Hon Speaker, the Walter Sisulu University is in the intensive care unit, ICU. The cash-strapped university staff and lecturers have downed tools and lectures have ground to a halt over the nonpayment of salaries. Both the vice chancellor, Prof Marcus Malusi Balintulo, and the council chairperson, Dr Somadoda Fikeni, have admitted that the institution is facing a serious financial crisis.
These developments have the potential to seriously compromise the academic integrity and reputation of the university and the field of higher education in South Africa as a whole. They also point to a possible serious problem in the governance and financial management of the university, which is undermining the effective functioning of the institution.
While the IFP welcomes the announcement that Minister Blade Nzimande has ordered a probe into the crisis at the university, the department is reportedly saying that they will and are still in the process of identifying a suitable person to conduct an audit. We want to argue that this is not good enough. The IFP urges the Department of Higher Education and Training to expedite the process and the probe so that challenges can be identified and the way forward agreed upon and, if necessary, place the institution under administration, and this must be treated as a matter of urgency.