13/08/2026
MEDIA STATEMENT / MEDIA RELEASE - 13/08/2026
LCCI Welcomes Independent Assessor but Calls for Urgent Protection of UNIVEN During the Investigation
Thohoyandou, Limpopo — 13 August 2026. The Limpopo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) welcomes and commends the decisive action taken by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mr Buti Manamela, in appointing Professor Norman Duncan as Independent Assessor to the University of Venda.
The appointment demonstrates both decisiveness and considered leadership. The Minister exercised patience, fairness and procedural wisdom by engaging the University, allowing Council an opportunity to make representations and considering those representations before taking concrete statutory action. This measured approach strengthens the legitimacy of the process and underscores the seriousness with which the governance concerns are now being addressed.
The LCCI particularly welcomes the broad terms of reference, which extend beyond allegations against any single individual to include the conduct and effectiveness of Council and Executive Management, fiduciary responsibilities, litigation, financial decisions, legal costs and governance matters involving Convocation.
However, the appointment of an Independent Assessor must not be mistaken for the resolution of the crisis. The Minister has made clear that the assessment is a fact-finding process and does not displace Council or Executive Management, while the Independent Assessor is required to report within 90 days. LCCI accordingly calls for exceptional restraint regarding irreversible decisions connected to matters under investigation, together with the immediate preservation of relevant records and evidence, while allowing the University’s ordinary academic and administrative functions to continue.
LCCI therefore calls on Council, Executive Management, Senate, Convocation, alumni, organised labour, students and the broader University community to cooperate fully with Professor Duncan and to place the long-term interests of the University above individual or factional interests.
We welcome the appointment of the Independent Assessor, but emphasise that it is the beginning of independent fact-finding, not the end of the governance crisis.
The investigation must proceed urgently and independently, while the institution, its evidence, its academic mandate and its reputation are protected from further harm.
ISSUED BY Dr Albert Jeleni
President of the LCCI & President of NUMCCI | 065 924 3925
