Like ZanuPF Rigs Elections
Zanu PF Central Committee member Dexter Nduna, who chairs the party committee for resource mobilisation and revenue generation, may have served a full term as a legislator from 2018 to 2023 despite losing the election, but graduating with a law degree from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) after failing some modules proved to be an insurmountable task.
The ruling party member may have got away with a rigged election, but rigging a degree is much harder, particularly when one is notorious for undesirable, disruptive, or bad conduct.
Nduna, a former Chegutu West MP, tried to use politics and influence to demand a remarking, claiming he was failed maliciously targeted due to his political affiliation, but that was rejected.
So he could not graduate with others recently as so much desired.
Unable to stand the failure, he pulled off a bizarre stunt:
He paid the US$100 graduation fee, bought a grown and then attended the ceremony; sat among the graduands, yet at a safe distance from his class.
He then took photos and posted then on social media for all to see that he has “graduated”.
It took his classmates to call him out and provide evidence he had not graduated, but then Nduna persisted with his charlatan antics, forcing the Faculty of Law and the UZ itself to come out to provide the correct position:
That he did not graduate as he failed.
Throughout the ceremony he had hung around even if he knew his name was not on the graduation book.
Inevitably, he did not received a graduation certificate, but still he acted as if it was business as usual, refusing to allow reality to take its course or detractors to rain on his parade.
Nduna may have succeeded in becoming an MP after losing the election in 2018, but he failed to graduate with failures.
In 2018, Nduna was sworn in to parliament as a lawmaker and served a full term while his case went through courts; enjoying full MP perks amid at attempt to rectify a miscount mistake.
Even official Zimbabwe Electoral Commission results proved that he had lost to his opposition challenger Gift Konjana after a recount.
But this time around, Nduna was thwarted; his fraud was exposed.UZ vice chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo said Nduna did not graduate as his name was not there, meaning he does not hold a Bachelor of Laws degree.
A UZ circular confirms Nduna failed some modules which he can repeat next year.The circular from the department of undergraduate programmes listed Nduna among students who failed their courses.
“The following students were meant to graduate in 2024 but could not meet the graduation requirements since they had some outstanding courses,” read the circular.“
They are therefore requested to register the failed courses with the Students and Registration Office so that they can repeat them in the 2024/2025 academic year.”
The Nduna fake graduation story makes a sorry epitaph to an auspicious academic occasion.
