Fort Hare VC delays meeting Nzimande as university mourns

University of Fort Hare (UFH) vice-chancellor professor Sakhela Buhlungu will not meet higher education minister Blade Nzimande on Wednesday because the university is “in a state of mourning”.

On Tuesday, Nzimande’s office issued a media advisory that he would visit the institution “following the pattern of assassinations and threats on staff”.

This followed the assassination of Buhlungu’s bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, on Friday night outside the vice-chancellor’s house.

Nzimande’s office indicated he intended to consult stakeholders, including the university’s council, executive management, trade unions and the student representative council, between 9.15am and 1pm.

Accompanied by police minister Bheki Cele, he was scheduled to announce the outcome of the consultations and share critical information on police investigations at a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon.

After the briefing, the two ministers were scheduled to visit the Vesele family to offer condolences. However, in a statement, university spokesperson JP Roodt said the management executive committee (MEC) was attending to the needs of those affected by Vesele’s death.

“Furthermore, UFH security and protection services have expressed concerns about the MEC returning to campus before the institution’s more far-reaching and robust security programme is rolled out in the wake of the assassination plot against the vice-chancellor and the killing of Mr Vesele.”

Roodt said it was against this backdrop that the MEC “are not in a position to participate in discussions with the ministry”.

“The university remains open to meetings next week after the conclusion of the funeral and memorial services, and once the new security protocols and programmes have been activated.”

Nzimande’s spokesperson, Ishmael Mnisi, had not responded to queries at the time of publication.

In an exclusive interview with Sunday Times published at the weekend, Buhlungu made an impassioned plea to President Cyril Ramaphosa to ensure his safety as he cleans up corruption at the university.

The attack on Vesele was the latest of several incidents at the university, which has been working with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to clamp down on tender corruption, the suspicious awarding of honours degrees and mismanagement of funds at the institution.

University fleet manager Petrus Roets was killed in a suspected hit in 2022; shots were fired at a senior official’s home, with a bullet lodging in her fridge; and a man carrying a gun was captured on CCTV footage climbing over a wall and firing three shots at the entrance to Buhlungu’s house in March.

This was followed by reports of a “hit list” containing the names of 16 senior officials, mostly members of executive management. The most senior had an amount of R600,000 written next to their names.

“Universities are becoming killing fields and it cannot be business as usual,” Buhlungu told Sunday Times.

“It’s getting very close now. The SIU is going to nab big people. The big people are at risk. That’s why they want to kill this thing off and the only way to kill it off is to kill me.”

Buhlungu has been vice-chancellor at Fort Hare since November 2017.

In 2021 the university received its first clean audit in 30 years.

During Friday’s shooting, the rear left passenger door of Buhlungu’s official university vehicle was peppered with bullets.

Buhlungu, who usually sits in the rear left of the vehicle, was in the house when shots rang out from what appeared to be an automatic rifle, according to the university.

He was unharmed and whisked off to a safe location shortly after the incident.

Reacting to the incident, Nzimande said on Saturday that all indications were the assailant or assailants were targeting Buhlungu.

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