The shocking
revelations are contained in an urgent chamber application at the high Court in
harare filed by the Association of University Teachers Association (AUT)
seeking to stop Friday’s graduation ceremony.
UZ lecturers
went on strike at the beginning of the final semester for those who will be
conferred with degrees at the ceremony to be presided over by President
emmerson Mnangagwa.
The lecturers
said they want the courts to prevent UZ authorities from conferring ‘bogus’
degrees based on compromised academic processes in contravention of UZ Act
provisions.
On August 6,
university authorities issued a notice indicating that the graduation ceremony
would be held on August 15.
In a shocking
development, the Council of Social Workers is already investigating serious
allegations that students, who were doing a post graduate diploma in social
work wrote examinations for a module, which they were never taught.
“The Council of
Social Workers has noted with concern the serious allegations surrounding the
University of Zimbabwe’s post graduate diploma in social work's working
community health course,” the council wrote in a notice to all social workers
and stakeholders on July 25.
“Investigations
are currently underway that will inform decisive action to ensure full
compliance with the standards and ethics governing the social work profession
in Zimbabwe in order to uphold the integrity of the profession.”
The notice was
attached to the court application. Last month, The Standard exposed the scandal
at the UZ's department of social work where students never sat for an
examination in one of the modules, but were awarded final marks.
In his
explosive founding affidavit, AUT president Phillemon Chamburuka claimed that
in the faculty of law there was an unprecedented number of distinctions despite
the fact that students attended lectures that were below the prescribed minimum
threshold.
“Communication
in the faculty of law shows that 60% of students in the international, economic
and investment module received distinctions after being taught for two weeks by
an inexperienced lecturer,” Chambaruka wrote.
“In the student
and life skills law course, students had a single lecturer, yet 233 of the 469
students got distinctions. Both these are abnormal and unprecedented results.”
Communication
from the Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) filed as part of the
evidence in court showed that final social work students were asked to sit for
a French examination despite the fact that they were never taught the module.
The examination
period was also allegedly marred by the delayed release of results, and
students writing examinations without undergoing three weeks of learning “of a
minimum 150 hours per module.”
“In some
instances no learning took place at all due to unavailability of lecturers yet
students were scoring outstanding marks,” AUT said in one of the
correspondences with the university’s administration.
Chambaruka
argued that allowing the graduation ceremony to go ahead would be a travesty of
justice.
“I aver that
this upcoming graduation certifies that students have been taught and examined
according to the standards set in the university regulations and have met the
minimum bodies of knowledge required by the regulations of their respective
faculties,” he wrote.
“This premature
scheduling not only places undue financial pressure on students, but also
undermines their ability to participate meaningfully in the graduation ceremony
because they have not completed their studies.
“The applicant
contends that the impending graduation is tainted by irregularities and should
not proceed.”
It also emerged
that on July 30, AUT wrote to UZ vice-chancellor Paul Mapfumo detailing the rot
at the institution where they compared the unfolding scandal to the awarding of
a dubious PhD degree to Mugabe in 2014.
“At stake is
the future of innocent students, who paid considerable funds to get decent
education,” AUT wrote to Mapfumo.
“The university
has already suffered reputational damage following the matter of the former
first lady Grace Mugabe and unprocedural conferment of a PhD degree.
“The matter
resulted in the prosecution of the previous vice chancellor Levi Nyagura, yet
the Grace Mugabe scandal pales in comparison to the present matter in scope,
scale and depth.
“It is
unprecedented, catastrophic, irreparable harm to the standing, reputation and
goodwill of the University of Zimbabwe.” Standard
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