MESSAGE 3 OF 3:

(b) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Excellence Awards: FNs are also preferred above RSA staff when VC Excellence Awards are of concern. For example in 2023, the Institutional VC Award Committee (chaired by a FN and with some FN committee members), overruled both the faculty (FEBIT) and University Research and Innovation Committee (URIC) decision by awarding the 2023 VC Award (Mid-career Research) to a FN (Nigerian) as opposed to the approved and URIC supported (university-wide) nomination of an RSA staff member. In this case, all the other URIC recommendations for the various categories, except for the mid-career research category, were implemented. Thus, it is the first time in CUT history that such an overruling decision was made by the VC Award Committee; however, this was also the only category where a FN was positioned in the second position. No mention is made in the VC Excellence Awards Policy and Procedure about cases and procedural steps to be followed where the Institutional VC Award Committee wants to overrule the URIC recommendations; hence, the policy procedures were also violated to favour a FN to the detriment of an RSA staff member.

2.3 Support-academic staff ratios: As a general guideline, the ratio of support/management versus academic staff at any Higher Education Institution (HEI) should be 40:60. However, at the CUT the ratio is the opposite, i.e., > 60% support/management staff, with < 40% academic staff. In addition, academic HODs hold only secondary (allowance-based) appointments, while having an ever-increasing responsibility of keeping the academic project afloat. In contrast, Senior Directors (in support divisions) are frequently appointed at CUT with salary packages exceeding those of full Professors, despite of the much lower qualification and experience criteria required and their responsibilities limited to very few or no staff reporting to them. In addition, a Workload Model is currently imposed on academic staff, while support and management staff have no measure of accountability – something which is also evident from the video clips.

Based on Points 1 – 3 above, it is evident that the DA’s intervention is urgently required. At the end, all processes need to be fair and transparent, while local talent, expertise, and experienced can no longer be ignored.

Thank you for your time and assistance in this regard.

END