'Whistle-blower remains suspended at Unisa despite being cleared'

AFRIFORUM is calling out the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) for alleged double standards after it quickly established a task team to investigate governance issues at the College of Cape Town (CCT) while ignoring similar allegations at Unisa, where Dr Reshma Mathura remains suspended despite being cleared of corruption allegations.

- YOSHINI PERUMAL

Dr Reshma Mathura

Mathura, Unisa’s acting chief financial officer, was suspended in April last year. It had been alleged that she had received notification of four “unexpected and unsolicited” cash deposits of R330 into her private bank account, on April 2, 2024.

She remains suspended 18 months later, despite being cleared of any wrongdoing months ago.

Mathura claimed that her suspension had been part of a “dirty tricks” campaign because she had exposed corruption and suspicious transactions at the university

Her legal team, AfriForum's private prosecution unit, said the deposits were fraudulent and made “to slander her and remove her from her position” at the university.

This week, Afriforum said the DHET’s tolerance of the alleged corruption at Unisa exposed “apparent double standards”.

This after Minister of DHET, Buti Manamela, announced that he had established a stabilisation and dispute resolution task team to investigate the governance crisis at the CCT.

“For nearly 18 months, AfriForum’s private prosecution unit had exposed blatant mismanagement and abuses of power at Unisa that were targeted at staff who have investigated and uncovered rampant corruption plaguing the higher education institution.