The National Tertiary Education Union says workers are being victimised for speaking out against bloated executive management structures, while high salary packages affect financial sustainability at universities.

The National Tertiary Education Union says workers are being victimised for speaking out against bloated executive management structures, while high salary packages affect financial sustainability at universities.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) says many workers at universities face victimisation after speaking out against maladministration.

Addressing the parliamentary committee on higher education and training on Wednesday, 2 April 2025, NTEU General Secretary Grant Abbott, who led the presentation with NTEU branch chairperson Titus Williams, said there had been many instances at the University of Fort Hare of staff not speaking up for fear of being dismissed.

"The issue of members not speaking up is because of fear of victimisation and their livelihoods being at risk. Management just uses disciplinary committee processes to get rid of people who speak out against them. They don't enable an atmosphere of free and rigorous engagement on campus," said Abbott.

Abbott told the committee and Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) officials who were present that there were also issues around unfair salary packages.

"I have Fort Hare documents that I can show that a manager in the VC's (vice-chancellor's office) got a very nice increase and was recently arrested... so there is no...