Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande.
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- Minister Blade Nzimande says he will abide by a court ruling that prevents him from putting Unisa under administration.
- He was ordered to withdraw a notice informing Unisa of his intention.
- But he expressed concern that the court was used to curtail his executive authority.
Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande says he will adhere to an order of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that prevents him from putting Unisa under administration.
The interdict was granted on Friday, hours after Nzimande announced that he had notified Unisa of his intention to put the institution under administration.
Judge Harshila Kooverjie ordered that Nzimande must withdraw the notice in which he informed Unisa of his intention, and added that the minister had breached an order issued by the same court on 24 August, which prevented him from implementing the recommendations of the Mosia report until matters relating to it were settled.
“The minister is ordered to immediately cease and desist from taking any steps to publish and implement the notice or to take any steps of whatever nature to implement the notice,” the judge ordered.
But on Friday evening, Nzimande expressed concern about the court’s consideration of urgent matters and said there was no sense of urgency in finalising matters relating to the Mosia report.
He said:
However, the court is able to hear an urgent application by Unisa. To me, this resembles an inconsistency in the application of the principle of ‘urgency’ or prioritisation of issues by the court.
Nzimande added that he was concerned that the court system may have been used to curtail his authority, as detailed in the Higher Education Act.
“The minister believes in the supremacy of the Constitution, the law and the doctrine of the separation of powers between the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. He hopes that this should not be one of those instances in which one of that constitutional principle is violated,” a statement from his office read.
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In March, an independent assessor, Professor Themba Mosia, who investigated Unisa’s affairs, recommended that it be put under administration.
However, on Friday, Unisa dismissed the report as fundamentally flawed.
The institution said it would take it on review.