Mabuyane may face fresh SIU probe into ‘fraudulent’ master’s admission

Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane's alleged fraudulent master’s degree admission may once again come under scrutiny after the SIU was given the greenlight to widen its probe into academic fraud at the University of Fort Hare (UFH).

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday signed six new and two amended proclamations — the latter relating to maladministration and corruption allegations at Fort Hare and the national and provincial departments of transport.

Regarding Fort Hare, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) got an amendment of Proclamation No. R.84 of 2022, which is now Proclamation 194 of 2024.

Under the previous proclamation, the SUI probe into the awarding of degrees specifically focused on honours qualifications. It has now been extended to include bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees.

“The amendment results from the SIU’s investigations which revealed that the SIU needs to investigate further areas that the existing proclamations did not cover,” SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kyanyago said.

“The SIU requested a proclamation amendment in terms of time and focus areas.”

In 2023, Mabuyane won an urgent court interdict to prevent the SIU from investigating him in relation to allegations he registered for a master's degree at the university fraudulently.

He had approached the court to interdict the SIU and declare the investigation of the SIU unlawful and set it aside. The second part of the application was due to be heard earlier this year but was struck off the roll.

The SIU was mandated through a proclamation by Ramaphosa to investigate allegations of academic fraud at Fort Hare's honour's programme. 

Mabuyane, who holds an economics degree from the university, was deregistered and excluded from a master's degree at Fort Hare in 2021 after a probe by the institution into his research supervisor and former faculty dean Prof Edwin Ijeoma.

The SIU has also been given the go-ahead to probe the Limpopo sports, arts and culture department, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape health departments and the Ekurhuleni and Tlokwe municipalities.

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