. The Council of the university was responsible for governance of the institution as well providing strategic leadership to the management of the university. . Prior the merger of the two institutions in 2004, Medunsa had a R42 million deficit in its financial status and was heading for bankruptcy. The expensive nature of health science programmes led to the decline in the financial sustainability of the university. The funding formula also had a huge impact in the financial sustainability of the university since it was classified as previously disadvantaged university. The number of students was very low and the university did not collect sufficient revenue for its operational activities. . The merger of the two institutions was implemented in 2005 to form what is known currently as the University of Limpopo. The merger process brought many challenges in the newly formed institution. The biggest challenge with the merger was that the assets register of the two institutions was problematic. Some of the assets of the two institutions were not accounted for. . The statute for demerger of the two institutions was announced in August 2010 by the Ministry of Higher Education and Training. The Council, university management and other university structures were not consulted regarding the demerger process. The demerger of the two institutions was not influenced by impact studies, rather it was political. The Minister had never visited the university nor had any meeting with the Council on the process of demerger. The Council had requested a guideline from the Minister for the demerger process and never received it. . The Council supported the announcement of the Minister for the demerger of the two institutions. The Council would develop a roadmap that would guide the demerger process and ensure stability during the process. A numbers of workshops would be conducted to consult various structures of the university to ensure smooth process of demerger. The asset register of the two institutions were completed and the university received an unqualified audit in 2009/10 financial year with a net surplus of R13 million. . The demerger process would require a lot of funding from the Department and the failure to allocate sufficient resources to the demerger process might cost the institution and the country for the next ten years.