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UCT ructions — Vice-chancellor cuts short five-month sabbatical amid governance turmoil

UCT ructions — Vice-chancellor cuts short five-month sabbatical amid governance turmoil
Rebecca Davis
By Rebecca Davis
4 Oct 2022
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Following an explosive meeting of the UCT Senate last week and the publication of a Daily Maverick investigation into an alleged governance crisis at UCT, Mamokgethi Phakeng has returned from sabbatical after just a month.

UCT vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng has cut short an extended leave period to return to “full-time leadership” of the university as of 5 October, it was announced on Tuesday.

A statement published by UCT Council Chair Babalwa Ngonyama read:

“The reason for the VC’s return from her well-deserved sabbatical is that, as Chair of Council, I am deeply concerned by any matters that impact negatively on the university’s reputation and academic credibility. I remain firmly committed to resolving these issues in the spirit of unity, dialogue and mutual understanding. In the interim, I believe it to be appropriate for the VC to resume her full-time leadership position.”

Phakeng had announced to the university in August that she was embarking on a five-month sabbatical from 1 September 2022 to 2 February 2023. She described the leave period as motivated by a “need to take time out to refresh, reflect and recharge” following consistent “crisis and a lot of stress to deal with”.

Her abrupt return to work follows an explosive meeting of the university Senate last Friday at which it was alleged that Council Chair Ngonyama may have deliberately misled the institution’s governing bodies about the circumstances around the departure of a senior administrator.

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Both Ngonyama and Phakeng had informed the Senate that UCT’s highly respected former vice-chancellor for teaching and learning, Lis Lange, had voluntarily opted not to renew her contract and leave her post with immediate effect in May 2022 for “personal reasons”.

In a letter read to the Senate on Friday 30 September, however, Lange said that despite signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), she felt compelled to break her silence to clarify that she had been effectively forced from her post by Ngonyama in accordance with Phakeng’s wishes. Lange wrote that she was prepared to swear to this version of events under oath.



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Daily Maverick has since published an investigation detailing claims of bullying, intimidation and cover-ups from Phakeng and Ngonyama. It has been alleged by multiple current and former UCT staff members that Phakeng’s hostile leadership style has led to an exodus of senior administrators – and that Ngonyama’s apparent desire to protect the VC from accountability may have brought the university to the brink of a governance crisis.

A special UCT Council meeting, which Phakeng will attend, is now scheduled for Thursday.

Meanwhile, in a letter sent to Senate by Ngonyama after last Friday’s meeting, seen by Daily Maverick, the Chair has complained that her explanation of Lange’s departure should have remained “confidential to Senate and its members”, rather than being shared with non-Senate members like Lange.

The events of the last Senate meeting, the Chair asserts, amount to “an irregularity in the conduct of Senate proceedings and an attack on the integrity of the office of Chair of Council”.

Ngonyama’s letter does not explain the contradictions between Lange’s version of events around her departure from office and the Chair’s own.

She writes that while she understands that “this has led to a lot of anger, animosity and frustration amongst Senate members”, she wishes to “reassure you, however, that there is a different version to what has been tabled to date, which version I am sure, shall be fully ventilated in due course in the appropriate forum”.

Ngonyama concluded her letter with an exhortation to “restore the dignity of Senate as an apex academic body of the university”. DM

Disclosure: In the interests of transparency, Daily Maverick here lists staff members and paid contributors with links to UCT. None of the people listed below was quoted in, or used as sources for, this story:

  • Maverick Citizen Editor Mark Heywood is an adjunct professor at UCT’s Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance.

  • Maverick Citizen Managing Editor Anso Thom’s life partner Gerda Kruger is Executive Director at the UCT Department of Communication and Marketing.

  • Daily Maverick paid contributor Pierre de Vos is the Claude Leon Foundation Chair in Constitutional Governance at UCT.

  • Daily Maverick day editor Janet Heard’s sister Vicki Heard is the operations manager for the Centre for Higher Education Development at UCT.

  • Daily Maverick general manager: Reader revenue & books Fran Beighton’s father-in-law is Emeritus Professor of Human Genetics Peter Beighton.

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