The University of South Africa (UNISA) has distanced itself from claims by three Malawian socialites who claim to have received honorary doctorates from the institution.
The university unequivocally denied conferring honorary doctorates on Malawian socialite Phemphero Mphande, Malawian musician Patience Namadingo, and Mansoor Sharif Karim.
Spokesperson Edgar Rathelele said they had become aware, through social media posts and media queries, that the trio has been claiming 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 that 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,” Rathelele said.
The university further added that the certificates displayed by Mphande and Namadingo respectively are 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. 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 authorised 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,” he said.
Mphande on November 4 posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Today at UNISA in RSA I was awarded honoris causa a Doctorate degree in community development in recognition of the Humanitarian work that have seen us raise over 200 million for the sick and others in need. This Honorary PhD belongs to all of us that do charity work together” (SIC).
This has however been disputed.
“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 Acting Registrar, Professor Moloko Sepota.
According to a report by Malawi Voice, Mphande and Namadingo released statements responding to circulating social media reports regarding “the alleged fake honorary Doctorate”.
The publication said Mphande, while giving room to cooperate with any investigation, said in a statement that, he was contacted by individuals who have been awarding honorary Doctorates on behalf of the university.
“If Unisa is denying this today, either they are part of the scam or they too are being scammed. I personally would be happy to work with Unisa to get to the bottom of this,” says part of his statement.
Part of his short statement Namadingo says; “We don’t think Doc organised this big event with Professors himself and filled the Unisa Great Hall with South Africans just to fool Malawians.”