VUT_Report 2018_Finale

VAAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
ANNUAL REPORT 2018
membership was quite diverse viewed from various angles:
Firstly, the mix of competencies brought in by the members
was very rich, from human resources, finance and audit, risk
management, to higher education and engineering,
governance and IT. Secondly, the mix of young with elderly
members ensured that there was a rich diversity of views based
on both experience and youth. Many members had board
experience whilst there were some who had very little
experience of board work. Thirdly, Council membership
was skewed in favour of males. There were only nine female
members on Council. As far as independence goes, over 60%
of the members were neither students nor employees of the
University. This does not necessarily ensure independence but
is a useful indicator. Attendance at meetings of Council was
good, with a quorum reached in all five meetings that sat over
the year.
Committees of Council
All committees of Council as determined by the Statute and the
Rules were fully constituted by February/March 2018. Most
committees managed to sit, although many struggled with a
quorum. Where committees became dysfunctional, their duties
reverted to the full Council until they could be reconstituted.
The Committees were chaired as follows (all chairpersons being
external members of Council):
Senate and its committees
The Senate of the University is constituted in terms of the Act,
the Statute and the Rules of the University. Senate also has
sub-committees that assists it in decision-making and in the
academic governance of the University. In 2018 Senate held all
4 ordinary meetings and some special meetings. Senate and its
committees were fully functional.
Decisions and compliance
Council (and its committees) performed its work as would be
expected over most of the year 2018. Due consideration has
always been taken to ensure that all meetings of Council and
Council committees meet the necessary quorum requirements
as per the Statute and the Rules. Even though the rules allow
for an inquorate meeting to be set within fourteen days of the
failed meeting, at which meeting such a meeting will be deemed
quorate, this provision was used very sparingly and in very
extreme circumstances. There has also been a reluctance on the
use of round-robin resolutions and these were held to the very
minimum.
Challenges
The main challenges that affected Council in 2018 were the
following:
Committee
Executive
Committee
Audit and Risk
Committee
Finance and
Infrastructure
Committee
Human Resources
Committee
Student Services
Committee
Governance
Committee
Higher Education
Committee
Chairperson
Mr TT Hlapolosa
Mr C. Patel until he resigned/ The
Deputy Chairperson,
Ms U. Exner, acted as chair whilst
nominations from SAICA were
awaited.
Dr K. Jacobs
Mr B. Mahlangu
Ms J. Ntwane
Ms U. Exner
Could not meet to elect a chair due to
lack of a quorum
a. Inquorate meetings
Many ordinary meetings of committees of Council could not sit
during 2018 due to lack of quorums. An example is the Audit
and Risk Committee which practically collapsed when Mr Patel
left in May 2018 followed by Ms Lee-Sassenberg only a month
later. The Higher Education Committee failed to hold a single
meeting over the period.
b. Matters raised with the Minister of Higher Education and
Training
The latter half of the year 2018 saw Council struggling to
deal with allegations of impropriety, mismanagement and
maladministration in the University. These had been reported
to Council as well as to the Minister of Higher Education and
Training. A letter from the Minister of Higher Education and
Training received in November 2018 directed Council to deal
with these allegations speedily. This was not to be, and this
signalled the beginning of a collapse in the governance of the
University.
c. Resignations from Council
Linked to the point above, some external Council members
started to resign from the Council in November/December
2018. This affected Council operations as there were some that
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