In a week in which revelations emerged of the government paying R269.7-million to "ghost students" monthly, Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande blatantly ignored court orders on placing Unisa under administration.

In a scathing judgment in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Acting Judge André le Grange questioned whether a bleak time had emerged in South Africa's democracy when a minister flagrantly disregarded court orders in executing "unlawful" decisions and accused Nzimande of not being a man of his word. 

On Wednesday, the High Court ordered Nzimande to rescind his directives, dated 27 October, that Unisa be placed under administration, a decision that violated a 27 August ruling stopping the minister from appointing an administrator at Unisa for what he said was "financial mismanagement" at the 450 000-student institution.

The alleged mismanagement, Nzimande stated in a 4 August letter to the university's council, included a R176-million wage bill that he said amounted to 78% of the institution's total expenditure.

Nzimande was brazen in his decisions, the court said, and "disregarded" an undertaking he had made that, pending the finalisation of the review application launched by the Unisa council to review and set aside an independent assessor's report that recommended placing Unisa under administration, he would not act at the tertiary institution.

In his 1 November order, Le Grange said Nzimande – who understood that his "undertaking" on 27 August to not act on Unisa was indeed a court order – now believes that the judgment was not "an operative order, wherefore it can be, and was, disregarded by the minister", who broke the law by appointing an administrator.

"Considering [Nzimande's] defence … this court could not but wonder if we have reached a state in our democracy where a minister's – a public litigant, who has a much higher duty to respect the law and uphold the constitutional principles – word and undertaking means nothing," Le Grange asserted.

The judge added that Nzimande's decision to appoint an administrator for Unisa was "and is in direct conflict and breach of the [27 August] order, and unlawful". 

Nzimande, in actively breaking the law, argued that Unisa's council had no right to take him to court and challenge his administrator appointment because the council was "dissolved" after his 27 October directive. 

He announced on 28 October that he had appointed former University of Johannesburg vice-chancellor Professor Ihron Rensburg as the administrator at Unisa. Rensburg previously served as an administrator at Vaal University of Technology. 

But Le Grange rejected Nzimande's argument, saying the minister was already prohibited from dissolving the council by an earlier court order.

"The proper functioning and authority of the courts would be considerably undermined if functionaries [such as the minister] are allowed to disregard direct orders," the judge stressed.

Unisa had approached the courts on an urgent basis over the weekend to challenge Nzimande's appointment of Rensburg as the administrator after the minister dissolved the institution's council.

In a statement on Wednesday, Unisa said it welcomed the ruling by the court. 

"The university believes that this court decision is sound and correct, given that the matter pertaining to the review of the independent assessor report, which largely formed the basis of the minister's decision, is still before the court and yet to be concluded.

"Management also re-emphasises the point that it is not fighting the minister but merely exercising its responsibility towards the institution, its stakeholders and the public at large by preventing an unnecessary disruption of the execution of its missional mandate," reads the statement. 

The minister's flouting of the law comes in a week when the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which falls under Nzimande's department with a R47-billion budget for 2023, reportedly continued to pay 157 980 "ghost students" monthly allowances of R1 650 each and more than R260.7-million was disbursed to unknown persons. 

News24 sourced documentation showing that NSFAS budgeted to pay 547 980 students monthly, but only 390 000 students were paid since July, leaving a 157 980-student discrepancy. 

Despite failing to answer News24's questions for about a week, NSFAS denied the claims on Wednesday.

NSFAS board chairperson Ernest Khosa said: "The News24 article which claimed that NSFAS paid monthly allowances to 157 980 ghost students is factually incorrect and improbable. NSFAS takes measures to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of student information through The Know Your Customer validation process."

Meanwhile, Unisa's council said on 28 October that Nzimande's appointment of an administrator was in contempt of the high court. 

"The university is also of the strong view that the announcement of the minister's decision at the time when our students are in the middle of the examinations is ill-timed and insensitive."