Durban - A lecturer at the University of Zululand who was accused of awarding students better marks in return for sex has been “sick” since the allegations against him surfaced earlier this month.
“We are getting medical certificates every week to say that he is not feeling well,” vice-chancellor Xoliswa Mtose said on Wednesday, at a press briefing in Empangeni where senior university management addressed this and other scandals which have besieged the university.
Three weeks ago the Sunday Times reported that students were allegedly having sex with their lecturers in return for better marks.
The paper claimed to have photographs showing one lecturer in “compromising situations” with two of his students and alleged that other lecturers were involved with their students.
Mtose on Wednesday said after the story broke, the university made a call for students who had been involved to come forward.
“To date, only one student has been brave enough to come to me,” she said.
They had advised the student to make an affidavit and take it to the registrar and investigations were under way.
The lecturer in this instance was different from the lecturer referred to in the Sunday Times article.
In respect of the so-called “degrees for sale” scandal, the university’s Professor Neil Garrod said on Wednesday this was more a case of “counterfeit certificates” being printed.
The university has been investigating allegations around the issuing of fake qualifications.
Garrod said the university was in a position to confirm or refute the legitimacy of claims that it had awarded individuals certificates and that its systems were “robust”.
He confirmed that a member of staff had been found to be consulting with “crooks” but was not “abusing the system,” rather “using his knowledge of the system to advise the crooks”.
Two students were found in possession of fake degrees. The degrees had been recalled and one student had been through a disciplinary process, while the other was still going through the process.
On the procurement of staff housing, Garrod said the process had been “above board”.
The Zululand Observer said in June that the university had spent nearly R30-million on housing for its executives.
Garrod said on Wednesday that while there was, as reported, a “R4.5 million mansion on campus used to house the vice-chancellor,” which was not being used, it was not appropriate for senior executives to reside on campus.
“Looking at what’s happening on campuses around the country and #FeesMustFall, if you were a senior executive like me, would you want to be living on campus?” he asked.
The Mercury