DA requests parliamentary investigation into nepotism at Fort Hare and Stellenbosch
4 May 2023
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has today written to the chairperson of the portfolio committee on higher education and training to request an urgent parliamentary investigation into allegations of nepotism at higher education institutions. The request follows after disturbing reports of entrenched nepotism practices in at least two of our country’s significant public universities: Fort Hare and Stellenbosch.
In the case of the former, the front page of a prominent Sunday publication last week described nepotism as “a fine art” at Fort Hare. The South African Police Service (SAPS) is currently probing nepotism involving a former Dean of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture as well as a former residence manager. In the case of the former Dean, it is alleged that she used her influence to get her son reinstated into an academic programme after he was failed for poor academic performance.
In the case of Stellenbosch University, a whistle-blower has levelled similar allegations of nepotism against the Vice Chancellor, after he allegedly granted two of his nephews admission to study medicine even though they did not qualify on merit.
Nepotism poses an existential threat to the tertiary education sector, as it undermines both academic excellence and the empowerment of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. By making family relations a decisive criterion for admission to university, nepotism constitutes a form of corruption and unfair discrimination against all other applicants who are disfavoured in the process.