Staff at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) have complained about being intimidated and physically and verbally abused by a group of students across the institution's campuses.CPUT acting vice-chancellor John Volmink said the staff members who had approached his office were of the view that certain students believed they were in charge of the university and that staff members should be at their “beck and call”.
Volmink said the matter had been escalated to the three staff unions and discussed at senior management level.
He said staff had been encouraged to lay formal complaints, and the full might of disciplinary procedures would be exercised if the situation persisted.
In a letter addressed to students and staff, Volmink said: “When I took over as acting vice-chancellor, the university was in flames, staff operated from off-campus locations and all academic activities were suspended."
"With the assistance of various stakeholders, we were able to negotiate a very expensive peace agreement, which remains fragile."
“One of the main tenets of my approach was to rebuild the trust with our students, which had been completely destroyed during the protest action."
"As a result we have made massive concessions to accommodate most student demands."
"These decisions were often criticised, but I always believed that student leaders would respond in good faith and set an example to their followers.”
Volmink said it was clear that some elements within the student leadership we are behaving in a “superior manner that is totally inconsistent with the values of the fees movement and indeed the majority of people within the university”.
CPUT student leadership and FeesMustFall (FMF) have distanced themselves from acts of violence against the institution’s staff, saying the claims made by staff were not reflective of the current situation.
CPUT student leader and FMF activist Lukhanyo Vanqa said the approach of using disciplinary processes to deal with political matters at the institution was the approach adopted by “suspended vice-chancellor (Prins) Nevhutalu, and it proved to be disastrous for himself and the university at large”.
He said the tension between students and staff members was not a function of ill-discipline, but rather stemmed from unresolved issues during the FMF protests. “Students were the first to lay charges of intimidation and harassment against their lecturers.”