Page 20 - UniZulu Annual Report 2020

The following changes to Council and Council committee membership occurred during the year under review:
• The representative for uMhlathuze Municipality is still
awaited despite several requests sent to the Municipality.
• On 25 June 2020:
- it was announced that the Vice-Chancellor, based on Section 20(3)(9) of the UNIZULU Statute, appointed Prof. S.P. Seepe (Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Institutional Support) to serve on Council as Internal Council Member. He was further appointed by Council to serve on FCC
- Council approved the deviation from the Statute by appointing the ‘interim student structure comprising 12 students representing various student structures until the finalisation of the 2020/2021 SRC elections. The interim structure as constituted shall have full powers, duties and functions of an SRC administrator conferred on it in accordance with the SRC Constitution. The two students appointed by the interim students’ structure shall serve on Council as the ‘Convenor’ and ‘Coordinator’ substituting the student representation on Council.
• Mr T. Kulati resigned from Council during the year under review.
• Mr B. Makhoba (SRC Administrator) resigned on 8 March 2020 from this position and membership on Council was terminated.
UNRESOLVED MATTERS OF SIGNIFICANCE
– COUNCIL AND COUNCIL COMMITTEES
No significant matters were affecting the Institution that were unresolved during the year.
CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT
The University owns and maintains 330 buildings totalling approximately 180 000 square metres of floor space, which is located on 156 hectares of land. The University also undertakes a variety of capital improvement projects that include all aspects from conceptual planning, contract documentation, specifications, design details, project management, and quality control through to final commissioning, operation and decommissioning. The University has acquired 15 000m2 of land within walking distance of the Richard’s Bay campus, which will be used to build student residences.
The majority of the second quarter of the year under review was spent under lockdown conditions pronounced on the country by the President in terms of regulations under Section 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act 2002:
Workplace Plans, Regulation 16(6)(b) – Government Gazette, April 29, 2020 (the DM Act’). In response, the University initiated several measures linked to the national Risk- Adjusted Strategy and regulations with three main focus areas being physical environment and spaces preparation, screening, testing initiatives and provision of sanitisers, as well as measures to support remote teaching and learning. The focus on the three has been to ensure that curbing the spread of the virus on both campuses – Richards Bay and KwaDlangezwa – is achieved.
As a result of the above, most of the infrastructure plans were temporarily affected and delays were unavoidably suffered. During this reporting period, the Planning and Infrastructure team was diverted to supporting the implementation of essential service measures under COVID-19, requiring uninterrupted attention such as water, energy and sanitation, to mention but a few, considered key in curbing insurgence and the spread of COVID-19 as well as other opportunistic infections associated with poor sanitation and hygiene. A UNIZULU COVID-19 Task Team was set up to ensure that the University’s workplace plan was in place and that all guidelines, regulations as gazetted were adhered to and implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on campuses.
The University’s approach to health and safety is made up of a series of internal measures to mitigate and reduce the prevalence of the virus on both campuses. In line with this approach, all buildings and student residences are being thoroughly cleaned and sanitised regularly. Sanitisers are available for all buildings, including lecture halls, the Library and laboratories. All the above measures are undertaken following the Higher Education and Training: Health, Wellness and Development Centre guidelines and Regulations cited in the DM Act.
The Planning and Infrastructure team initiated an exercise to consider space modifications to de-densify existing student accommodation and lecture halls and the reconfiguration of common areas are being reviewed in line with COVID-19 spatial planning principles. The University continues to assess all available spaces to ascertain requirements for student accommodation and lecture hall spaces on an ongoing basis. UNIZULU is also working with professional designers and structural engineers on a plan to provide an accurate number to plan accommodation units along with the spacing and social distancing norms as per legislated guidelines.
The Master Project List (MPL) was approved in April 2020, marking the first step of the final preparation of the Infrastructure Implementation and Project Management Plan (IIMP). The master project list is confirmation of
UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND ANNUAL REPORT 2020
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