LOUIS TRICHARDT - In yet another inexplicable sentence of the Disciplinary Committee of the University of Venda for Science and Technology, a senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Dr Jeff Mashimbye was dismissed. However his dismissal was suspended for five years.

This follows after a Professor in Biological Sciences, Prof Ben van der Waal was summarily dismissed from his duties as an employee of the University of Venda for Science and Technology.

Dr Mashimbye was tried on three charges, and was found guilty on all three. His first charge was that he participated in an unlawful strike and marched off campus during working hours. His conduct was allegedly prejudicial to the administration, discipline and efficiency of the University. On the second count he was charged for holding unauthorised meetings during working hours without the permission of the authorities of the University. By that conduct he had allegedly displayed insubordination. On the third count he was charged with absence from office or duty without leave for a valid reason.

On these charges Dr Mashimbye was found guilty and was dismissed from the employ of the University. His dismissal was, however, suspended for five years on the provision that he would not make himself guilty on similar charges during that period.

The charges referred to incidents, which occurred in 2000, nearly three years ago. Prof Van der Waal participated with Dr Mashimbye and two thousand others in the same march in April 2002. Prof Van der Waal was found guilty on the first charge only, namely the charge referring to the unlawful strike and march. The sentence that he received was immediate dismissal from his duties as an employee of the University of Venda.

The purpose of the march was to present a petition to the Department of Education in Thohoyandou. The petition stated that in the light of the findings of the Heath Special Investigation Unit in respect of the improper and irregular use of a credit card by the Principal of the University of Venda, Prof GM Nkondo, the undersigned members of the university community, call upon the principal to do the honourable thing and resign forthwith. The petition further stated that if the principal failed to comply, the undersigned demand that council take necessary steps to ensure that the principal vacates his office in accordance with the act and statute of the university. Around 500 people signed the petition.

The petition was elicited by a media statement on April 1, 2000, made by the then Chairman of the university Council, Prof Barney Pityana. The petitioners felt that the statement underplayed the seriousness of the alleged misconduct of the principal. Concerns about finances, the management style and ways of appointment should be taken to an Institutional Forum, which is a forum independent from the University Council that every University should have according to law. Concerned employees still find that they have no Institutional Forum to turn to.

When asked to explain the difference in the sentences of the two cases, Mashimbye and Van der Waal, the University's Executive Director: Communication, Marketing and International Relations, declined to comment further. The statement read that Professor Van der Waal launched an appeal and "this being the case, the University cannot offer a further comment on this matter as it is still sub-judice."