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Union urges department to address university worker victimisation, maladministration

Union urges department to address university worker victimisation, maladministration
The National Tertiary Education Union's branch chairperson and Free State's Central University of Technology faculty administrator Titus Williams. (Photo: Siyabonga Goni)
Siyabonga Goni
By Siyabonga Goni
3 Apr 2025
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The National Tertiary Education Union says workers are being victimised for speaking out against bloated executive management structures, while high salary packages affect financial sustainability at universities.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) says many workers at universities face victimisation after speaking out against maladministration.

Addressing the parliamentary committee on higher education and training on Wednesday, 2 April 2025, NTEU General Secretary Grant Abbott, who led the presentation with NTEU branch chairperson Titus Williams, said there had been many instances at the University of Fort Hare of staff not speaking up for fear of being dismissed.

grant abbott General Secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union Grant Abbott. (Photo: Siyabonga Goni)



“The issue of members not speaking up is because of fear of victimisation and their livelihoods being at risk. Management just uses disciplinary committee processes to get rid of people who speak out against them. They don’t enable an atmosphere of free and rigorous engagement on campus,” said Abbott.

Abbott told the committee and Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) officials who were present that there were also issues around unfair salary packages.

“I have Fort Hare documents that I can show that a manager in the VC’s (vice-chancellor’s office) got a very nice increase and was recently arrested… so there is no adherence, there are policies, but the policies just are not given effect,” said Abbott. 

Daily Maverick has reported that 15 people were arrested for running an alleged criminal enterprise aiming to defraud the University of Fort Hare.

The 15 included Isaac Plaatjies and his former assistant Ansa Smith, former human resources director Paul Tladi, Mbulelo Gingcana and Louis Mawila (both managers at Fort Hare in supply chain management and finance respectively), Nozuko Mabombo (Buhlungu’s former office manager), Wayne Gosain van der Haar (of the university’s IT department) and Thamsanqa Sonjica (of the university’s protection services).

Read more: Fort Hare VC says alleged criminal syndicate masterminds were connected before arriving at university

Abbott asked the department how far the process had progressed in ensuring that the University of Fort Hare had a council that determined the university’s mission, objectives and policies, ensuring a conducive environment for achieving goals and maintaining financial stability, after the previous council’s term ended in November 2024.

Director for student support and sector engagement at the DHET, Fundiswa Sotenjwa, who had met university officials, responded that the establishment of a council was now under way. 

Committee chairperson Walter Letsie asked the department why it had taken so long.

“They (University of Fort Hare) did not elaborate much on the delays, other than dwelling on the ministerial appointments, which they said [were among] the delays that they could not constitute a council,” Sotenjwa responded.

titus williams National Tertiary Education Union branch chairperson and the Free State‘s Central University of Technology faculty administrator Titus Williams. (Photo: Siyabonga Goni)



On the issue of bloated executive management structures, the NTEU’s Williams referred to the Central University of Technology (CUT) in the Free State: “At CUT, the ratio between part-time and support staff is abnormal. For instance, [there] are two executive director positions, one in the VC’s office and one for resources and operations. So it shows that more bodies are put together as part of the executive structure and it’s also with huge salaries”

Read more: Internal ructions and disruptions at SA universities skyrocket with government pulled into fray

Labour matters


Employee Relations (ER) – an institution’s structure and how it manages the rapport between leadership and staff – are a problem, according to the NTEU.

“Whenever there is an ER office at an institution, it’s the wing of management that is there to get rid of troublesome people, and they intend to keep a union off processes. They appeal cases just to simply deal with a process and they don’t worry about costs because the government funds them, whereas the employee and unions don’t have that benefit,” said Abbott.

The union called on the department to resolve the issues workers and universities faced. The department could not respond immediately to the challenges raised and asked for a month to respond. 

Letsie instructed the department to provide an action plan by May. DM

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