.
The High Court in Pretoria made the order on Wednesday after the university filed an urgent application.
Nzimande had named Ihron Rensburg, former vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Johannesburg, as administrator responsible for all university management for 24 months.
The decision followed recommendations of an independent assessor following a damning report which flagged serious incidents of maladministration and other challenges affecting the institution.
Last month, the Unisa Council and VC Professor Puleng LenkaBula applied for a court interdict against the minister’s decision, but at the weekend, the minister went ahead and appointed an administrator to oversee the affairs of the institution for a period of 24 moths.
According to the judgement, the minister’s decision to publish in the government gazette on October 27 is in breach of a court order granted on October 24.
“It is declared that the minister’s decision published in Government Gazette number 49582 Vol. 700, dated 27 October 2023 is in breach of the order granted on 24 August 2023 by honourable Adams J, and unlawful.
“The minister must immediately retract the Government Gazette number 49582 Vol. 700, dated 27 October 2023. The costs are to be costs in the urgent application,” the judgement read.
In a statement following the ruling, Unisa said it welcomed the decision of the court requesting the minister to retract his declaration to appoint an administrator.
“The University of South Africa (Unisa) welcomes the ruling of the Pretoria High Court today (Wednesday, 01 November 2023) which found that the decision of the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation to appoint an Administrator for the university is in breach of previous court orders and unlawful.”
Unisa said it was not fighting the minister, but merely exercising its rights for the matters to be resolved in a decent manner.
“The university believes that this court decision is sound and correct, given that the matter pertaining to the review of the Independent Assessor Report, which largely formed the basis of the Minister’s decision, is still before the court and yet to be concluded.
“Management also re-emphasises the point that it is not fighting the minister but merely exercising its responsibility towards the institution, its stakeholders and the public at large by preventing an unnecessary disruption of the execution of its mandate,” Unisa said.
Meanwhile, the South African Workers Union (SAWU) has slammed the minister for his decision to appoint an administrator to look into the affairs of the university.
General Secretary of SAWU, Dave Lebusa, said LenkaBula is being victimised in spite of the successes of the institution since taking over, following improvements in the institution’s finances.
“We wish to register our disapproval of the decision made by the minister because we are of the view that the university has made numerous accomplishments under the leadership of the current VC... The university had R6 billion reserves and R2 billion savings, during Prof LenkaBula’s tenure, the university raised its investment to R15,8 billion. Unisa reserves therefore have grown from R6 billion to R15.8 billion,” Lebusa stated.
Spokesperson for Nzimande, Ishmael Mnisi, indicated that the minister will study the judgement and make his decision after that.
“The Minister of Higher Education Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande notes the order granted by the Acting Judge AJ Le Grange of the High Court of South Africa. This matter relates to minister Nzimande’s decision to publish a government gazette on the appointment of an administrator for the University of South Africa. Minister Nzimande will study the ruling by the court and decide on the next move,” Mnisi said.
The Star