A top administrator who was fired from his post as chief financial officer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal has accused the institution’s vice-chancellor, Professor William Malegapuru Makgoba, of committing perjury.
Kanthan Pillay, who was sacked in 2008, made public allegations last week that Makgoba had lied under oath during a court case in the Durban Regional Court in 2009.
In that matter Makgoba was called to testify in the corruption case against UKZN’s former dean of management studies, Professor Pumela Msweli-Mbanga, and former junior lecturer Nobubele Potwana. Msweli-Mbanga was accused of accepting R16 000 to help Potwana obtain her doctoral degree when she was Potwana’s supervisor. Msweli-Mbanga was also alleged to have been Pillay’s lover and to have assisted him in obtaining his MComm degree for which he was ultimately sacked.
University spokeswoman Nomonde Mbadi told The Mercury that Makgoba was aware of the allegations and was “seeking advice” on the matter.
During the 2009 trial Makgoba apparently stated that he had supervised the work of a PhD student, TS Pillay, who had done his doctorate in clinical biochemistry at the University of Cambridge in the UK between October 1986 and August 1989.
Kanthan Pillay said he “intuitively knew that Makgoba had lied during the proceedings but had never had the chance to prove it till now’’. He claimed this matter would “open a can of worms” around Makgoba.
Kanthan Pillay’s allegations of perjury are backed up by an affidavit which TS Pillay made at the Cato Crest police station last month, as well as a transcript of the court proceedings and a letter from TS Pillay’s supervisor from Cambridge university, Professor Kenneth Siddle.
In the affidavit, TS Pillay states that his work was supervised only by Siddle. “The computer I did the writing on was provided by Professor Makgoba and this was the sole extent of his involvement,” TS Pillay said in the affidavit.
The Mercury has also had sight of the letter purportedly written by Siddle, who is currently a professor of molecular endocrinology at Cambridge. In the letter Siddle states that he was the “principal adviser” for the dissertation which was submitted by Pillay in February 1990.
Mac Mia, the chairman of UKZN’s council, confirmed to The Mercury that the council was aware of the allegations against the vice-chancellor.
“We’ve received something and we will investigate it,” he said.
TS Pillay, who eventually became a professor, served as deputy vice-chancellor and head of the College of Health Sciences at UKZN from 2010. He resigned from the university in January because, he said, he had been continuously “harassed and undermined by some elements of staff”.
He said it was linked to his “difficult” task of restructuring the college which included the merging of departments and staff cuts. TS Pillay said the situation became so bad that anonymous letters as well as a parcel containing “microbiological material” were sent to his home and that his wife and baby were exposed to the matter.
They were not harmed although the contents of that package had started seeping out. He said there had been “no interpersonal or policy disagreements” between himself and Makgoba. However, since his departure he claimed Makgoba had “blocked” his chances of being employed at other institutions.
Yesterday he told The Mercury that he had only become aware of Makgoba’s claims recently which was why he had only gone to the police last month. Had he been aware of the issue earlier, it would have had a “significant bearing on my decisions over the last few years”.
TS Pillay said he would not have left his job at the University of Cape Town, where he had been “very happy”, and joined UKZN when he had been headhunted by Makgoba. He said his reason for going to the police was just for “the truth to be known”.
“No one other than myself could verify what was in the transcript, which is why it took such a long time to become public knowledge,” said TS Pillay.
He said the only other person who could have verified the information was Siddle. He was alerted to Makgoba’s claims by Kanthan Pillay.
However, he emphasised that there was no link between Pillay’s issues with UKZN and his. “He (Kanthan) is the link, but he has his own issue.”
The university said in a statement that it had “instituted an investigation into Dr Tahir Pillay’s conduct after receiving information from Tip-Off Anonymous”.
“At the conclusion of the investigation, Dr Pillay opted to resign with immediate effect. His resignation was effective 31 March 2012.”
