In the past few days, staff at Cape Peninsula University of Technology have been hearing how the CPUT council is demanding that the Vice Chancellor leave. These stories have been coming from unions who should be in the know because they afterall have members in the council, the senate and in the institutional forum.
Unfortunately, these people have not been sharing their information with the broader staff base despite the fact that CPUT has been abuzz with rumours for a long time know.
A colleague, Mxolisi23456, posted an article on the answers that CPUT staff and taxpayers need, but I want to go a step further.
The council of CPUT and all of the senior management must be investigated over allegations of tender irregularities, irregular appointments, golden handshakes to buy silence and over the complicity of the mentioned council and senior managers in keeping things silent.
Mzxolisi and I mentioned the call from finance minister Gordan that everybody should stand together and fight corruption.
How can we do this when the responsible council and senior management just keeps quiet about what is going on at CPUT?
In which other organisation or even private companies are people and constituents kept in the dark about the tenure of the head of the organisation?
The most shocking thing for me is that despite all the stories in MyNews24 the senior management and the council has kept quiet. What an insult to the CPUT community when you know that most staff, many students and other roleplayers have read these stories.
The biggest, biggest and most serious question is this:
Why must staff and even parents turn to News24 blogs to air their views and concerns? Why has the council of CPUT not said anything about the term of the vice chancellor and about the reasons for why this lady is still at CPUT despite the fact that all staff and students know that the merger should have been finished in 2011?
Is this council, senior management, unions and the SRC complicit in these alleged irregularities?
THE ANSWER IS A HUGE YES!!!! The reason why unions, the SRC and staff are represented in the council, senate and institutional forum is to ensure TRANSPARENCY, OPENNESS AND HONESTY.
Not only the council, but all the senior managers and every single person promoted 2 or more job levels, including those brought back by professor Tanga must be held accountable for what they have done in terms of real output, their commitment, their massive salaries and gratuities and their silence over issues discussed in meetings and with themselves.
You see minister Gordan:: It is when people are rewarded for allegiance, threatened to keep quiet and often openly intimidated when corruption flourishes.
There are staff members who have been accused of racism when trying to address daily functions and there are staff members accused of undermining the VC. There has even been staff accused of speaking to the media when they are innocent.
How is an organisation - any organisation - supposed to fight corruption when even the reports of commissions of enquiry are held back by the CPUT council and management until the reports have been adapted to the liking of council and senior management.
I scream like Archbishop Tutu: What are you doing?
This organisation is supposed to serve the youth of this country, the future leaders, but the management enrich themselves through taxpayers' money.
The council who should be THE body to address accountability, have been complicit in corruption, lack of transparency and every single instance where things were not done honestly and openly.
If I, or any of my colleagues who have been posting on News24 over the last few months are targeted, the News24 community will hear from us.
We will not be silenced by the monitoring of emails and phone calls. We are not demanding salary increases, we are not demanding overtime, we are not demanding promotions.
We ARE demanding accountability, simple answers to simple questions, transparency and an end to self-enrichment of corrupt individuals.
Please read these stories and google CPUT corruption:
http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Dear-Dr-Ramphele-Corruption101-20120831
http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Western-Cape-taxpayers-want-answers-20120906
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