Weekender
Ngobeni's fight with UCT Sue Blaine, The Weekender, Johannesburg, 27 June 2009 RECORDS of the University of Cape Town's (UCT) disciplinary hearing against its deputy registrar of legal services, Dr Paul Ngobeni, show the problems that arose between them were in part due to the university not supporting him. Ngobeni says UCT's refusal to provide him with the resources to do his job is "inextricably linked" to his support for Cape Judge President John Hlophe, who also faces allegations that he is unfit for his position. "They were trying to get me out. If I had not taken that position (on Hlophe) I would have gotten resources," he claims. Last week UCT vice-chancellor Prof Max Price announced that Ngobeni would leave the institution on July 31 "by mutual agreement" , and that its disciplinary hearing would be "annulled". Ngobeni's battle with UCT takes place in the context of ongoing attempts to transform SA's higher education institutions from being run largely by whites to being managed by people representative of SA's racial and gender diversity. Earlier this year a committee set up by former education minister Naledi Pandor reported that racism and discrimination were alive and well at all levels of higher education in SA. Ngobeni began employment at UCT in August 2007. His disciplinary hearing began in September last year, with the university seeking his summary dismissal. In the findings of the hearing - adjudicated by lawyers Steven Kahanovitz, Kevin Hollenbach and Thabani Masuku - his arrival at UCT is described: "There was a firm belief that it was necessary to bring about change in the registrar's office - for all the years previously the post had been occupied by a single white male and now was in need of transformation. "The university replanned and restructured the office, creating several new posts, and explicitly sought a black candidate for the new post of deputy registrar: legal services. Registrar Hugh Amoore testified that the post was created as part of the reorganisation of his department with the view to strengthening capacity in some areas and with a view to succession issues." However, soon after Ngobeni's arrival at UCT, his employers discovered that he was facing legal problems in the US, where he had been working before joining the university. The university appointed a one-person inquiry headed by Prof Barney Jordaan to investigate this. This was announced publicly, but when Jordaan found that Ngobeni's problems in the US had no effect on his role at UCT, this was not made public and a copy of his report was not given to Ngobeni. For months Ngobeni was not given a job description, business cards, letterheads or administrative support. He then clashed with Amoore on several occasions, and in their exchanges racial issues arose. After the disciplinary hearing began, Amoore issued an instruction to the university's human resources department blocking Ngobeni's salary increase, which all other employees received. Ngobeni told the hearing he had not had a performance appraisal. There were two groups of charges against Ngobeni. One concerned a newspaper article Ngobeni wrote in his personal capacity in support of Hlophe, which was dismissed. The finding regarding the second group of charges - relating to the language Ngobeni used in exchanges with UCT staffers - was that in seven of the nine charges, "Ngobeni acted in a manner that is unacceptable for a person with the post of deputy registrar: legal services". The hearing found UCT created Ngobeni's position without being able to sustain the appointment. They found the lack of a job description led to an almost immediate breakdown in relations between Ngobeni and Amoore. The language Ngobeni used, while inappropriate and at times reflective of his practice of labelling people, was also an "expression of grave disappointment, anger" in someone who, rightly or wrongly, felt aggrieved. "Where employees reach this stage they ought to be lodging a grievance and not reducing their reaction to writing personal attacks," the findings read. The university also erred in that it "held off informing the UCT public about the conclusions of this investigation" - that Ngobeni's legal troubles in the US had no bearing on his work at the university - leaving him to work "under a cloud of suspicion" for almost 14 months. UCT spokesman Ray Hartle denies that Ngobeni's leaving has anything to do with his opinions on Hlophe, but says the university is sticking to its policy of keeping internal disciplinary processes confidential between employer and employee. "It is our policy that we do not make public comments on the charges laid, testimony given, evidence led, findings or sanctions in disciplinary cases," Hartle says. "Even when we have had to face some damaging allegations levelled at UCT we have remained committed to protecting the principle of confidentiality of the disciplinary process. "In the present matter, we are also bound by an agreement between the university and Dr Ngobeni. In adhering to our policy by declining to comment, we are aware of the risk that information published in the media may be out of context, misunderstood or misrepresented." From: http://www.theweekender.co.za/article.aspx?ID=BD4A1024620 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. 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