Outgoing University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng, who was placed on leave with immediate effect on Tuesday, has mounted a battle on social media and is taking no prisoners.
The university, on the other side, has been accused of being too mealy-mouthed in its responses as it draws a curtain over the protracted battle that finally ended in the VC taking an exit package of R12m last week.
On Tuesday, Phakeng used internal communication channels to attack chair of council Babalwa Ngonyama, who then did not respond to the attack but used the same channels to announce Phakeng had been placed on leave with “immediate effect” for administrative purposes.
Phakeng then posted two videos on Twitter, where she said the council had better things to do than ask why she appeared on social media holding a rifle and that some of the white people at the university were “untouchables”.
She is seen being interviewed by a young man who is not named, who does not question her and does not say what publication — if any — he is from.
In the first video, she makes reference to the controversial video she posted a few weeks ago in which she is seen holding a rifle.
In Tuesday’s video, she is seen saying to the young man at the official residence of the UCT vice-chancellor called Glenara, “the university council of the top university should have much more important things to deal with ... They should be focusing on curriculum transformation ... Those are important things, not pictures of me in foreign countries on vacation talking about guns that don’t belong to the VC”.
“I don’t own a rifle, I don’t own a gun. Rather than focusing on frivolous things like those, we should focus on big things ...”
I have taken steps against people in this university ... and I’ve suffered the consequences. Basically there are people who are untouchables at the university, and they are white people.
— Mamokgethi Phakeng, outgoing UCT vice-chancellor
One insider at the university, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, told TimesLIVE Premium there was nothing frivolous about gun violence in a country like South Africa.
“The statement she makes about the gun pictures in that video is so out of touch — like there’s no history in this country of assault rifles being pointed, or that we aren’t a country with huge problems of gun violence. We have students and staff who have faced gun violence and lost loved ones to gun violence.”
The insider added with regard to the image of the VC with the rifle on social media: “If any other ‘ordinary’ staff member pulled the stunts on social media that she has, we would be disciplined and maybe even fired for not espousing the values of UCT. So how do we defend that people have lost their jobs, sometimes over less, but the VC, who has responsibility for setting the tone at the top, is behaving so inappropriately on social media? She has built her whole brand on ‘being UCT’ but then argues that she’s an individual in another country when she posted that image.”
Elijah Moholola, spokesperson for the university, was contacted regarding how the information war is playing out between the outgoing VC — who loses her official position at close of Friday — and the council.
He said: “UCT is handling matters relating to the vice-chancellor through internal processes. The university will therefore not comment on this matter publicly.”
In a second video, also with the same interviewer, she says: “I have taken steps against people in this university ... and I’ve suffered the consequences. Basically there are people who are untouchables at the university and they are white people.”
She then names three professors, but their names are disguised, then adds: “There’s the woman who forged my signature and that is the one I took steps on [sic] and that is why I had to choose ...”
She begins talking about the exit package but is interrupted by the interviewer, who says “you were the VC, but you didn’t have power”, and she says yes.
“The differences in the media approaches of the two parties is telling,” a UCT staff member said. “On the one hand, we have a VC leaving, spitting fire at the university and seemingly exacting vengeance on her perceived enemies. On the other hand, we have formal communications from the university that are so thin and diplomatic that it’s hard to parse what is actually going on.”
The Sunday Times reported over the weekend that the council had received a legal opinion that there was a “strong” prima facie case against Phakeng.
However, the evidence was untested and could have plunged the institution into a protracted and messy legal battle that could end up in the Constitutional Court.
No campus communications have been sent out to the UCT community since February 19.
Phakeng’s supporters also took to social media to express their support.
One wrote: “Wherever you go, please update those of us who are emotionally connected to your energy, vision and conviction ... It will healthy [sic] to maintain the daily dose of energy from you ...”
Another wrote: “Love that you don’t need traditional media to air yourself,” and another wrote: “What they did to you is not right, Deputy Mother.”
Phakeng also posted videos of herself visiting a university residence and eating lunch with students and hugging staff members who work in the kitchen.
One academic told TimesLIVE Premium, however: “Quite frankly I’d like a VC who spends more time focused on how to keep a university powered than on cultivating a cult of celebrity on social media.”
She said the VC’s comments during her “interview” at Glenara “totally overlook the hard work that many academics have been doing on transformation of the curriculum”.
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