Unizulu’s multi-million housing splurge

UNIVERSITY of Zululand has splashed out close to R30-million buying and furnishing luxury houses for its top executives while some of its students are forced to share beds.

The university’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Josephine Naicker, who questioned the legitimacy of this shopping spree, was fired, while her predecessor Cindy Nsibande was also dismissed under a cloud of controversy amid allegations that serious pressure was placed on her by senior management to conduct certain transactions she questioned.

Naicker last month claimed in court papers attached to an urgent application for ‘whistle-blower protection’ before the Durban Labour Court that two weeks into her job as CFO, she was ‘instructed’ to pay R19.2-million for nine houses meant for the executives at the exclusive Zini River Estate in Mtunzini.

Naicker also claimed she was baffled by the request as the purchase wasn’t budgeted for and that such payment could be deemed fraudulent, as there were no official Council minutes made available to her to confirm the decision, despite multiple requests.

Subsequent to Durban Labour Court Judge Hamilton Cele denying Naicker’s application for relief in May, she was called in for a disciplinary hearing which cited poor work performance as the charge.

She is currently challenging her dismissal.

The Zululand Observer has since established that one of the houses is worth a whopping R5-million and is the second most expensive developed property within the exclusive estate.

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Seven of the remaining eight properties were purchased for amounts ranging between R2.1-million and R3.1-million, while a plot of undeveloped land worth R700 000 brings the grand total to a staggering R24.7-million.

Added to this is a ‘shopping list’ detailing what executives could expect the university to pay for furniture and the proposed guidelines for the purchase thereof.

Amounts between R522 000 and R634 000 per house, depending on the position held by the excutive, are cited.

This means the university is willing to spend between R4- and R5-million to furnish the homes
It is in this 24-hour high security upmarket estate that the university’s Vice Chancellor Xoliswa Mtose has found sanctuary and safety in her new multi-million rand luxury home.

In her affidavit Naicker said Prof Mtose on a number of occasions accused her of being ‘too operational’ after bringing matters to her attention, this despite the fact that middle management positions in the Finance Department remain vacant.

Among the issues Naicker raised in a report to the Council’s Finance Committee was the issue of student accommodation.

When she visited newly acquired student residences in Richards Bay early this year to assess the financial viability of the rental agreement, she learned that the owner intended to have two students sleep in one bed.

In responding court papers the university admitted that ‘the issue of students sharing a double bed was raised’ and ‘had led to a student protest’.

But the institution denied any wrongdoing relating to the Zini River Estate deal, stating that its Council met in December and ‘made a decision to buy houses for the executives and senior employees of the university for the purposes of retaining and attracting the best executives’.

This despite confirmation in response to media queries that the university ‘owns some 100 homes which are available for use by staff’ in Empangeni and Mtunzini.

‘It was further for the purposes of security to purchase certain properties and houses in the Zini River Estate,’ the university added.

The ZO has established that several stand-alone luxury homes worth millions of rands and registered to the Department of Public Works were previously made available to the university to accommodate its executives.

The houses, many of which are in Anthony Crescent in Empangeni, range from R940 000 to R1.2-million in value and some of them are currently occupied by former employees of the university who are not even paying rent.

It is understood that the homes were originally allocated to senior staff with the understanding they could live there for only one year, provided they did not own any other property in the vicinity.

Some of the former employees staying in the homes have lived there for more than a decade.

One former employee occupying one of the houses this week said, ‘These houses are huge and the best way the university could have saved money was to renovate some of them.

‘There must be something that some of the university officials will benefit from in buying those houses at Mtunzini.’

The ZO can also reveal that Prof Mtose vacated the R4.6-million double storey mansion on campus reserved for Vice Chancellors to move to the Zini River Estate.

‘The four bedroom house with major security features, including six cameras and a full-time guard, was recently revamped at Mtose’s request and now she moved,’ said a source at the university.

After Mtose moved into her new house at Zini River Estate she allegedly forced the university to buy furniture from a supplier that she handpicked, including three beds at a cost of R57 000.

According to Naicker’s court papers, Prof Mtose ‘placed the finance department under undue pressure’ to conduct the purchases, despite the chosen company not conforming to standard university procurement guidelines.

Student outcry
Economic Freedom Fighters student leader Philani Nkambule said it was shocking how ‘executives want to live like kings and force the students to live like slaves’.

‘The students’ residences at the University of Zululand are in a mess. We are forced to stay in places with broken windows and some of them with no working toilets, yet management is prepared to splash millions on executives to live like kings,’ Philani said.

In March this year Higher Education and Training (DHET) Minister Blade Nzimande announced that more than R500-million would be given to 24 government owned universities to ‘meet the need for improving infrastructure’, specifically the building of lecture halls and student housing.

Unizulu was among the universities that made the cut.

‘The University of Zululand has more needs than say the University of KwaZulu-Natal, which is a historically advantaged institution with modern infrastructure. So for Unizulu, a lot of money has to be invested,’ DHET spokesperson Khaye Nkwanyana said at the time.

In her February 2016 budget speech, Prof Mtose said the university ‘aims to develop a culture of cost saving and to cut unneeded and wasteful expenditure.’

‘We have no option but to tighten our belts and expect each department to implement austerity measures,’ she said at the time.

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