Chairperson of UBASSU, Lebohang Letsie issued a petition yesterday in which the union passed a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Otlhogile and his senior management team. This is the second time the union has taken this course of action. The union was prompted by evidence on the ground that the Vice Chancellor lacked the requisite governance skills to lead the university on a general basis and in times of crisis.

The petition was delivered to Minister of Education Jacob Nkate, chairperson of UB Council, President of Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), and Student Representative Council.

UBASSU accuses the VC of lacking the leadership ability to lead the beleaguered institution. "He maintained both a distance and silence from the beginning of the unrest.

The Vice Chancellor has further showed poor judgment by suspending, dismissing or expelling SRC members from the university despite failure to grant them a forum in the University Senate, so they could state the students' concerns," they argue.

They ask for the reinstatement of the suspended, dismissed and expelled students, blaming the student unrest on the VC's 'poor leadership'.

At the heart of the controversy, they argue, is the university's inability to fully deal with the repercussions of semesterisation. "It is the university senior management that should have advised the ministry that its new directive on student retakes was not feasible given that most courses are strictly semester-based without immediate remedial measures such as supplementary examinations," they say.

They say the lack of alternative measures of making up the credits has led students to 'bank unmet credits' thereby prolonging the students' stay at the university.

"The Vice Chancellor and his management demonstrated a callous lack of concern over the students' grievances. Management appeared to be in a state of paralysis and helplessness even when students were brutalised and injured by the police," states the petition. UBASSU question the legal basis for Otlhogile's closure of the university warning that he may have overstepped his power.

"It is our informed assertion that while the Vice Chancellor may suspend staff or students, he lacks the statutory power to close the university.  Such power is vested only in the full council," say the petitioners.

They accuse the administration of discriminating against local, undergraduate students given that the university remains open to both post-graduate students and their international counterparts.

"What further puzzles us is the ambivalence surrounding the definition of international students, given that some of them are pursuing undergraduate studies. The question is, as we speak, are all international students on campus?," they wonder.

The petition blames the Minister of Education for failing to properly deal with the complications arising out of semesterisation and not having adequately communicated with students about the new system of disbursing allowances.

However they further blame the ministry for targeting SRC leaders.

They say that the Vice Chancellor should vacate his post, and that the ministry and the university should implement a programme to address the number of problems caused by the new systems, including semesterisation.

"The ministry and the university management should update and coordinate their student databases to allow an evidence-based assessment of the issue of retakes, taking into account the organisational lapses that have occurred and which should not necessarily be blamed on students," they conclude.

Otlhogile referred Mmegi to the university's spokeperson Ray Mangope. Mangope was not available by the end of business yesterday.

Meanwhile all attempts to contact Minister of Education, Jacob Nkate proved futile by the time of going to press.