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Golden handshake offer to avoid hearing

Two days before Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) vice-chancellor Prins Nevhutalu was served with a letter with the intention to put him on special leave, he was offered a golden handshake to resign.

The payout offer was allegedly made during a meeting Nevhutalu had with the chairman of the university council Mbulelo Bikwana and another council member, Meko Magida. The claims are contained in an e-mail exchange on October 17 between Bikwana and Nevhutalu, where he talks about the meeting at a hotel in Cape Town.

Nevhutalu, who was put on special leave last month, was appointed to the position in 2013 and took it up in January 2014. "Chair. I want to confirm that you and Mr Magida made an offer for me to resign and that you will pay me the remainder of my contract period. This was said to protect my integrity and professionalism," wrote Nevhutalu in an e-mail.

"The offer was made based on impending reports of various investigation on me with particular reference to the [departure agreement with former executive director of finance Vernon] Van der Linde case, the article which appeared in The New Age newspaper, and lack of implementation of the 50% percentile to the . staff.

"I will be contacting a legal representative to approach you for any further details," he said.

Nevhutalu has only served two years of his seven-year term.

Bikwana responded to the e-mail on the same day: "We agreed at yesterday's meeting that we'll take the process forward and we'll serve you with the charges as you requested. There is no need for your legal representative to call me before you receive the charges."

On October 18, Bikwana sent another e-mail to Nevhutalu with the letter with the intention to put him on special leave, which came with an attachment of the framework of charges. In the letter, Bikwana told Nevhutalu that it was the council's intention to put him on special leave and that he had an option of making written submissions as to why he should not be put on special leave.

Three days later, Nevhutalu was placed on special leave until further notice. His charges include gross dereliction of duty, insubordination, negligence, breach of trust and incompatibility.

Nevhutalu allegedly caused a loss of about R2.6-million for CPUT by failing to participate in negotiations for an exit agreement for a senior manager.

According to the charge sheet seen by Sowetan, Nevhutalu committed gross dereliction of duty after he failed to give effect to a mandate as determined by council in May last year to participate in the negotiating of a departure agreement with former executive director of finance Vernon  van der Linde.

This led to "an approximate loss of R2.6-million to CPUT and which matter has still not been concluded," reads the charge sheet. Council also accused him of failing to implement new remuneration percentiles as mandated by the body and that this has affected the morale of staff.

macupeb@sowetan.co.za

 

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