By Joseph Dumbula
The University of South Africa has controversially denied conferring honorary degrees to Malawian musician Patience Namadingo socialite Pemphero Mphande and businessman Mansoor Sharif Karim.
On Tuesday, Unisa said it has become aware through social media and media inquiries that suggest that the three people claim to have received honorary doctorates from the university in 2020, 2022 and 2023 respectively.
“Unisa wishes to state categorically that it has not conferred any such degrees on the trio and any assertion to this effect is simply not true. These three individuals are also not among the candidates considered and approved for the awarding of honorary doctorates in 2020, 2021 and 2023. Neither have they ever been nominated, considered or approved for such honours at any period whatsoever. No honorary degrees were awarded in 2022,” Unisa said.
Unisa, through its acting registrar, Professor Moloko Sepota, said it has seen some of the certificates displayed by these individuals on social media and concludes that these do not belong to them.
“The certificates displayed by Messrs Mphande and Namadingo respectively are definitely not Unisa degree certificates. For the record, the awarding of honorary doctorates at Unisa occurs through a strictly controlled process, with nominations and approvals handled through various governance structures of the university until final approval by the University Council,” Sepota said.
“Once such approval has been secured, the conferment itself is done at an open graduation ceremony of the university, in full view of those attending and presided over by a duly authorized official of the university, usually the Chancellor or Principal and Vice-Chancellor.
“Any claim of the awarding of an honorary degree which did not follow this process cannot be an official Unisa process.
“As a university, we distance ourselves from these false claims and also condemn in the strongest terms the misuse of the Unisa name for fraudulent conduct. Relevant officials within the university have been directed to look into this matter and ensure that these individuals are held to account and also made to retract any false claims,” said Sepota.
Mphande and Namdingo have since defended themselves.
For instance, Mphande wrote: ‘’ “If UNISA is denying this today, either they are a part of the scam or they too are being scammed,”.
He added that he would be happy to cooperate with UNISA to “get to the bottom” of the matter and suggested meeting with officials.
