March 2007

The School of Development Studies (SDS) Board of Studies requested a University review of the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) to establish a firm footing for subsequent developments (including the anticipated end of Professor Patrick Bond’s directorship in October 2007), a review which only began in September 2007, led by Dr Peter Krumm (Department of Physics).

29 February 2008

After hundreds of hours of deliberations, the Krumm Committee issued its Report, which included the conclusion that “Closing down or removing CCS from UKZN does not appear to be an option as it was rejected by all interviewees and panel members. Through its international recognition and standing, CCS has put UKZN on a world map in social science, a position the University dare not risk to lose.” The report is here:

mid-July 2008

Until mid-July 2008, no written communications were offered by Dean Donal McCracken, in spite of repeated (unanswered) queries, about the status of the Krumm Committee Report, and no effort was made to address the Report’s analysis or recommendations in the Faculty Board or Faculty ExCo, and no further communications were made to CCS or SDS requesting reactions.

16 July 2008

Dean McCracken informed Professors Vishnu Padayachee (Head of the School of Development Studies) and Professor Bond that due to financial reasons the Centre would be closed, but upon notification of new funder commitments and a reserve, acknowledged that "negotiations are still open".

17 July 2008

Professor Bond sent Dean McCracken the audited 2007 Financial Statement which showed a healthy surplus of twice the Centre’s annual income or expenditures, as well as an indication of funder commitments to core administrative expenses for 2009-2010.

23 July 2008

Dean McCracken sent Professor Padayachee a letter instructing him not to permit further surplus expenditure or fundraising by the Centre for Civil Society, while refusing to reply to ongoing emails from Professor Bond requesting information about the process.

30 July 2008

Dean McCracken did not answer requests by Professor Bond for a briefing prior to his own announcement to an SDS and CCS staff meeting, that Deputy Vice Chancellor Fikile Mazibuko had decided that CCS would be closed as of December 31 2008; that existing staff contracts would be terminated at year end (with staff invited to apply for other UKZN jobs); that Professor Bond would resume his tenured SDS chair; and that the “good” projects (unspecified) of CCS would be brought into a “refocused” civil society programme in SDS.

30 July 2008

The staff of CCS sent a written Appeal to Dean McCracken and then on July 31 and again on August 4, to Deputy Vice Chancellor Mazibuko, an Appeal which was never acknowledged or answered.

4 August 2008

The staff of SDS met and endorsed the CCS Appeal and made their own written request to Professor Mazibuko for a rationale for the closure of CCS, a request that was acknowledged but not answered.

6 August 2008

The Mercury newspaper carried a statement - never corrected - that Deputy Vice Chancellor Mazibuko "knew nothing about the alleged decision to shut down the centre". Professor Bond continued to make written requests for written copies of the July 30 letter, a letter which has been kept secret, as well as for the CCS Appeal to be answered, without success.

8 August 2008

An official University statement claimed that it was on the basis of the Krumm Committee Report and deliberations with Professor Padayachee that the decision to close CCS was taken – and notwithstanding repeated requests for a public correction of that incorrect information, Pro Vice Chancellor Dasareth Chetty’s office never complied.

11 August 2008

Vice Chancellor Malegapuru Makgoba confirmed to Professors Padayachee and Bond that the CCS decision-making process to date was inappropriate, and the “academic voice” was yet to be heard, and that henceforth the correct process would be immediate consideration of the Krumm Report in Faculty Board and in other committees of academics.

13 August 2008

The Faculty Board for Humanities, Social Science and Development voted 33 to 1 (with a half-dozen abstentions) to support "the continuation of the Centre for Civil Society", and the Board established a subcommittee to come up with solutions, to report in no more than a month's time.