SU interference in Wilgenhof panel report not explained by affidavit

30 October 2024 

The Stellenbosch University (SU) Council, the highest decision-making body of the university, will meet on Friday after revelations by former Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron that the Rector and Council Chair interfered in an independent report on Wilgenhof. 

Both Cameron's affidavit, as well as advocate Nick de Jager's recent answer to it, were filed in relation to a court application brought by the Wilgenhof Alumni Association earlier this month. The Alumni Association consists of thousands of former Wilgenhof residents. 

It is important to note that the Alumni Association’s court application is distinct from legal action initiated by the Association for the Advancement of Wilgenhof Residents (AWIR), which was recently settled. AWIR consists of over 360 current residents and their parents. Because of AWIR’s settlement, the disruption to current Wilgenhof residents will be kept to a minimum and the community will not be broken up and scattered.  

The Alumni Association's court action, however, is still ongoing and sets out how the panel's methods and their final report was unlawful, irrational, executed in a procedurally unfair manner, without considering relevant factors, and while accepting sensational news coverage as fact. The report and the decisions flowing from it have led to severe reputational damage for Wilgenhof and its alumni. 

The Alumni Association notes the following regarding De Jager's affidavit: 

- In it, it is acknowledged that unnamed "SU stakeholders" may have triggered the amendment of the report through contact with panel member Penny van der Bank, who is also a SU employee. Who were these persons and why did they have access to the report in the first place? Van der Bank claims she cannot remember who they were (only the date of the discussion and the topic). 

- Regardless of complicated explanations offered for a long series of events, it remains undisputed that the final report was materially altered after it was submitted. The final paragraph was not just moved, it was edited as well, thereby changing its import so that it would fit in amongst options that were rejected as non-viable. 

- No satisfactory explanation is given for why the report’s conclusion stated that dialogue rather than closure "appeals" to the panel. 

- ⁠The executive summary's text does not support the assertion that the only recommendation made was closure, it simply references it as the "main and most important recommendation". 

- If the final paragraph - the conclusion of a highly consequential and widely awaited report - was truly a "mistake", why did the panel have to "nudge" its client to ask for clarification so that changes could be affected to the report? 

- Even if the original final report of May 31 was, as is claimed, the product of error and a severe lack of thoroughness on behalf of the panel, why was only the Rector or other "SU stakeholders" party to recommendations on it, and not others? 

- The acknowledgement that the report was completed under pressure and in haste raises questions about what other oversights the panel may have made in offering the closure of Wilgenhof as a recommendation. 

- Importantly, why was the matter of supposed "corrections" not disclosed to the Council, who had a direct interest in knowing about it?  

The overall impression created by the De Jager affidavit is not one of a panel acting independently. Also, the tone of the internal deliberations between panel members regarding the compilation of the reports does not strike one as impartial. It documents in detail their attempts to diffuse a problem of their (and "SU stakeholders’") own creation.  

The handling of the Wilgenhof matter has not only led to reputational damage for former and current Wilgenhof residents, but it has also damaged the standing of the SU as institution. Wilgenhof alumni remain convinced that facts and rational thinking will prevail in a court of law.  

Issued by Jaco Rabie, Spokesperson of the Wilgenhof Alumni Association, 30 October 2024