Pretoria – Unabated corruption and lack of accountability within Unisa’s management will not stop workers from getting the 10% salary increment they want. They have vowed to shut the university down until their demands are met.
On Thursday, workers affiliated to the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) were undeterred by the pouring rain as they protested outside the city’s campuses.
They vowed to bring to a halt all university activities until they had received the money.
Negotiations between unions and management deadlocked when workers were offered 6%. They were demanding 10%.
Sello Billa, branch chairperson for Nehawu at Unisa, said they were adamant in their demands, and they wanted to highlight what they called the blatant corruption within the institution.
“We believe the reasons the institution can’t afford to pay its workers decent salaries is because of the corruption which goes unchecked.”
The striking workers brought the registration process to a stop, denied some staff access to the campuses and left their own posts unattended.
Billa said the university management had wasted millions purchasing ineffective IT systems that were now worthless, and no one was being held accountable for the misuse of funds.
One system meant for the recruitment, registration and student exam timetables cost the institution R96million but it collapsed after six months of use.
“That is just one of the many systems that failed,” said Billa.
Millions of rand had been lost which could have been used to pay workers.
“In a normal organisation, if you purchase a system and it does not work, and if that was not done through proper procedures you must account for it But that does not happen at Unisa. Any member of management can do as they please here because there are no consequences.”
Billa said they were not willing to accept excuses of a shortfall in payment from the government.
“They want to blame the #FeesMustFall protests, but they only experienced a shortfall of R60m. A lot of money is spent on the rot in Unisa.”
The strike would continue across the campuses until their demands were met, said Billa.
Unisa spokesperson Martin Ramotshela said workers went on strike sooner than they legally could. He said they had notified management of their intentions on Wednesday, and a 48-hour notice was required.
“Today’s action is unprotected,” he added.
The parties met and failed to agree on a pay rise figure on Thursday.
They will meet again on Friday.
“A decision has not been taken as yet to extend registration but the university will conduct an assessment on the impact of the strike and how those wanting to register were affected.
“Whatever intervention that will be decided upon will be in the best interests of those affected by the strike so that those wanting to register and study with the university are not denied the right to do so.”
On allegations regarding the mismanagement of funds, he said the onus was on those with the evidence to provide it to the university for investigation.
“Salary negotiations are based on what the books say and that is what we can offer; other issues will be dealt with in a separate process.”