The University of Limpopo has expressed frustration at what it believes to be a serious misinterpretation of a court decision in a matter brought by two aggrieved students. The Limpopo division of the High Court of South Africa is widely reported as having ordered the institution to confer a Master’s Degree on Philisiwe Cele and Ntando Mnguni, who mounted the legal challenge after being deregistered for the qualification based on their prior qualifications not meeting the requirements for a Master’s Degree.
The incorrect interpretation of the order has resulted in criticism against the institution including by parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education whose chairperson Tebogo Letsie who has made damning comments against the institution including that it is possibly does not understand the National Qualifications Framework.
“There seems to be a problem at the University of Limpopo with understanding a simple National Qualification Framework,” said Letsie, arguing that there’s no difference between a University Degree and an Advanced Diploma, which are issued by the University of Technology ( formerly Technikons). The University of Limpopo which has been in existence for 66 years took exception of the criticism by Letsie and others.
The two students took the University to court demanding to be conferred with Master’s qualifications after the institution deregistered them as candidates after it emerged they did not have degrees ( a key requirement for one to enroll for a Master’s). The court said it was not in a position to dictate to the university if the students should graduate or not and directed the institution to revisit the internal decision that found the two to not qualify for mastery.
“The decision taken by the First Respondent on the 30th of May 2023, in terms whereof the Applicant’s registration and conferral of the Master’s Degree was refused, is hereby reviewed and set aside. The decision is hereby referred back to the First Respondent for redetermination,” reads the judgement, also pointing out it was not the court’s duty to determine if the two deserved to be conferred with the qualifications they were seeking, nor was it competent to do so.
“The University of Limpopo ( UL or the University) has noted with concern some misleading statements about the judgment in a matter between the University and two Master’s students. These statements allege that…” the court has compelled UL to award the affected students the said qualifications,”. This statement is false and misleading. As an institution, we are concerned that even some public figures who should be paragons of virtue, integrity, and honesty have joined the chorus to mislead the public,” said University spokesperson Victor Kgomoeswana.
The university is now threatening legal action after Letsie refused to withdraw and apologise for making defamatory remarks against it even declaring boldly on his Facebook page that he will not be bullied.
“We have responded to their letter and the only post they will get from us here is this one We will not be Bullied we will not be dictated how to do our job outside the formal parliamentary,” said a buoyant Letsie in a Facebook post attached to a letter responding to the university’s legal representatives.
In the letter itself, Letsie was uncompromising alleging among others that the leadership of the institution had been appointed unlawfully.
“The VC is occupying the position of the VC against the University Statute (presumably intended to mean statute). We are on record as having put to your clients that the Chair of Council is occupying the post irregularly and against the University statute. Your clients are costing the university money with cases that are pointless to defend. Your client is lying that you have responded to information we asked for since the 20th of November 2024,” said Letsie in a poorly structured letter that’s not punctuated.
“In simple terms, I will not be apologising for standing for the truth”, he said daring the institutions to take action if so wanted to.