Grant Abbott: Hope for Fort Hare after VC’s suspension

The suspension of Fort Hare Vice Chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu has been hailed by Grant Abbott, the General Secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union. “He came in as a corruption buster, saying he's going to renew the institution and root out corruption. If anything, he's allowed the corruption to continue. He's allowed it to be further entrenched. He's not rooted out anything,” Abbott charges.” He points out that the 20 odd people under arrest currently in the Fort Hare saga, were appointed as employees or service providers during the VC’s tenure. “So while this suspension right now might look like it's an isolated incident, it is not. It is what I would describe as the last straw that broke the camel's back.” Abbott also urges the investigation of other people that have also been implicated in financial irregularities, but are still there. “Don't cover for them. Let them clean out the thing, but let's do that thing properly, not how Buhlungu allegedly said he was going to do.”

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Edited transcript of the interview