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The university students in Zimbabwe are tired by “fraudulent stances’’ taken by the government and the empty promises of receiving their US$100 allowances for living. According to the secretary general of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, the former minister of higher and tertiary education, and his deputy are subjects of a forensic investigation into the possible looting of funds meant for tertiary education students.

Counterfeiting or purchasing of downright forged certificates, diplomas and degrees are some of the crudest forms of academic fraud in Zimbabwe. Experts say the employment of individuals with bogus credentials can be a public relations fiasco for both private companies and government. According to the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) spokesperson, the examinations body has been working with employers nationwide to verify academic credentials, uncovering a shocking number of workers with forged school and college certificates.

University of Zimbabwe Vice-chancellor has been arrested for allegedly awarding former first lady a doctor of philosophy degree ‘corruptly’ in 2014. Another University of Zimbabwe Professor who supervised the former first lady’s work, is also under probe. Since 2014, there have been claims that the doctorate was fake, but no action was taken while her husband was in power, up until November last year when he was forced to resign as Zimbabwean president.

Academics, student unions and opposition parties have condemned the creation by Zimbabwean President of a new ministry – of National Scholarships – against the backdrop of the country’s ongoing economic woes. The appointment of a fully-fledged ministry will pave the way for budgetary allocations in the 2018 budget expected to be tabled in parliament before the end of the year. Critics have said that said the ministry of scholarships was not necessary and that the creation of a new ministry was an attempt by the president and his party ZANU-PF to create “new jobs for the boys”.

Zimbabwe’s Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister has lost his Constitutional Court bid to overturn his arrest on charges of allegedly misappropriating around US$450,000 from a manpower development fund that finances students, among other activities. The minister is facing the allegations alongside the Deputy Minister and the Finance Director of Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF). ZIMDEF was established through an act of parliament to fund human capital development.

Fraudsters purporting to be education officials are on the prowl, swindling teachers facing disciplinary action by promising to help deal with their cases. The fraudsters are working in cahoots with some unscrupulous Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education officials, demanding payments of between US$150 and US$500 to help the teachers in their impending disciplinary cases. Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president, confirmed the unscrupulous behaviour by some ministry officials.

Zimbabwean police arrested the Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister and his deputy on Wednesday for allegedly misappropriating around US$450,000 from a manpower development fund that finances students, among other activities. The politicians were questioned and released. Days before his arrest the minister – a former politics professor at the University of Zimbabwe and researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, which accused him of embezzling research funds – issued a statement denying any wrongdoing.

Zimbabwe’s Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister is facing a probe over the alleged abuse of approximately US$450,000 meant for students in a development that has seen students calling for him to pay back the money and resign. According to a charge sheet prepared by the anti-graft commission, the minister is alleged to have used part of the money to fund cronies in his constituency as part of a bid to regain his seat in the 2018 general elections. His deputy, is alleged to have formed a company that benefitted from the student funds as universities were directed to buy equipment from his firm.

A human resources assistant in the Education ministry is in the courts after she fraudulently recruited 31 unqualified teachers. The accused is charged with 'Criminal abuse of office'. According to prosecutors, between October last year and February this year she connived with eight accomplices who have already appeared in court and hatched a plan to misrepresent to their employer and converted contracts to ‘indefinite conditions of service’ for teachers who would otherwise not have filled the required conditions.

The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education last week slammed the parents for paying Form One entrance examination fees saying they did that at their own peril as the Government has set an enrolment date for all the schools in the country. He said the entrance exams were banned long back by his ministry and have remained illegal and should not be left to continue. Enrolment of Form One students for next year started yesterday with parents expected to use their children's Grade Seven results.