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University of Fort Hare’s main campus in the Eastern Cape.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education says it will recommend that Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela place the University of Fort Hare (UFH) in Dikeni, Eastern Cape, under administration.
The committee says the move would help restore stability and improve relations between the university’s management and its students.
The Committee visited the institution following students’ protests, which saw seven buildings being torched.
Committee Chairperson Tebogo Letsie says the incident could have been avoided had the university managed to engage with the students. He says an Administrator will assist in uncovering all the issues that require investigation at the university.
Letsie says, “That is why members of the committee would have said the only thing that is for us to ask the minister to invoke section 43 and 44 of the Higher Education Act by putting an independent assessor to investigate all of the things we are talking about and hopefully get to a decision that will bring in stability through an administrator.”
RECOVERY PLAN
The university is in the process of rolling out a Recovery Plan to ensure that the academic calendar doesn’t go to waste.
UFH Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sakhela Buhlungu says, “We still have online teaching and blended teaching next week for the week that we have lost, we will do two weeks and then have the study week, then exams, that’s the plan.”
Despite the committee’s efforts to bring calm to the situation, the students are still demanding the resignation of the VC.
Student leader Asonele Magwaxaza says, “We have lost confidence as students. We are clear that the VC must go regardless of the defences by the council. There are plenty of reasons that have been stated, including those from other stakeholders who are involved in the institution.”
The institution also says that the SRC elections will be held later in the year.
The Committee will soon table to parliament about the state of affairs of the university.
VIDEO | UFH students forced to vacate university premises:
