Johannesburg - The University of Limpopo won’t let a military veteran study towards a law degree because he didn’t finish school more than 40 years ago and officials don’t know how to assess his decades of experience.
So retired SANDF colonel Phillip Dhlamini, 63, put to use that experience as an activist, unionist, Apla (Azanian People’s Liberation Movement, which was the armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress) veteran and Department of Defence labour relations officer, and filed an urgent court action against the university authorities and Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande.
“I drew up the papers myself and I will argue the matter myself,” Dhlamini told The Star on Tuesday.
His legal action is being opposed, but the respondents haven’t filed papers yet.
In his papers before the high court in Pretoria, Dhlamini described how he applied to start a four-year LLB degree this year – he had to courier his application due to the postal strike – applying under the rules for mature students who don’t have the required matric results.
Dhlamini wants the university to apply the policy of recognition of prior learning (RPL) for mature students, and acknowledge his alternative qualifications, experience and knowledge.
He did everything the university told him to while his application was processed, including queueing in the hot sun for hours for his “opportunity of a lifetime”.
He offered references from an attorney, two senior counsel and a judge.
The Department of Military Veterans (DMV) tried to plead his case with the university, but was told that the university didn’t have an RPL official who dealt with law and that it would take two weeks to train someone.
Dhlamini has missed registration, orientation and the start of the academic year, and will now miss the law students’ first tests.
In his application, Dhlamini called for the University of Limpopo to admit him in terms of the legal standards for university entrance requirements, which allow universities to accept candidates without the required education qualifications provided that the candidate is at least 45 years old and “may reasonably be expected to complete the curriculum”.
Dhlamini had started school only at the age of 9 due to illness and a speech disability, and left after finishing Standard 6 (now called Grade 8).
In the 1970s and 1980s, he represented unions and workers in industrial and labour courts, and in the 1980s he completed a certificate course at Wits University in industrial relations.
As an Apla veteran who was integrated into the SANDF, he achieved the rank of colonel and was responsible for military labour relations within the Department of Defence. He was also deputy chief negotiator at the military bargaining council and at times the acting chief negotiator. He achieved a certificate in management from the University of Tshwane and the joint senior command and staff programme certificate from the SA National War College.
He also presided over the PAC disciplinary hearing that expelled then president Letlapa Mphahlele.
The Star