Observations on the Observance of Administrative Law in University Students Disciplinary Proceedings: a Survey of Selected Universities in Southern Africa

Abstract

The case for the transformation of educational institutions, particularly the universities, in South Africa has been well pleaded. Many universities have set up transformation structures of one form or another to give direction and pace to the efforts to create a non-racial education system. The administration of student discipline on university campuses must be examined in the context of that transformation. In South Africa, it should also be viewed in the light of the recent fundamental Constitutional developments which seek to close the door to authoritarianism and usher in an era of self-sustaining legitimacy. While those developments are taking place indiscipline and misconduct at university campuses occasionally shift the focus from the primary task at hand.1 Ironically, some of the violations of disciplinary rules at university campuses have been explained away as radical efforts to either jump start, or accelerate, transformation. It is imperative, even in the face of such rationalisation, for universities to inculcate in their students an appreciation of the values that underpin the society which the new South African social order strives for. It appears that they can do this if university authorities uphold these values in their interaction with students. This survey examines the practice at some of the residential universities in South Africa, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, with a view to determining the extent to which these practices are consistent with the dictates of administrative la w as it obtains in each country.