Nzimande says courts being used to ‘curtail’ his executive authority

The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, says he will abide by the ruling of the court as set by Judge Kooverjie J, on Thursday, stopping him from placing the University of South Africa (Unisa) under administration.

The court interdict came just a few hours after Nzimande served a notice of his intention to place the institution under administration.

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The North Gauteng High Court declared that Nzimande’s notice of intention was in breach of an order granted by Justice Adams on 24 August 2023.

“The minister is ordered to withdraw the notice forthwith upon the granting of this order,” said Judge Kooverjie.

‘Inconsistency’

In August, Nzimande gave the Unisa council seven days to explain why the institution should not be placed under administration.

His decision on the matter was, however, delayed on mutual agreement that the written representations be extended to 4 September 2023.

ALSO READ: Nzimande interdicted from placing Unisa under administration

Responding to the court order on Friday, Nzimande said he was concerned that although the order granted by Justice Adams in August noted the urgency of the matter, “the Court has not demonstrated any sense of urgency in finalising this matter”.

“It is now more than a month that transpired and the matter has not yet been heard by the Court, however, the Court is able to hear an urgent application by Unisa. To me, this resembles an inconsistency in the application of the principle of ‘urgency’ or prioritisation of issues by the Court,” said Nzimande.

He further claimed the court system was being used, “in this instance, to curtail his executive authority as provided by the Higher Education Act”.

ALSO READ: Plans to place Unisa under administration

“Minister believes in the supremacy of the Constitution, the law and the doctrine of the separation of powers between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. He hopes that this should not be one of those instances in which this important Constitutional principle is violated,” he said.

Nzimande on court ruling

What was before the court was not the review of Nzimande’s intention to appoint an administrator at Unisa or the recommendations of the Independent Assessor.

“The Court interdicted the Minister from taking a decision and implementing it pending the finalisation of the interim interdict that the Council had instituted. In that matter, the Council and Vice-Chancellor seek to interdict the Minister from implementing his decision pending finalisation of their application that seeks to have the report and recommendation of the Independent Assessor reviewed and set aside. This therefore means that the Court did not consider the merits of the interim interdict and the review applications,” Nzimande explained.

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He said he would await the court date for the hearing of an urgent interim interdict application.