Africa-Press – South-Africa. Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande criticised the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for expanding the scope of its University of Fort Hare investigation beyond the presidential proclamation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation in August, which mandated the SIU to investigate allegations that Eastern Cape politicians and public servants were recruited by the university’s School of Government and Public Administration to study postgraduate degrees.
Nzimande visited the university on Friday to meet with the council, to discuss ongoing issues at the institution.
Asked about the recent developments, including Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane taking the SIU to court regarding its investigation into his enrolment at Fort Hare, Nzimande said the SIU appeared to be going beyond the signed proclamation.
Mabuyane was granted an interim interdict this week.
“The other thing I think I must say, which is somehow enforced by this court judgment involving the premier, is that the SIU must stick to the proclamation of the investigation,” the minister said.
Nzimande said:
He said the SIU was not equipped to probe the admission of students via the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) programme.
Ndzimande said the SIU should stick to investigating corruption and hand over the part of its investigation, which deals with the RPL and other qualification matters, to institutions assigned by law, such as the Council for Higher Education and the South African Qualifications Authority.
“You can’t say just because the premier [Oscar Mabuyane] doesn’t have Honours, therefore it was wrong for him to be registered for Masters – if he went through an assessment of the Recognition of Prior Learning, it would be wrong,” Nzimande said.
“I have a duty to protect that, as a minister of higher education and learning, because if you take out Recognition of Prior Learning you are actually in trouble,” the minister said.
He also accused the SIU of taking forever to conclude its investigations.
Nzimande said the first SIU investigation at Fort Hare started in 2021 – but, to date, he had not been given a progress report.
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