Minister granted leave to appeal to put CUT under administration

Earlier this year the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande's decision to place CUT under administration was set aside in the Free State High Court due to unsubstantiated findings by the assessor, Professor Julian Smith that the minister had relied on. Even though CUT has taken all the necessary steps possible to investigate and manage the issues and has appealed to the minister to allow CUT's council to pursue the matter out of court, the minister still opted to appeal the ruling.

Court must bring closure

"Through our endeavours, we have shown deep respect and appreciation for having been entrusted with the privilege of leading this university to push the frontiers of social and technological innovation in the central region," says vice-chancellor, Professor Thandwa Mthembu. "We remain committed, focused and on track to do this through a number of innovation platforms we have built over the years and recently. We look forward to working with all stakeholders including the minister to advance socio-economic development in this region.

"We hope that the Supreme Court of Appeal will bring closure to this matter so that we continue to ensure that the university is held in high esteem in South Africa as well as internationally through research, innovation and quality graduate output," concluded Mthembu.

Based on an agreement between both the minister and CUT, the court ordered that the present status at CUT remains as is pending the conclusion of the appeal. This effectively prevents the minister from any attempts to take over control of the administration or governance of CUT until such time as the appeal has been finalised. The appeal will be heard by the Supreme Court of Appeal on a date to be allocated by the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal.