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Varsity wins court battle against Nzimande

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By Cathy Dlodlo

Minister for Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande

The Central University of Technology (CUT) in the Free State has won its court battle against Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande in the Bloemfontein High Court.

Nzimande’s decision to put the CUT under administration, appoint an administrator and dissolve the council of the institution was set aside with cost.

Judge Johan Daffue found that Nzimande did not have the power to dissolve the council and although he did follow procedure, he had acted on the report of the independent assessor, Julian Smith, which was not backed up by evidence.

He found that Nzimande had not taken he CUT council’s response to the assessor’s report into account and while the report mentioned “a culture of fear” it was something that could be addressed by the council and did not justify the minister’s interference.

The council of the CUT filed an urgent application to have the minister’s decision to put the institution under administration set aside.

Nzimande filed a counter application asking the court to uphold his decision.

The minister appointed an independent assessor in March this year to investigate allegations of power abuse and financial irregularities at CUT.


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