| In
the rear view mirror
As Walter Sisulu University celebrates
its 5th anniversary on 1 July 2010, those turbulent merger years are certainly
long forgotten, particularly by new staff and students who have joined
the university since 2005.
As we reflect on how far we have come
over the past five years, let’s take a peek in the rear view mirror and
look back with pride on a journey well-travelled. Certainly, there are
legacy issues that remain to be dealt with; but when one considers the
enormity of the merger concept, we can stand proud today as members of
the Walter Sisulu University community with what has been achieved thus
far.
WSU’s 5th anniversary is cause for celebration
when one considers the almost ‘mission impossible’ that the three merging
institutions faced in 2002 when told they were to merge. Three historically
disadvantaged higher education institutions spread over a 1,000 km radius
in the second poorest province in South Africa; one a traditional academic
university; the other two, technologically-focused ‘technikons’ established
in former ‘homelands’ during the 1980s; a combined student body of around
24,000 students, all loyal to their particular institution; a body of
academic and administrative staff well-versed in their own particular
institutional culture … this was quite some challenge. Fear of change;
fear of the unknown; fear of retrenchment; the sorrow of loss and protection
of institutional interests were just some of the emotions that ran high
during the three-year merger process. Of significance is that our merger
was the only merger in the country of three historically disadvantaged
institutions. In most other cases, well-endowed institutions were paired
with historically disadvantaged institutions to create a more equitable
balance in a higher education landscape originally designed for an apartheid
ideology.
30 May 2002 marked the beginning of the
career journey of a lifetime for those involved in the merger when Cabinet
accepted the “New Institutional Landscape for Higher Education in South
Africa.” On 9 December that same year the then Minister of Higher Education,
Professor Kader Asmal MP, announced that Border Technikon, Eastern Cape
Technikon and the University of Transkei were to merge to form a new comprehensive
university in the Eastern Cape.
It took three years of lateral thinking,
hard work, patience, long hours, much travel and visionary foresight for
those who had to lead the merger process. The merger guidelines issued
by national government provided the route map to be followed. The process
was divided into three phases. The pre-merger phase commenced with institutions
having to comply with the legal requirements and begin preparatory work
to facilitate the implementation process. The interim phase was marked
by the date of the actual establishment of the new institution by Government
Gazette and at this point the interim council came into effect for a period
of six months – this could be extended by the Minister for a further six
months maximum. The primary responsibility of the interim council was
to appoint interim management for running the daily operations of the
new institution, to constitute other governance structures and ensure
a new substantive council was put in place. The third and final post-merger
or full implementation phase began with the taking of office of the substantive
council and appointment of substantive management positions. The full
merging of all units and processes was to take place during this phase.
One of the most hotly contested issues
was that of naming this new, comprehensive university. Government guidelines
had requested that institutions not be named after individuals. You will
notice that there is no other South Africa university named after an individual!
At an historic, thirteen-hour meeting held at the former Border Technikon
- now WSU’s Potsdam Site - it was eventually agreed on proposing the name:
Walter Sisulu University as our choice. This name, with some additions
which have now been removed, was legislated in November 2003. Now that
a name had been established, the new university began to take on a shape
and character. The Marketing and Communication team comprising staff from
all the merger partners, adopted an interim brand to popularize the concept
and begin entrenching the new name.
As far back as 2004, the three councils
of the legacy institutions adopted the present vision and mission that
had been crafted by broad stakeholder consultation and consensus for the
new Walter Sisulu University.
The merger date was originally due for
1 January 2005 and a team of evaluators from national government had declared
the WSU merger ready for launch. Unexpectedly, the Minister announced
on 9 December 2004 that she was going to delay the merger by six months
to 1 July 2005. While this delay was disappointing, it did allow time
to sharpen merger planning and achieve many more merger milestones before
the merger date.
One of the highlights of the WSU merger
was the creation of an award-winning brand and merger communication campaign.
The WSU Integrated Campaign for merger marketing and communication won
first place at the national Unitech Awards in 2005 against stiff competition
from the competitors such as national giant, Unisa. This brought about
a sense of pride in the name Walter Sisulu University and the striking
brand design.
The merger process was managed by a Joint
Merger Manager, Dr Danie Jacobs, an external contract appointment who
had had merger experience; a merger manager at each of the three merger
partners: initially Dr Somadoda Fikeni, followed by Mr P Mfazwe at Unitra,
Mr L Jack at Eastern Cape Technikon (ECT) and Dr A Dandala at Border Technikon
(BT). The three vice-chancellors, Professor Nicky Morgan of Unitra, Professor
Quadra Mjoli at ECT and Professor Len Brunyee at BT played a leading role
together with fourteen Joint Merger Task Teams which had to work on harmonizing
operations across the board. Professor Morgan was appointed Interim Vice-Chancellor
as of 1 July, 2005 and the interim council was headed by Professor Patrick
Fitzgerald.
1 July 2005 was marked by a flag-lowering
ceremony at each of the three legacy institutions and at the new head
office, WSU’s Nelson Mandela Drive site at the Mthatha Campus, the new
WSU flag was raised for the first time and black and white balloons set
free to soar into the wintry sky.
For Walter Sisulu University,
the journey had just begun. The first marketing slogans captured the mood
of the times: Shape history; Make history; It all starts with us; WSU
is here; Your future starts here. In shaping this history, Walter Sisulu
University has indeed a heavy responsibility to future generations right
now, to close the final few gaps of this historic merger and move forward,
united, into a future which will carry a legacy of pride in the name we
are honoured to bear. And to aspire to and live the values embodied in
our Academic seal: Excellence, Wisdom and Integrity.
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