By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane is seeking to urgently interdict the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) from continuing with its probe into allegations of maladministration and impropriety at the University of Fort Hare.
The SIU investigation implicated Mabuyane in alleged fraud in the awarding of degrees at the University of Fort Hare.
In his papers, Mabuyane lists President Cyril Ramaphosa, the SIU and the university as respondents in the matter. The matter will be heard on the 13th of June.
Mabuyane is challenging the constitutionality and lawfulness of the proclamation which he argues falls outside the purview of section 2(2) of the SIU Act. He also wants Ramaphosa’s decision to issue a proclamation declared unlawful and invalid.
In his affidavit Mabuyane, argues that he was wrongly included in the investigation at the university.
“I have been wrongly included in the ambit of the investigations in terms of the proclamation because I was once admitted and registered for a Master’s programme in Fort Hare’s faculty of Public Administration. But even this is not a rational basis for investigating me. Like any other prospective student, I applied to the university for admission into a programme offered by one of the university’s faculties.”
Mabuyane allegedly solicited the assistance of former UFH Professor Edwin Ijeoma, his team of “research assistants”, and ghostwriters to help flesh out his Master’s proposal despite not meeting the requirements to pursue this qualification without honours.
According to the forensic report, Mabuyane didn’t do more than just paraphrase and add bits of information to “his” Master’s proposal, as Ijeoma and his team did most of the work.
The report said the team also helped him prepare for his presentation to a panel of academics, adding that the evidence against him was too compelling to ignore or claim he was unaware of the plot to earn him the qualifications in fraudulent fashion.
Ijeoma’s secretary, Candyce Dawes, was also implicated in the report.
The UFH said it had handed investigation reports into the Department of Public Administration fraud allegations to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
Special Investigating Unit (SIU) spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago says they will be challenging Mabuyane’s application to interdict the unit from continuing with its investigation.
“We as the SIU have received the papers that were filed at the Bhisho High Court yesterday and we are the second respondent, the first respondent being the president and the third respondent being Fort Hare itself. From our side as the SIU, we are going to be defending the matter and we are saying that the investigation on Fort Hare will continue.”
He adds that a lot of work has been done in the investigation.
“A lot of work has been done but unfortunately, we do not give commentary on the investigation because facts change at any given time. We will come back to the public when there are outcomes we need to share with them.”
Ramaphosa signed a proclamation authorising the investigation into the University of Fort Hare in August 2022.
Fort Hare’s vice-chancellor and principal Professor Sakhela Buhlungu said the university would work with law enforcement agencies to root out corruption at the institution.
“The Presidential Proclamation on the SIU and the UFH is no indictment of the university’s academic project and the standing of our qualifications. The accreditation and quality of UFH programmes have always been and remain beyond reproach. Instead, the proclamation targets very specific irregular practices at the Bhisho campus involving the department of public administration,” said Buhlungu.