“We followed the necessary legal processes” – Unisa on dismissal of members

Unisa has said it followed all the necessary legal and policy prescripts leading to the suspension of five National Health, Education and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) affiliated branch office bearers recently.

Unisa spokesperson Edgar Rathelele said the trade union had a legal right to challenge the validity of the suspensions in a court of law or the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) “if it so wishes”.

This follows an incident in which its members allegedly invaded a hall during a graduation ceremony.

A pepper spray canister was discharged during the melee, causing “considerable panic and discomfort to students, guests and staff” and “left many feeling unsafe on the university’s premises”, according to Rathelele.

He said all the venues in the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela building, including the graduation venue, the ZK Matthews Great Hall and surrounding halls, were booked and reserved for graduation business since February 2022.

“The university has an electronic booking system for venues, and the system can’t do a double-booking.

“Whilst Nehawu was granted permission to hold a mass meeting on the same day, the permission did not automatically translate into access to the graduation venue, which was already booked.

“Nehawu was informed in writing and agreed to hold their meeting at the Miriam Makeba Hall, only for them to forcefully access the ZK Matthews Great Hall, thereby disrupting the graduations scheduled to take place at the same time,” said Rathelele.

He said since March 15, several graduation ceremonies were disrupted leading to five Nehawu office bearers being placed on precautionary suspension.

“The university went out of its way to engage the Nehawu Unisa branch to amicably resolve the problem arising out of the disruption of the graduation ceremony by Nehawu members, which were outrightly rejected by Nehawu.”

Rathelele further responded to allegations of institution members misusing university resources such as vehicles.

“The principal and vice-chancellor are entitled to an official university vehicle as part of her employment conditions. The procurement of the official university vehicle is not their responsibility.”

Rathelele said the facilities management portfolio was responsible for purchasing the vehicle.

He said the principal and vice-chancellor had not taken part in procurement processes for refurbishing the official university residence, including the purchase of any movable assets.

“The allegations of expensive and imported movable assets such as the bedroom suite and fridge are simply fabrications.

“Any suggestion to the contrary is pure innuendo intended to tarnish Unisa’s image. The university conducted an audit investigation into this matter. It has since placed a senior official who led this project on precautionary leave, pending a disciplinary hearing,” Rathelele said.

He said the audit investigation had cleared the principal and vice-chancellor of any wrongdoing.

Allegations that the vice-chancellor used university resources to pay for her PA’s trip to Dubai were also untrue.

“The principal and vice-chancellor travelled to Dubai with the Unisa council’s deputy chairperson and the research, postgraduate studies, innovation and commercialisation vice-principal to represent the university at the 2022 ZAIRI international awards.

“Unisa won an award in the excellence for research impact category. The vice-chancellor’s PA was not part of the travel delegation,” Rathelele said.

Listen to Ntsako Nombelani, Nehawu’s national organiser for higher education, addressing challenges at Unisa:

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