Six former all-black universities in South Africa are under government investigation in an effort to "stabilise" their finances and administration, as well as restore confidence.
The audits were announced by education minister Sibusiso Bengu during a parliamentary debate on his budget. He said staff shown not to be performing properly would be fired.
The universities being audited are Fort Hare, Transkei, North West, Zululand, the Medical University of South Africa, and the University of the North at Turfloop - all historically disadvantaged institutions that have suffered campus unrest.
"These diagnostic and remedial measures will be buttressed by an important programme of leadership development for chief executives, councils and student leaders," Professor Bengu said.
In parliament, the minister was polite about historically disadvantaged institutions. But a few days later he wrote a scathing article claiming that some of their leaders were invoking history to hide "patent mismanagement".
"Consider the simplistic and misleading equating of the non-payment of fees by students with the historical disadvantage of institutions. This flawed logic would be laughable if it was not advanced by eminent academics," he wrote. "Let us call the financial crises of some of our institutions what they really are - poor debt control and financial mismanagement."
Institutions should not expect the government to take responsibility for students who do not pay their fees, Professor Bengu continued. Rather, normal credit control measures should be applied.
Weak financial controls and poor management systems characterised failing universities. "The time has come for our institutions to be subjected to rigorous scrutiny to determine the incidence of fiscal corruption."
Vice-chancellors of historically black institutions have called repeatedly for a "Marshall plan" - mainly large cash injections - to alleviate their financial predicaments. Professor Bengu argued that it might not be morally justifiable to pump large amounts of taxpayers' money into institutions with inept financial management.
The government has, through the Higher Education Act, earmarking financial allocations and redress funding - "fulfilling the constitutional imperative to facilitate equity and development in historically deprived institutions. Beyond that, our institutions' individual and collective academic acumen has to see them forward."
The government will spend R6.6 billion (Pounds 650 million) on higher education this year. South Africa's 21 universities will get R4.4 billion, up 8 per cent on last year, while the growing technikon sector will receive R1.7 billion, up 12 per cent.
Historically white universities will receive the highest levels of funding, which is based on student numbers and pass rates.
The University of Pretoria, which now has 40,000 students, will get the highest subsidy of R539 million.