Amid ongoing tension at the University of Fort Hare, Parliament’s higher education watchdog has called on Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela to appoint an Independent Assessor to address governance issues.

Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training chairperson Tebogo Letsie addressed issues at the universities of Fort Hare and Free State during a media briefing on Monday by Parliament’s Social Services Cluster oversight committees.

The briefing came after several protests at both higher education institutions.

Students at the University of Fort Hare burned tyres, organised protests, and disrupted classes after demanding the immediate resignation of vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu.

They accused him of corruption and overstaying his tenure after the alleged unlawful extension of his term past retirement age.

They also had frustrations over student housing conditions and deficiencies in safety and security.

The University of Free State (UFS) also experienced violent protests that saw students having to evacuate the premises.

The violent outbursts were linked to changes within the UFS financial support system.

Letsie said that they were confronted with a sad reality at the University of Fort Hare, as it lost invaluable infrastructure (buildings, ICT, and equipment) critical to teaching, learning, and research, simply because stakeholders could not come together to engage.

“We are deeply concerned that it required such extensive damage to university property for the university stakeholders to get the attention of the Council and Management and to finally acknowledge and respond to student grievances. This outcome reflects a troubling pattern of neglect and a failure to engage proactively with the student body and other stakeholders,” he said.

He added that the estimated cost of the damage at the university is between R250 million and R500 million. He said that had the university management consulted students on how to move forward while a process to amend the SRC constitution was underway, some of the events of the past weeks could have been averted.

The committee also expressed concern over:

• Governance Transparency: The extension of the Vice Chancellor’s term was carried out without consultation with the Institutional Forum (IF), undermining the principles of participatory governance and stakeholder engagement.
• Student Housing Conditions: The state of student residences is alarming. Numerous facilities fail to meet the Department of Higher Education and Training’s Minimum Norms and Standards for Student Housing. Reports indicate that some residences have been without hot water for several years due to neglected, dysfunctional geysers. There are also buildings where the government has spent millions of rands that are not in good condition, as the structures are disintegrating.
• Safety and Security Deficiencies: The security infrastructure is severely compromised. Biometric access control systems are non-functional, and security personnel are not equipped with the tools of their trade to perform their duties effectively. This poses a significant risk to students’ and staff’s safety.

“The university had reported that there was a death of a student, and we were told she hanged herself… security should have been able to see something was happening and prevent it,” Letsie said.

The committee also said it was not an easy decision to recommend that the minister appoint an Independent Assessor to the University of Fort Hare.

“We engaged with them for close to 14 hours and could tell the Council had its own issues. You asked them a simple question, and they could not answer us, so we concluded that the Minister of Higher Education should invoke Sections 43 and 44 of the Higher Education Act to appoint an independent assessor to assess the fitness to hold office of the management of Fort Hare.

“We will monitor the implementation of the recovery plan that the university is committed to developing and urge the University Council and management to put measures in place to rebuild stakeholder trust,” Letsie said.

Regarding the University of the Free State, Letsie said that the institution decided to discontinue provisional registration for the 2026 academic year, meaning that students with outstanding debt will not be able to register, as they will not have the opportunity to secure registration while still seeking funds to pay the debt.

“What is concerning is that NSFAS-funded students are supposed to be funded for the full cost of study.

“However, because institutions charge accommodation fees above the NSFAS cap, students end up owing the institution. This plan to financially exclude students who were forced to incur debt because of high accommodation fees should be looked into.

“This phenomenon, where university-owned residences charge more than the NSFAS cap, should be investigated across the board because if you are doing that, it means you are tactically excluding poor students who are funded by NSFAS and others,” Letsie said.

He said the university’s handling of the protest was concerning, as students were assaulted by private security and police for protesting peacefully, which escalated the peaceful protests to violence, resulting in damage to university buildings.

“We are concerned about the eviction of students from the campus, especially those who stay far from home. While we understand that this is the last resort to protect property and lives, it also puts students’ safety at risk, especially females who are already vulnerable.

“It doesn’t make sense to us that a university would issue a notice on Sunday night stating that students have 24 hours to vacate and go home. It shows that our universities do not understand the issues.”

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za

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