Cape Town v-c ‘used threats, intimidation and ethnic slurs’

A long-awaited independent report into governance failures at the University of Cape Town has found that Mamokgethi Phakeng used threats, intimidation and ethnic slurs while vice-chancellor.

The report concludes that her hostile subversion of the policies of the institution, alongside former UCT council chair Babalwa Ngonyama, could have been “calamitous”.

Professor Phakeng’s resignation from the role she occupied between July 2018 and February 2023 centred around allegations that she misled the UCT council over the departure of her deputy, Lis Lange.

The report says the two “mendaciously misled” UCT on this matter – but it was not an isolated incident, with the regular disregard of established hiring and firing processes.

“To conclude that Ngonyama and Phakeng’s conduct during this period amounted to a governance failure would be understatement,” it says.

“In an attempt to shield themselves from accountability they subverted the policies and procedures…of UCT.”

The council asked retired judge Lex Mpati to lead a four-person independent panel, which, after 10 months, has produced a lengthy critique of governance at Africa’s top-rated institution between 2018 and 2022.

The panel found that, despite repeated problems with her leadership in her role as deputy vice-chancellor, and a warning from her predecessor, Max Price, Professor Phakeng was given the top job.

The report says she began “inauspiciously” by abusing her power, while council members noticed she made racialised comments to “belittle and humiliate” others, and were startled that she claimed not to believe in the constitutional value of non-racialism.

“Phakeng repeatedly conducted herself unprofessionally by engaging in activity that is prohibited in the UCT workplace, including using threats, intimidation, ethnic slurs, personal insults and posting racially offensive material on social media,” the report says.

The panel found she used race and racial difference as a weapon and often insisted that she was the only “real” black person in the executive, telling others that they could not identify as black if they were not African.

The report says the selection panel, headed by Sipho Pityana, was ill-considered in appointing Professor Phakeng, with Mr Pityana also later reluctant to act against a black female leader because he feared a backlash.

It is critical of the failures of the council to hold the former vice-chancellor to account, and says that its lack of good governance and accountability contributed to “unprofessional conduct and bullying”.

However, it concludes that some senate and council members “confronted the corrosion” of governance and prevented further consequences that could have been “calamitous”.

“What was at stake was not only the future of UCT but the principles of good governance, fairness and non-racialism in one of our great public institutions,” it says.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Professor Phakeng said that the report “contained information which was “inaccurate and potentially damaging to my reputation”.

“I will study the report further with my legal team and I will take appropriate steps, as deemed necessary, in due course,” Professor Phakeng said.

Jonathan Jansen, distinguished professor in education at Stellenbosch University, praised the report’s “unflinching account of leadership failure”, which he said was a testament to both competence and courage.

“The Mpati report just released on governance failures at UCT is one of the most devastating in the history of higher education in South Africa,” he wrote on X.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com