Cape Town - The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is probing new Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet after Fort Hare University officials implicated her in the institution’s qualifications fraud.
After matric, Kiviet allegedly illegally skipped undergraduate studies, registered and obtained an Honours degree in administration and a Master’s degree in public administration, and had a non-credit-bearing shortcourse certificate with hand-written results, according to an affidavit cited by News24.
Disgraced former Fort Hare professor Edwin Ijeoma was allegedly at the centre of a qualifications scam that operated at the university.
In August 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed two proclamations allowing the SIU to probe allegations of corruption and maladministration at the university and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.
One of the proclamations authorises the SIU to focus on the alleged qualifications scam, which included, among other transgressions, Ijeoma allegedly recruiting politicians and public servants for registration for post-graduate degrees in public management and administration without “students” going through undergraduate programmes.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago confirmed the investigation into Kiviet but added that the unit did not issue updates on ongoing investigations unless there were outcomes.
The affidavit is quoted as saying “There’s no proof either that the candidate (Kiviet) was accepted at Honours through RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning). The candidate applied for (Honours) and was admitted without NQF level 7 or its equivalence or RPL.”
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwanya didn’t respond to queries. Approached for comment, Kiviet’s personal assistant said the minister had been in meetings all day and would be available after 4pm.
In a statement, the EFF called Kiviet an “academic fraud”, asked that she resigns immediately and for her to be barred from registering at any other university.
“The corruption of the ANC knows no bounds, and this is further reason for all the people of South Africa to join the national shutdown on March 20, 2023, to uproot the massive corruption of the ruling party that has filtered into academia,” the EFF said.
DA spokesperson on public service and administration, Dr Leon Schreiber, is preparing a request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to obtain proof that Kiviet committed “degree fraud” at the university.
“It is yet another indictment on Ramaphosa that he has not only appointed one of the biggest, most bloated and most expensive Cabinets on earth but that he has packed his executive with incompetents and malcontents,” Schreiber said.