Union ordered to pay Unizulu legal fees
University staff strike drama may yet continue
THE Durban Labour Court last week ordered the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) to pay legal fees for an interdict granted against them in October.
The University of Zululand approached the court after a staff strike of NEHAWU members in August stretched on for nearly two months amid a deadlocked wage dispute.
More than 500 members of staff stopped work and in the ensuing chaos, the University was forced to close down the main campus at KwaDlangezwa for two weeks.
In court papers the university argued that the strike was disrupting the academic programme and asked for an interdict to limit the movement of the protesting workers.
It was granted on October 3 and the court ordered for NEHAWU to pay costs on Thursday.
‘Whistleblower’ fired
Meanwhile the NEHAWU Unizulu branch Deputy Secretary and lecturer at the university Hlakaniphani Jamile has been dismissed after being found guilty in a disciplinary enquiry.
Jamile, who was one of the lead negotiators in the wage talks, was charged with insubordination, gross misconduct as well as theft of a university laptop among a slew of other charges.
He was also criticised for penning a letter to the Committee of Higher Education raising questions over the Vice Chancellor Professor Xoliswa Mtose’s decision to make changes to the education faculty teaching programme while she was the Dean of Education, changes he alleged made the programme lose its accreditation.
He was also accused of leaking the altered academic record of former SRC president Wandile Mathebula to the media.
Jamile has maintained the charges against him were trumped up to tarnish his reputation as he was trying to bring positive change to the institution.
In a television interview days before being found guilty, he said he would challenge his dismissal at the CCMA.
The Zululand Observer is aware that the former SRC body has challenged the election process behind the new SRC members also by obtaining a court interdict preventing the new office bearers of being sworn in.
The university however has not responded to questions regarding the situation surrounding the SRC sent on 1 December.
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