Three former University of Cape Town's convocation presidents have appealed to the institution's leadership to avoid the “temptation of defensiveness and sweeping challenges under rugs at the cost of finding solutions”.
The trio — Barney Pityana, Lorna Houston and Eddy Maloka — met virtually on Sunday in their individual capacity as UCT alumni to discuss allegations of poor governance levelled against the university's leadership.
They said their meeting was “out of concern and due to their commitment to the institution as their alma mater”. They called for the university's leadership to release a commissioned report by retired justice of the Constitutional Court Johan Froneman, with Kgomotso Moroka SC, on governance at UCT.
Their calls come amid allegations of bad governance against UCT vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng and council chairperson Babalwa Ngonyama.
They pointed out that they were relying almost exclusively on the media reports, and they were no longer part of any statutory body on campus. They said they did not want to be seen to be jumping on a populist bandwagon.
They said their meeting took note of the media reports that council chair Ngonyama has heeded calls for an independent investigation led by a retired judge after the “publication of a dissenting statement by 13 members of the council on Friday, distancing themselves from an 'irregular and flawed' process at a special meeting where a motion into an independent probe by a retired judge was blocked”.
“Our point of entry is and should be the protection of brand UCT and its reputation, as well as issues of good governance and academic freedom on campus,” the trio said. “We believe in a UCT that has the capacity to face itself — it has done so in recent years with the institutional reconciliation and transformation commission, albeit with difficulty.
“The women-led executive at UCT has been an inspiration to many young women in our country. It is very disconcerting to hear that some people have resigned and signed non-disclosure agreements,” they said.
The three men said they were committing themselves to offering their support to find collective solutions and help build the university for the future.
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