Johannesburg - Former head of legal services at Unisa, advocate Modidima Mannya, has accused Unisa of failing to investigate matters of corruption and maladministration committed by the former chairperson of council, Sakhi Simelane, and other leaders.
Mannya, who was dismissed by the university in August 2021, says his dismissal was a result of his efforts to uncover corruption, which included the alleged purchase of buildings through dodgy deals.
Mannya said he is in possession of two legal opinions from two law firms that requested the university investigate these claims. He says after having furnished these details and written numerous letters urging the university to investigate claims of maladministration, nothing has been done to stop this alleged corruption.
Mannya recently penned a letter addressed to the chairperson of the council’s audit and enterprise risk committee, Sedzani Mudau, seeking her prompt response to the issues he has previously raised. He told The Star that the university has been aware of these issues, which he raised as early as 2020.
"The university has been aware of my reports, which I furnished while I was still within the university. However, more than a year after my dismissal, nothing was done to investigate these allegations. The university has failed to investigate even after two legal opinions found that there are grounds to investigate these allegations. If this is not a deliberate attempt at covering up corruption, I don’t know what is," he said.
Mannya said even though Simelane was no longer part of the council, he was allowed to sit in during an interview of the current Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Puleng LenkaBula, which he said was odd as he should not have been part of the panel.
Previously, The Star revealed that Simelane was said to have interfered with recruitment processes that delivered the current VC to the university even though she was underqualified.
According to one of these legal opinions from Marivate Attorneys, dated October 13, 2021, it was resolved at a meeting on July 1, 2021, that the secretary of council should source a legal opinion regarding allegations of improper conduct made by Mannya, through various letters to the university management against former council chairperson Simelane.
Mannya alleges that Simelane acted improperly by initiating interactions with a certain landlord prior to a decision being taken on the Riverside building in Nelspruit, and that in another incident he demanded the appointment of a certain Ms Thango.
"We are informed that Mr. Simelane ceased to be a member and chairperson of council. Our instructions are to provide council with a legal opinion on how to handle cases against former council members who are accused of wrongdoing during their terms as council members....
"In terms of the Higher Education Act, Unisa has a legal duty to investigate, inter alia, circumstances involving financial or other maladministration of a serious nature or seriously undermining the effective functioning of the public higher education institution. The duty to investigate applies to all circumstances occurring or committed. We opine that this duty applies to actions and allegations committed by all members, including former council members," the legal opinion says of the university's duty.
Some of these claims are contained in a letter to Mudua, dated October 17. In this communication, Mannya, through his legal firm, MP Mannya, urges Mudau to investigate his claims as the custodian of the university council to investigate LenkaBula and Simelane.
There is also a memo from deputy registrar Dr Joel Baloyi to the audit and risk department dated October 17 that acknowledges the need to investigate these issues.
Baloyi said some of the issues date back to 2020 and have been on the agenda of the council for some time.
"These matters have been on the agenda for some time, and in 2021 they were referred to the different committees of council for their recommendations," he said.
Baloyi said: "The audit and enterprise risk management committee of council resolved to recommend to council that the principal and vice-chancellor, Prof P LenkaBula, must procure the services of an independent external party to launch a full-blown forensic investigation to delve into the veracity of the issues, claims, and allegations of Adv. M. Mannya against management and council so that the committee could deliberate on a report emanating from such a process with a view to making recommendations to council regarding the actions and controls; all other matters raised by Adv. Mannya, whether of a governance or operational nature, must be fully investigated," he said in the memo.
Attempts to get comment from the university proved fruitless at the time of going to print, even though an undertaking was made to respond by the end of business yesterday.
The Star