Issues at Stake: Cry the beloved university

The University of Zululand (Unizulu) once stood like a tall giant dispatching quality learning, teaching, research and community outreach programmes.

Whatever has happened to this fine institution?

Just how long are committed staff and students, hopeful of obtaining quality qualifications that will be recognised in the workplace, going to suffer because of poor management?

The university now stands as a shadow of its former good self.

The Zululand Observer recently published two very sad stories about the ongoing shenanigans at Unizulu.

The first was the alleged selling of degrees – the second such damning incident following the first scandal in the late 1990s.

The other revealed the splurge of university finances on luxury living for executives at Mtunzini’s Eco-Estate.

Then, in line with the reactionary trends these days, a seemingly competent Chief Financial Officer was dismissed for asking questions about apparent unauthorised use of funds.

The sale of degrees is a matter of dishonesty and greed, but also a sad example of a nation dismantling.

It is a straight criminal matter in which both the sellers and purchasers of degrees must face the law and be prosecuted.

Socially it is not unrelated to the new tendencies by certain types of people to make a living through fake or non-existing qualifications.

The administrative problems at this university seem to be too many, manufactured over a period of over a decade with devastating implications relating to the institution’s image.

These include overcrowded lecture halls, inadequate supply of books and other reading materials, overworked and underpaid academic staff, to name a few.

The calamitous outcome of this episode is that every qualification from Unizulu will be viewed with suspicion by employers in the marketplace.

This will shove even the innocent graduates of this university to the back of the employment queue.
How sad!

I was once a senior academic at Unizulu when academics, staff and faculty understood that a university was not a place for luxurious lifestyles.

Leaders of the university were very humble men and women who drove themselves around, kept no bodyguards and understood that the primary object of the university was to produce knowledge for the common benefit of society.

With this common understanding, morale was generally high.

The story about the splurge of millions on buying homes in an upmarket estate shows how values of humility, once central to life at Unizulu, have been eroded over time.

The actions of a new breed of people in power, whose only interests lie in skimming profit for themselves instead of serving the people, are deplorable and extremely destructive.

What we read is the culmination of years of systemic mismanagement and disregard for the aspirations of staff, students and society.

Can Unizulu be saved from self destruction?

Only once self-interest and political agendas can be set aside to make way for leaders of quality and integrity.