Fort Hare VC Sakhela Buhlungu resigns but university rejects immediate exit - IOL

University of Fort Hare vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu handed in his resignation with immediate effect on Monday, shortly before he was due to present his side of the case at his disciplinary hearing over allegations that he irregularly appointed two senior executives.

Suspended University of Fort Hare vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu has resigned.

Buhlungu handed in his resignation with immediate effect on Monday, shortly before he was due to present his side of the case at his disciplinary hearing over allegations that he irregularly appointed two senior executives.

The university council, however, has refused to accept that the resignation takes effect immediately, and said in a communiqué on Tuesday that his employment contract required him to serve a notice period, during which it could continue with the disciplinary hearing.

The council said Buhlungu had chosen not to use the chance he was given to respond to the allegations. It did not accept claims in his resignation letter that the independent disciplinary process had been set up to reach a predetermined outcome and that he had been treated unfairly.

"These matters remain contested and should not be understood as having been established as fact," the council said in the communiqué seen by IOL. 

"Though Professor Buhlungu has chosen to resign while the disciplinary process is still underway, his resignation does not resolve the allegations against him, and the statements made in his resignation letter do not determine the merits of those matters.

"Council has, therefore, not accepted that the resignation takes effect immediately, as his employment contract requires him to serve a notice period."

The council said courts had held that an employee who was contractually bound to serve notice could not escape it by resigning with immediate effect unless the employer waived that requirement.

It said other employees implicated in breaching the university statute had gone through the same process, and each had been given a chance to respond to the allegations against them.

Buhlungu has been on precautionary suspension with full pay since the end of March, after a forensic investigation into how the two executive directors were appointed, council chairperson Dr Siyanda Makaula said at the time.

The charge sheet served on him in May accused him of gross misconduct, insubordination and bringing the university into disrepute, and alleged that he had appointed the two directors without consulting the senate and the institutional forum and without the council's approval.

The investigation was carried out by Morar Incorporated Auditors, which the university commissioned to review the appointments.

Parliament's portfolio committee on higher education chairperson Tebogo Letsie welcomed the suspension in March as decisive action to enforce consequence management.

The council appointed deputy vice-chancellor for research, partnerships and innovation Dr Nthabi Taole-Mjimba as acting vice-chancellor when Buhlungu was suspended.

Buhlungu took over as vice-chancellor of the university in Alice, Eastern Cape, in 2017, succeeding Dr Mvuyo Tom, and his term was extended in 2021.

His bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, was shot dead in January 2023 in what was reported as an attempt on Buhlungu's life.