Prof David Norris says Edwin Makwati acted prematurely
Prof David Norris who has endured a running battle with staff union over the paradigm shift presented by the university’s new strategic direction, is now caught up in a scathing legal duel with one of his law lecturers, Edwin Makwati.
Makwati accuses Norris of varying the decision of the Academic Disciplinary Committee (ADC) to expel one Tshepang Mabaila, a student reading for Bachelors of Law Degree at the University of Botswana.
Papers filed in court show that the offences for which Mabaila was found guilty happened during the 2022/2023 Undergraduate Academic Period which began on 16 June 2022 and ended on 16 December 2022.
Semester two of the 2022/2023 period began on 16 January 2023 and ended on 14 June 2023.
The Departmental Academic Disciplinary Committee (DADC) had found Mabaila guilty of academic misconduct after determining that he had paid another student, Laone Campbell Lekganyane, the sum of P1, 000 to impersonate him for the purposes of writing examination papers for LLB courses, LAW 201, LAW 235, LAW 236 and LAW 237 during the second semester of the 2022/2023 Academic period – a crime Mabaila owned up to.
The DADC imposed a sanction of a written reprimand and the loss of credits of the courses that had been the subject of the examinations.
In his answering affidavit Prof Norris contends that in terms of the UB’s Academic Policy, the DADC has no authority at all to impose a sanction of a written reprimand. A written reprimand shall normally be imposed only for misconduct that has no bearing on the performance in the examinations.
According to the Academic Policy, the appropriate penalty for misconduct that has a bearing or potential bearing on academic performance shall normally be loss of credits and retaking of the course.
In accordance with the university’s Academic Policy, a report from the DADC was sent to the Department of Academic Services for action by the Academic Disciplinary Committee (ADC).
The ADC dealt with Mabaila's matter and made a recommendation that an additional penalty of expulsion from UB be imposed, a recommendation in terms of paragraph 3.1.6 of the Academic Policy, which Norris in his answering affidavit, avers the ADC has no authority to make.
In November 2023, the ADC’s recommendations were sent to the Vice Chancellor for a final decision, which he made on 28 February 2024 by endorsing the guilty verdict on Mabaila.
He further imposed a sanction of suspension of four (4) semesters, an effective period of two years, which sanction would commence from the first semester of the 2024/2025 academic period.
Makwati, who was part of the DADC that presided over the Mabaila case, has since approached court seeking it to review and set aside the VC’s decision to register Mabaila as a student for the Bachelor of Laws for the second semester of the 2023/2024 academic year.
Makwati also wants court to review and set aside the decision by the VC to vary the sanction of expulsion that was recommended by the University’s Academic Disciplinary Committee (ADC) to a suspension of four semesters.
Norris contends in his answering affidavit that Makwati has no legal standing to institute these proceedings and seek the relief he does, because he does not have a direct and substantial interest the VC’s impugned decision.
In fact, the only person with a direct and substantial interest in the VC’s impugned decision is Mabaila, yet surprisingly for Norris, the applicant has not joined Mabaila as a party to the proceedings.
According to UB’s governance structure, the Vice Chancellor is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Disciplinarian of the university. The DADC reports its findings to the ADC, which in turn submits its recommendations to the VC, the Chief Disciplinarian of the University.
Norris contends that Makwati was not a member of the ADC, whose recommendation for Mabaila’s expulsion he has varied, and therefore has no legal standing to bring the proceedings to court.
As for Makwati’s plea seeking court to review and set aside the decision to allow Mabaila to register for the second semester of the 2023/2024 academic period, Norris avers that the decision was not made by him as the university’s chief executive officer, but by the Department of Academic Services.
Norris avers that if Makwati contends that the DAS decision to re-admit Mabaila was unfair, unlawful and unreasonable and stands to be reviewed and set aside, then he is under obligation to join the Director of DAS who is the “decision-maker” in respect of such decision, in the proceedings.
As for the relief sought by Makwati, the VC contends that a significant portion of it has been overtaken by events and therefore rendered moot, purely academic and unenforceable.
For example, the relief to review and set aside the decision to allow Mabaila to register for the second semester of 2023/2024 is overtaken by events, since the second semester came to an end on 26th July 2024.
Makwati also seeks an Order to have the Vice Chancellor render a written guarantee of non-repetition and an apology to University of Botswana student community and citizens of Botswana for favouritism, maladministration and disregard for orderliness, a relief, which Prof Norris contends, falls far outside the purview of the court in determining the relevant issues in respect of review proceedings.
