Cape Town - In what appeared to be a response to her detractors and renewed attacks on her, UCT Vice-Chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng says the institution’s sustainable future can never happen without interdependent transformation and excellence.
“UCT is a public institution. It belongs to all of us and we must make sure that good ethical leadership prevails. #HandsoffPhakeng,” Phakeng said in a social media post on Sunday, thanking those who continued to rally behind her.
“I have received messages of support from a diversity of people. Many are concerned about my well-being. Please know that I am stronger than I was during the 2017 & 2020 media attacks when suicide was a real possibility. I’ve been on treatment since. Am much stronger now,” she said.
Tensions continue to simmer at UCT, with claims that power, race, and governance issues were allegedly dividing top academics and leaders.
The Black Academic Caucus (BAC) noted the toxic environments in which Black leaders found themselves at higher academic institutions, saying the Senate was a particularly worrying case in point.
“Most of its members are white and dissenting voices are mainly male. This feeds into a particular version of toxicity, a misogynistic white masculine version one that is especially impatient with Black leaders, particularly Black females,” UCTs BAC caucus said.
“These kinds of tensions and toxicities are reflective of the need to pay more attention to who holds what kind of institutional power at UCT so that historically entrenched privileges, exclusions, traumas, and tensions along race and gender are not reproduced.
“(There is) institutional, structural, and systemic racism and patriarchy at UCT, all of which continue to be typified and reinforced via untransformed senior governance structures,” the caucus said.
It was responding to an alleged ongoing attack on and attempt to remove Phakeng.
Phakeng and UCT Council chair Babalwa Ngonyama were accused during a controversial Senate meeting on September 30 of having misled the Council concerning the departure of deputy vice-chancellor Lis Lange after her letter was read.
The Senate has been accused of flouting its governance procedures by reading Lange’s letter, while protocol decreed it should have been submitted seven days earlier.
The letter apparently said Lange was “forced from her post” at the behest of Ngonyama and Phakeng.
This saw Phakeng cutting short her five-month sabbatical and returning to her office with immediate effect on Wednesday.
A special meeting was then held on Thursday, and in attempts to find a way forward, two motions were tabled.
It was either an independent inquiry headed by a retired judge investigates the allegations against Phakeng and Ngonyama, or a sub-committee be set up to probe the Senate meeting irregularities.
Deputy Council chair Pheladi Gwangwa voted in favour of the subcommittee idea.
In a statement, Ngonyama said: “One potential outcome of an internal investigation could also be a recommendation to undertake an external investigation.
However, an internal investigation process should have credibility and stakeholder buy-in. To be elected as Chair of Council is an honour and a privilege, which comes with great responsibility, one that I do not take lightly. In light of this, as Chair of Council, I have decided to call for an independent investigation, led by a retired judge, that also takes into account the objectives of the internal investigation,” she said.
The BAC said it supported an investigation into issues affecting governance at the university.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has requested Council to give the department a report after hearing about the fall-out between council and Senate through the media.
UCT Chancellor Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe said the university was committed to global best practices relating to governance, transparency, ethics and accountability.
“Within the context of my titular and ceremonial responsibilities as Chancellor, I’ve been engaging with various internal and external stakeholders to ensure that the respect and credibility that UCT enjoys globally, as an academic institution that upholds the highest standards of governance, transparency, ethics and accountability, is maintained and enhanced.
I will continue to engage with the leadership and other internal and external stakeholders of the University in relation to the current governance challenges at the university,” said Moloi-Motsepe.
Cape Times