Processes followed with regard to the naming of a campus residence and the planned unveiling of a bust of Dr L M Mangope during the 30th anniversary of the Mafikeng Campus of the North-West University
Institutional Office – In 2008 a consultative process was started towards more personalised naming of campus residences at the Mafikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU). The Campus Student Representative Council (CSRC) of 2008/2009 requested names - and motivations for the suggested names - from the student body.
The suggested name received for the Lost City Residence was Lucas Mangope, with the motivation that he was the founder of the former University of Bophuthatswana.
The Campus Residence Committee, comprising representatives from Campus Management, Student Affairs, managers and wardens as well as CRSC members, approved of these names and motivations during June 2009, and recommended approval by the Campus Executive Committee.
The Campus Executive Committee met during July 2009 and, although accepting the suggested names in principle, requested that this suggestion required communication and consultation to afford students further opportunity to give input. Ensuing from this resolution, the residence counsellor of the 2009/2010 CSRC communicated the proposed name for the previously named Lost City Residence to the students residing in that residence to determine if there were any objections. No objections were received.
As part of the 30th anniversary of the Mafikeng Campus, the CSRC of 2009/2010 suggested that “a statue for Lucas Mangope be erected on campus to honour his contributions to this University”. This statue refers to the bust that was removed from the Garona Building in Mmabatho.
The Campus Inaugural Lecture Committee, chaired by the Vice-Rector Academic and comprising academic, student and community representatives, resolved that in the light of the 30th anniversary celebrations, Dr Mangope be requested to deliver a prestige lecture.
From the preceding account, it is evident that the initiative to name one of its campus residences after Dr Lucas Mangope came from the broad student community. It is also evident that this decision - along with the moving of the bust and the request to Dr Mangope to deliver a prestige lecture - went through a thorough consultative process, and that it continuously and overtly involved different university stakeholders (both internal and external) at different stages of the consultative process.
The NWU is convinced that by embarking on a student-driven process to name a residence, as well as the broad consultation that accompanied the new placement of the bust and the delivery of the prestige lecture, the Mafikeng Campus Management acted within its mandate and did not contravene on a procedural level.
Enquiries: Louis Jacobs, Director Corporate Communication, Institutional Office
North-West University
018 299 4918 / 082 901 6435
Date: 30 September 2010