dlk001
Executive Member
008/03/10
WALTER Sisulu University’s alumni association will hold a teleconference with its 20 or so councillors today to discuss and scrutinise university council chairperson Somadoda Fikeni’s bogus doctorate degree.
And the institution’s branch of the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has scheduled a special meeting to start its own investigation into Fikeni’s qualifications.
Fikeni – a prominent political commentator, chief operations officer of the National Heritage Council and also a board member of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation – came into the spotlight last week after the Dispatch revealed that he had been lying about his PhD degree, claiming to have received it from Michigan State University in 2002.
Yesterday, alumni association chairperson Kwanele Mafani said such conferences are called “if and when the need arises”, but added: “We will discuss the doctorate issue.”
He echoed university spokesperson Karuna Gopal’s sentiments last week that Fikeni’s doctorate was not a prerequisite to chair the highest decision-making body. “He was elected as the chairperson of council as he holds a qualification from the University of Transkei. He was voted into that position.”
Nehawu chief negotiator Vuyo Macozoma said committee members would meet today. “We were shocked by the revelations and we are now seeking the truth.”
Macozoma said Nehawu has, since Friday when the story broke, already started asking questions of those close to Fikeni. “We are still busy with investigations, but preliminary findings indicate that that he did qualify for his doctorate, but just that it had not been conferred on him. But there is nothing concrete yet.”
An investigation by the Dispatch found that Fikeni was merely enrolled at MSU between August 1996 and December 2002 and that he never earned his PhD. - By CHANDRÉ PRINCE
WALTER Sisulu University’s alumni association will hold a teleconference with its 20 or so councillors today to discuss and scrutinise university council chairperson Somadoda Fikeni’s bogus doctorate degree.
And the institution’s branch of the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has scheduled a special meeting to start its own investigation into Fikeni’s qualifications.
Fikeni – a prominent political commentator, chief operations officer of the National Heritage Council and also a board member of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation – came into the spotlight last week after the Dispatch revealed that he had been lying about his PhD degree, claiming to have received it from Michigan State University in 2002.
Yesterday, alumni association chairperson Kwanele Mafani said such conferences are called “if and when the need arises”, but added: “We will discuss the doctorate issue.”
He echoed university spokesperson Karuna Gopal’s sentiments last week that Fikeni’s doctorate was not a prerequisite to chair the highest decision-making body. “He was elected as the chairperson of council as he holds a qualification from the University of Transkei. He was voted into that position.”
Nehawu chief negotiator Vuyo Macozoma said committee members would meet today. “We were shocked by the revelations and we are now seeking the truth.”
Macozoma said Nehawu has, since Friday when the story broke, already started asking questions of those close to Fikeni. “We are still busy with investigations, but preliminary findings indicate that that he did qualify for his doctorate, but just that it had not been conferred on him. But there is nothing concrete yet.”
An investigation by the Dispatch found that Fikeni was merely enrolled at MSU between August 1996 and December 2002 and that he never earned his PhD. - By CHANDRÉ PRINCE
