Fako asked to introspect on Tafa
Baboki Kayawe | Friday November 18, 2016 15:01
He told the Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies and Public Enterprises this week that the double role Tafa plays for the institution is ‘perceived’ conflict of interest.
He said the University has done its best to ensure Tafa’s multiple hats do not interfere in institutional decision-making.
Tafa is a partner in one of the law firms, Collins Newman and Co, offering legal consultancy to the UB.
“We have reduced what goes to Collins Newman and Co. Most of the cases they are now handling are those that have taken several years,” he said.
“We have done our best to ensure that there is no interference, though the conflict can be perceived not real, but with implications,” Fako said.
However, committee chairperson Samson Moyo Guma lambasted him saying the two roles grant Tafa a seat and access to information likely to influence decision-making.
“It is not a question of perceptions, it is reality. These are things that you yourself need to take decisions on,” he said.
He emphasised that it could not be right for the UB council chairperson to offer legal consultancy.
“Speak to your conscious about that,” Guma added.
UB has maintained that Tafa’s engagement in its legal affairs were prior to his appointment to council chairmanship. Last year, Parliament was informed Collins Newman and Co, and Chibanda Makgalemele and Company, were the two law firms that offered legal services to the university.
Answering a question in Parliament on the issue, then assistant Minister of Education, Kgotla Autlwetse said the University Council had considered the matter and agreed that where there was conflict, which necessarily did arise and could affect all members of the council at one point or the other, the concerned member would recuse himself or herself as per the conflict of interest policy.In a previous interview with UB public affairs manager, Mhitshane Reetsang she said UB saw no conflict of interest in this arrangement. “We read and hear about the conflict of interest in the media and as discussed by those concerned. The university has experienced none of such conflict,” she said then.
According to Reetsang, there has never been any instance where Tafa had to recuse himself from a case because of conflicting interests.
She explained UB had no plans to engage other private law firms besides the current ones, unless the need arose.