The contract appointments of four members of Wits’ senior executive team will end over the next twelve months.
It has been confirmed that the vice-chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor (DVC) of finance and operations will leave Wits by May next year.
Prof Loyiso Nongxa will end his 10 year term in May 2013 while the Wits senate voted not to extend the term of office of Prof Patrick Fitzgerald.
In addition the DVC: academic, Prof Yunus Ballim’s term ends in December 2012. He had extended his contract by two years following a five-year term, and his post will have to be re-advertised in line with Wits policy.
The Wits Council approved a two-year contract extension for DVC: advancements and partnerships, Prof Rob Moore.
Moore said Wits was one of the most exciting universities to work at.
“No other campus in this country has got this extraordinary infrastructural development going on at the moment,” he said.
Fitzgerald, whose five-year term of office ends in December 2012, had the option to reapply for the post but chose not to.
“I feel released … like a great burden of responsibility is shifting from my shoulders,” he said.
Fitzgerald said he would enjoy having his freedom of speech on leaving the post.
“If council gives a view, that is the view. You take the view or you resign … I’m going back to a life where I can say whatever I want.”
Fitzgerald said he was proud of the university’s financial turnaround, and its infrastructure projects, which are a “common legacy of the entire management team”.
Fitzgerald plans to return to academia, and said he would “probably” join the Academic Staff Association of Wits University (Asawu), whose demands could afford him a relatively relaxed time and “a good salary.”
The positions of DVC: academic and DVC: finance and operations, will be finalized over the next three months.
Published in Wits Vuvuzela 13th edition, 11th May 2012
