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Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Fort Hare (UFH) in Alice, Eastern Cape, is embroiled in controversy after he allegedly approved contracts involving top architects without following procurement processes.
This allegation is contained in a complaint filed by suspended UFH director of properties and services Mzwandile Sokupa to the university’s council members and its chairperson, Advocate Thandi Orleyn, on September 20 – two days after he was suspended by Buhlungu.
City Press has seen two letters, written by Buhlungu last month, announcing Sokupa’s suspension.
The first letter is dated September 14.
In it, Buhlungu announced the intention to suspend him and instructed Sokupa to hand over his laptop, office keys and cellphone, adding that he should provide the IT department with the security codes of these items as well as of the desktop computer.
The second letter, written four days later, notified Sokupa of his suspension. According to the letter, which City Press has seen, Sokupa was suspended for submitting an application to the department of higher education and training which allegedly contained errors. The application was for the allocation of annual infrastructure grant funding for construction, maintenance and renovations of buildings for the 2015/16 and 2017/18 financial years.
He was also charged with dishonesty when preparing the grant application and with “deliberately disregarding instructions from deputy vice-chancellor Professor Lindelwa Majova-Songca; and frequent, unauthorised and undocumented absences from work”.
Sokupa declined to comment, saying: “The matter is before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. Therefore, I cannot comment.”
The two companies at the centre of the controversy are Ngonyama Okpanum & Associates and Activate Architects.
Buhlungu allegedly approved the two companies’ appointment in April for work at the university’s Hunterstoun Campus in Hogsback.
In his complaint to council, of which City Press has a copy, Sokupa alleged that the reason for his suspension was his refusal to sign a waiver document in support of the appointment of the two companies without going through proper channels.
Sokupa attached an email to the complaint sent to him by Dr Liz Thomas, director of the UFH’s Hunterstoun Centre, dated July 12. In that email, Thomas questions Sokupa on his stance in not supporting the waiver, which could have bypassed supply chain management processes, when it was discovered that Buhlungu had signed and approved the appointment of the two architects.
One of the architects, Ngonyama Okpanum & Associates, was involved in the construction of a R200 million library – a joint venture between the UFH, Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha and the University of SA at UFH’s East London campus – before Buhlungu’s appointment last year.
Part of the email reads: “For no nefarious reason, the process of approval of the waiver (submitted on March 28 2018) for the appointment of a group of architects went awry and was signed and approved by the vice-chancellor prior to it following the necessary steps. (I apologise that you were not included in this original set of signatures; I am sorry as I am new to this process). As a result, in conjunction with supply chain management, it was agreed that I should write [this] memo as a rider so that the process would be corrected and all necessary parties sign their support for the waiver, before the vice-chancellor approved the application.
“I have received the attached document (dated June 6 2018) from supply chain management, which indicates that you are not in support of the waiver. Please help me understand your position. I wonder if your ‘not supported’ relates to (1) the process of waiver approval; or (2) you not supporting the waiver to appoint a specific firm ... Are you of the view that we need to start with a new architect/call?
“This is a major concern to us given that the process of the application for the waiver was made on March 28, nearly three and a half months ago, and R280 000 of our funding needs to be committed by the end of October ... or we will lose it.”
Sokupa claims he had decided to write to the council “after careful consideration of the dilemma which I have been plunged into by Buhlungu. I have no other alternative, given that council supervises the accounting officer and, as such, his direct reporting line is to the council when faced with the wrath of the vice-chancellor as a result of standing my ground, when I could have looked away and endorsed corruption, nepotism and graft that is slowly destroying the university, driven from his office.”
Buhlungu’s office denied any wrongdoing this week, saying: “The procurement of architects for the Hunterstoun Centre is still in progress. The document signed by the vice-chancellor is neither a contract nor an appointment letter.
“UFH rejects ... any insinuation that the vice-chancellor has an underhanded relationship with Ngonyama Okpanum & Associates, or any other service provider. Professor Buhlungu is in the process of institutionalising a Consequences Framework [to deal with corrupt staff] as mandated by Council in November 2017. Any form of malpractice or short-circuiting of governance processes on his part would undermine the very process he is rolling out.”
In her response to the council members regarding Sokupa’s complaint, Orleyn questioned the timing. “I find his correspondence odd and unconventional,” read part of the letter, which City Press has a copy of.
Ngonyama Okpanum & Associates director Sindile Ngonyama referred queries to UFH, citing confidentiality clauses.
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