Higher education minister Blade Nzimande has come out defending himself and his department against accusations of lack of support in dealing with crime and corruption at the University of Fort Hare.
After the assassination attempt on UFH vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu, he bemoaned lack of support from government in his efforts to fight corruption in the university.
Buhlungu’s bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, died in a hail of bullets outside the vice-chancellor’s house on Friday night.
So broken is the relationship between Buhlungu and Nzimande that the vice-chancellor yesterday would not meet with the minister and instead met with police minister Bheki Cele and state security deputy minister Zizi Kodwa.
An insider familiar with yesterday’s meetings said Buhlungu was seething and “doesn't want to meet with the minister,” said the insider.
Nzimande's spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said Nzimande and Buhlungu “had a meet and greet meeting”.
Nzimande said he is prepared to work with Buhlungu.
“I am trained in psychology by background, and to be in Prof. Buhlungu’s shoes right now is not an easy thing at all. He is angry and concerned about his life and that is normal with any human being.
“I am not going to judge him about how he responds. My task is to work with him and Fort Hare and help him to settle down. If there is something that he would have said that I think is incorrect, it is not for me to have a tit for tat,’’ said Nzimande.
Yesterday, the university released a statement stating that Buhlungu would not meet Nzimande citing security concerns and that the institution was still in mourning.
Buhlungu has spoken out following the killing of Vesele, calling on the president to intervene in the escalating corruption and violence at UFH.
Vesele's killing was the latest attack following several other incidents at the university. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been investigating corruption, the suspicious awarding of honours degrees and mismanagement of funds at the institution. Buhlungu told Sowetan's sister publication Sunday Times at the weekend that the SIU was “going to nab big people”.
“That’s why they want to kill this thing off and the only way to kill it off is to kill me.”
In May last year University fleet manager Petrus Roets was killed in a suspected hit.
Nzimande was at pains yesterday to explain what he and his department have done to support the university saying he initiated the process of bringing the SIU into investigating corruption in the university.
“It is incorrect to say that we have done nothing about this...The SIU was appointed by the president to investigate crime. The administrator [of UFH in 2017] recommended to me that the SIU should be brought in. I went to the justice minister to recommend that to the president. We are part of the appointment of the SIU,’’ said Nzimande.
“That we have done nothing after the killing of Mr Roets is completely untrue. When Mr Roets was assassinated, we made sure that the police take up the matter.
That was the initiative from our own department, and we also sent a staff member to represent us in the memorial service of Mr Roets.’’
He also said the department gave financial support to UFH.
“We have given a lot of attention to Fort Hare. No one should claim that we have not done a lot to work with this university. The university received extensive funding by the department...”
Nzimande said his department will establish a national task team to deal with the safety and security at all higher education institutions.
Cele said police are still on the hunt for the culprits and that Buhlungu and Vesele's family expressed satisfaction in the manner in which police are handling the case.
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