The University of Fort Hare is adamant that they do not want Mbali Silimela to graduate this season.
They have demonstrated this by filing a notice for an application for leave to appeal a judgment that had compelled them to put his name on the graduation list for this May.
Mbali (26) was a student at the University of Fort Hare and he was studying towards a Bachelor of Education.
This year, he took the university to court because he was not given the marks he thought were due to him because a lecturer had not marked his assessment on time. He approached the Bhisho High Court, without a lawyer, on an urgent basis, asking it to review a decision made by the university’s senate.
The court then ordered the university to review his work and change the marks accordingly. When the university didn’t comply with the court order, Mbali went back to court and this time, the court ordered the university to allow him to graduation during the May graduation season.
In his founding affidavit, Mbali says the application is for the review and setting aside of a decision taken by the Senate of the University on 2 February 2023 to withdraw or revoke (his) EDW 401 marks of 57%, which had been conferred on him by (the) Faculty of Education and Faculty board of the first respondent on 12th January 2023.
This time, judge Nozuko Mjali presided over the matter and heard that at the heart of Mbali’s challenge is contention that the Senate’s decision is irrational and unreasonable.
Read more | Student suing Fort Hare says he ‘never enjoyed my time as a student at UFH’
Further that the Senate misdirected itself as to what it was required to do in terms of the order.
“Explicit from the papers is that the late of submission of the Mbali’s 57% mark was not of his own doing but was due to the lecturer, Mr Macanda’s dilatory conduct. Common cause to the parties is that the decision to condone the applicant’s late filing of work was granted on 8 December 2022, a period of five days before the closure of the submission of the marks into the system on 13 December 2022.
“Macanda only marked the applicant’s work on 11 January 2023. This was after a lot of persuasion through a number of emails from Mbali. By then, the entry of marks into the portal had closed and could only be done with the permission of the senate. Had Mr. Macanda acted timeously, there would be no need for the approval of senate for the entry of the altered applicant’s mark into the system.”
The court order was handed down on 9 May, but even after his victory, the university still hasn’t communicated with him about the graduation dates.
The education faculty is meant to graduate on 18 May, and Mbali is not certain that his name will make it to the list.
Read more | Court compels UFH to allow education student to graduate this season
“I have emailed the Dean and he said he is willing to comply with the court order that says I can graduate, but he needs to get instructions or authorization from the higher ups, including the registra."
Instead, Drum is in possession of the university’s notice of application for leave to appeal in which they say Judge Mjali has misdirected herself.
In their notice, from their Cape Town based lawyers, the university says Judge Mjali erred in ordering them to accept the corrected mark.
“Her ladyship erred in ordering (Mbali’s) name to be placed on the list of graduates to be conferred during the graduation in May 2023. (She) erred in ordering the university to pay the costs of the application.
“(She) erred in not finding that the genesis of the respondents failure is the late submission of his EDW401 assessments, and instead finding that the late submission of the 57% was not of (Mbali’s) own doing but due to the lecturer Macanda’s dilatory contact,” the court papers read in part.
