University of Fort Hare (UFH) Vice Chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa for protection after his bodyguard was shot dead.
Mboneli Vesele was killed by a bullet outside Alice Buhlungu’s home on Friday, in what was suspected to be an assassination attempt.
Police are investigating the incident.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande noted on Saturday that all indications are that the attacker or attackers targeted Buhlungu.
‘It can’t be business as usual’
When Buhlungu was moved from the vice-chancellor’s residence, he appealed to Ramaphosa to ensure his safety.
The professor has been on a mission to clean up corruption at UFH.
“I think this time, not the local police, the police station commander, the provincial police commissioner or the national police commissioner, but the president should assure me that I am safe,” he said. Sunday Times.
“I can get all kinds of platitudes and condolences. I need someone who runs the country to say to me and my executives and staff: ‘You can be sure that you are covered, you are protected, you are safe.’ That’s where my head is now.”
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Buhlungu said he was of the view that universities “are killing the field and cannot be business as usual”.
This is not the first attempt to kill Buhlungu.
In March last year, a man captured on CCTV footage climbed a wall and shot three people at Buhlungu’s house.
University spokesperson, JP Roodt previously told TimesLIVE that UFH has seen some violent attacks recently after the university started clamping down on corruption.
In a separate incident, the fleet and transport manager of the university, Petrus Roets, was shot dead in a suspected hit near the Gonubie off-ramp.
SIU probe
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has launched an investigation into allegations of maladministration in the awarding of honorary degrees at UFH.
It is also tasked to investigate – among other things – the source of civil servants to study in the various faculties of the institution for the personal benefit of individuals.
The unit’s proclamation, signed by Ramaphosa, covered allegations of illegal and improper conduct that occurred between November 2012 and August last year.
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Buhlungu said he believed the SIU would crack down on those involved in corruption, hence the latest attempt to survive.
“Now it’s very close. Siu [Special Investigating Unit] going to nab the big man and the big man is now at risk. That’s why now they want to kill this thing and the only way to kill it is to kill me,” he said.
“I suspect [the latest attack] for now we are close to a bigger fish; we are close to the center of it all. We’ve touched that nerve, so they do it. He wants to stop something.