The Pretoria High Court has ordered the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, to leave Unisa alone following his intention to place it under new management.

The order has raised acceptance from the Unisa council, which expressed that the minister’s move was premature.

Nzimande was interdicted from placing Unisa under administration on October 6, hours after he had announced his intention to do so.

Unisa had applied to the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, after Nzimande had served a notice to place it under administration.

Nzimande’s intention to place Unisa under administration follows the reports of independent assessor Prof Themba Mosia and the Ministerial Task Team (MTT) on Unisa, chaired by Dr Vincent Maphai.

Following the concerns highlighted by the Independent Assessor, Professor Themba Mosia, and the findings of the Ministerial Task Team led by Dr Vincent Maphai, I served a notice of my intention to place the University of South Africa (UNISA) under Administration. My final… pic.twitter.com/7YmWyVYgMS

— Minister Blade Nzimande (@DrBladeNzimande) October 5, 2023

Judge Harshila Kooverjie ordered that Nzimande withdraw his intention after the high court on August 24 prevented him from implementing recommendations of the Mosia report until matters of the report were settled.

“It is declared that the minister’s notice of intention to act, dated October 4, is in breach of the order of the above court granted by Justice Adams on August 24.”

Nzimande was ordered to immediately cease taking any steps to publish and implement the notice or to take any steps of whatever nature to implement it.

He was also ordered to pay the costs of the applicant on an attorney and client scale.

Lecturer in the department of jurisprudence Mametlwe Sebei said Unisa management was correct to interdict the minister.

Sebei said the court accurately ordered that the minister’s actions amounted to a breach as explanations for the appointment of an independent administrator, Prof Themba Mosia, were needed.

He said until this was sorted, the administrator’s findings in his assessment were also still to be determined in the two judicial review applications.

“The appointment of Mosia remains irregular at many levels, and his findings are highly flawed. They cannot be the last word on the state of the university.

“His conflict of interest and the dishonest manner in which he abused his status clearly to advance an agenda of the faction aligned with the corrupt interests in the university compromised what otherwise would have been a very constructive process to take the university forward.”

He said if the minister was sincerely interested in dealing with the problems at Unisa, he needed to assist the process of convening the university stakeholders – workers, academics, and students – among others to reflect on the state of the university.

The council welcomed the high court order.

“On August 24, the same court ordered ‘that pending the finalisation of the urgent application herein and the urgent application, the first respondent undertakes not to take any decision according to the report into the affairs of Unisa’.

“Unisa has always maintained that the report is fundamentally flawed, and its recommendations totally misplaced. For that reason, the university has taken it on legal review to be set aside.”

It said until the university was properly heard in a court of law, Unisa could not be placed under administration under the report at hand.

“The university believes that it is premature for the minister to implement the recommendations of the assessor. Unisa also believes that the institution of an administration is not necessary and may only serve to harm the university.”

Waiting for hearing date

Nzimande has noted the ruling and will abide by it.

He said he was aware that the reasons provided by the court were particularly on the breach of Judge Justice Adams’ order of August.

“I remain concerned that though the order by Justice Adams has noted the urgency of this matter, the court has not demonstrated any sense of urgency in finalising this matter.

“It is now more than a month since that transpired and the matter has not yet been heard by the court, however, it can hear an urgent application by Unisa. To me, this resembles an inconsistency in the application of the principle of urgency or prioritisation of issues by the court.”

Nzimande said he was concerned about how the court system was being used.

He said he would await the date for the hearing of an urgent interim interdict application.

“The minister’s legal team has again reminded the Deputy Judge President, Judge Ledwaba, for an expedited special allocation of the aforesaid hearing.”