Opinion
So many questions for Adam Habib on insourced workers
Wits University has had to cut its budget to pay for insourced workers. Chris Barron asked Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib...
Was it a mistake to agree to insourcing?
No. Wits University was committed to human rights, and outsourced workers were being subjected to horrendous low wages.
But you can't afford to insource, can you?
Well, we must create the circumstances for that to happen.
So you've put the university's future on the line?
No. Which is the lesser of two evils? Would you have 2,000 workers starve ...
Isn't this the government's responsibility?
It's the government's job to take responsibility for the nation as a whole. It is my responsibility to deliver an academic programme ...
That should be your priority, surely?
A vice-chancellor has multiple mandates, the most important of which is delivering an academic programme.
That's your core business as a university, surely?
You cannot tell me to deliver an academic programme which is not compliant with the constitution.
If outsourcing was unconstitutional, why was Wits doing it?
Wits did it 17 years ago, long before I came.
How is this going to compromise standards?
We took cuts in academic programmes but that has not irreparably damaged the institution.
You've cut your budget for faculties. Doesn't this mean academic staff cuts?
No. It means we have to effect operational savings.
You say that academics are going to have to do more with less. Surely this means the quality of their work will suffer?
If you do it as a one-off it doesn't have to irreparably. It does mean you can't continue to take on added cost burdens.
So you'll cut back on academic appointments?
Not for now. But we'll be measured in our salary increases.
Meaning lose your best staff?
No, meaning they won't get the same increases as before.
Will you still attract the best?
Our ability to pay good salaries will be more measured.
The SRC says because of budget cuts students don't have tutors?
They must put data on the table.
What will happen if you can't recover the R400-million students owe?
Then the institution would be in serious trouble.
With government subsidies falling and student numbers rising, is your current situation sustainable even with budget cuts?
No...
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