The Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) in Durban, which told parliament it could not buy laptops for students because it lacked reserves, has given its staff the highest salary increase of South Africa’s 26 public universities.
The MUT is the smallest of the six universities of technology, with 13,896 students last year, but it gave staff a 5.08% pay rise.
MUT spokesperson Mbali Mkhize confirmed the increase. “The decision comes after the council sat at its special meeting on May 20 and approved a 5.08% salary increase that the university management and organised labour agreed upon.”
Mkhize said the university decided to pay the amount this week “to reduce any unnecessary delays in getting the money to staff, who should have received it as part of their salaries since the beginning of the year”.
In a presentation to parliament in February, after being summoned to discuss governance-related issues, MUT said a lack of reserves “resulted in the inability to purchase laptops for students” and its current status was “totally reliant on the good offices of the DHET [department of higher education & training]”.
The chair of the portfolio committee on higher education, Mohlopi Mapulane, said this week he could only comment on MUT’s salary increase after “we have all the facts”.
“But we will be asking for the minister’s intervention in the affairs at MUT because we continue to receive submissions and representations about the state of affairs there. The overwhelming view of committee members is that MUT must be placed under administration because the council is not helpful,” Mapulane said.