The assessor will look into allegations and counter-allegations of corruption and maladministration made at the Mangosuthu University of Technology Mangosuthu University of Technology. File Picture
DURBAN - Professor Anthony Staak has been appointed as the independent assessor tasked with looking into the challenges affecting the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT).
The appointment has been announced by Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande, who said the focus of the assessor would include the root causes for cash flow challenges.
Ending months of speculation about an impending appointment of the ministerial investigator, Nzimande has written to the university’s council, saying the probe would also look into allegations and counter-allegations of corruption and maladministration between some members of the university’s council and the executive management.
“The independent assessor shall conduct an investigation into various allegations made by the (suspended) vice-chancellor, Dr Duma Malaza, in a letter to (Nzimande) in March last year, allegations of misconduct and mismanagement against Malaza, circumstances and reasons for the suspension of Malaza and other senior managers in April 2020, the functioning, efficacy and relationships between the governance and executive management structures and portfolios, the circumstances that led to the cash flow problems of the university,” Nzimande said in a letter addressed to council chairperson Morailane Morailane.
Morailane has written back to Nzimande, saying the council welcomed the appointment “as previously communicated to the minister”.
Approached for comment, Morailane told The Mercury: “We have always welcomed and supported the appointment of an independent assessor”.
He has recently said, however, that he did not believe the university was in a state of instability as reported in various media.
Staak is currently the deputy vice-chancellor for Teaching and Learning at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, responsible for all academic programmes, academic planning, the teaching and learning support unit, community engagement and the short course unit.
He previously held the position of Dean of Engineering at the Peninsula Technikon, having qualified in engineering at UCT and completed further studies in engineering, economics and technology policy at local and overseas universities, including Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar.
THE MERCURY
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