WILGENHOF REPORT WAS SECRETLY ALTERED, AFFIDAVIT BY CAMERON REVEALS

27 October 2024

Stellenbosch University (SU) has hidden the existence of an original final version of the independent panel’s report into Wilgenhof. That version gave the university’s management an alternative to closure. The fact that this original version of the report was edited at the behest of the Rector, with support from the Council Chair, should be of serious concern to all SU alumni, current students and university personnel. 

On 25 October an affidavit by retired Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron was filed in relation to the Wilgenhof Alumni Association’s application to the High Court to review and set aside the investigative report and the decisions made by SU flowing from it. Edwin Cameron is a celebrated legal mind and human rights lawyer known for his contributions to social justice and equality. Cameron is also the current Chancellor of SU and is a Wilgenhof alumnus. His honesty and objectivity in this matter is, as is his legal career, admirable.

His affidavit lays bare the severe procedural violations and the lack of independence in the management of Stellenbosch University’s investigation and their recommendations regarding Wilgenhof. This includes the existence of an earlier final version of the investigative report which offered SU management the option to keep Wilgenhof open while engaging with residents and the broader community in a consultative process. This recommendation was conspicuously positioned at the very end of the report, and also as an appealing alternative to closure - in the panel's words: it appealed to them.

This original version of the report, including the additional recommendation that Wilgenhof not be closed, was sent to Chancellor Cameron on May 31, 2024.

When the SU Rectorate published the final report on June 12, however, the option of non-closure was not present in the report. The SU Rectorate then accepted the only recommendation in the report, which was closure.

“The Wilgenhof Alumni Association has been participating in all the processes set by Stellenbosch University this year in good faith and with the eye on a constructive resolution. But the existence of an alternative report shows that SU did not act in good faith toward Wilgenhof alumni and current students. The university will now have to answer damning questions about secrecy, tampering and dishonesty. What should have been a fair and transparent process, turned out to be the opposite,” said Jaco Rabie, spokesperson of the Wilgenhof Alumni Association.

Cameron’s affidavit lays bare that:

• The investigative panel did not act independently and altered their findings due to the intervention of the Rector, Wim de Villiers, as well as the Council Chair, Nicky Newton-King.
• Neither the Rector nor the SU Council Chair informed the Council that the report under their consideration had been materially altered. The Council thus took a decision while being completely unaware of the alternative recommendation.
• Chancellor Cameron questioned the process several times and also asked for the Council to be informed of the developments regarding the report, but this was never done.
• It would seem the SU Rectorate and SU Council’s Executive Committee, two distinct and supposedly independent bodies, met at the same time and accepted the altered report on June 12 before it was presented to the full SU Council. This was also not disclosed to the Council.

“These shocking missteps underscore why the Wilgenhof Alumni Association had to approach the High Court for intervention. The university’s management has withheld critical information, access to minutes, recordings and decisions relating to Wilgenhof. The names of the 'independent experts' used in the investigative report have also been kept secret. It is our belief that the investigative panel, and subsequent engagements through submissions to the Council, have all simply been window-dressing so that the university can force through a predetermined decision,” said Rabie.

The actions of the SU management have led to immense reputational harm for current and former Wilgenhof residents. The Wilgenhof Alumni Association strongly feels that the only way to remedy this is by continuing to seek redress through a High Court review.

Statement by the Wilgenhof Alumni Association, 27 October 2024