By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former spy chief and prisons boss Arthur Fraser has claimed to hold a degree from one of the most prestigious higher learning institutions in the world: the University of London.
Its alumni (and honorary alumni) include the likes of Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II, Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Einstein.
Fraser was Department of Correctional Services commissioner until 2021 when his contract expired. He had been State Security Agency (SSA) director-general before he was transferred to correctional services in 2018, following damning corruption allegations against him in the running of the domestic intelligence services branch.
He signed off Zuma’s release from Kwazulu-Natal’s Escort Prison on medical grounds.
Fraser later revealed he overruled the parole board, and opted to place the former president on medical parole instead.
According to the City Press, Fraser’s claims in his CV that he enrolled for a BA degree in film and video production at the prestigious institution, graduated with the degree in hand, was not true.
An investigation by journalist and author Jacques Pauw found the former spy boss never set foot in the University of London.
The institution also does not offer a degree course in film and video production, read the report.
Pauw said he sent questions to correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo during the investigation in 2020, but never got answers to his query.
Nxumalo promised to revert to him after speaking to Fraser, but he never did.
While Pauw continued to ask for the proof of the qualification from Fraser and his lawyer Eric Mabuza, details of Fraser’s qualifications were altered on the department’s website.
“Since I communicated with you on March 4 2020, Fraser’s profile on the department of correctional services website has changed. He now claims that he obtained a BA (Hons) degree in film and video production from the ‘London Institute’.
“There is no London Institute,” Pauw said in an email to Nxumalo.
There was no London Institute listed on the British Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, the Study-UK British Council or the UK Council for International Student Affairs.
Said Pauw: “There is a London Film Institute, but it doesn’t offer university degrees and doesn’t even have a website. There are 18 universities in London – and the London Institute is not one of them.”
Mabuza replied that since his client Fraser was litigating against Pauw, he preferred to deal with all matters before the court of law.