Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane wins interdict forcing SIU to back down, pending judicial review

20 Jun 2023

Eastern Cape premier and the ANC chairperson in that province, Oscar Mabuyane, has won a provisional interdict to stop the Special Investigating Unit from probing his attempt to obtain a masters’ degree at Fort Hare University pending a judicial review of the proclamation that authorised the investigation.

The Bhisho High Court issued a provisional interdict on Tuesday morning ordering the Special Investigating Unit to exclude Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane from its investigation at Fort Hare University.

Provisional interdicts cannot be appealed and it will remain in place until the outcome of a judicial review of the proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mabuyane has been implicated in the academic fraud part of the probe through evidence that he was enrolled for a master’s degree in public administration at Fort Hare without having obtained an honours degree. His enrolment was later cancelled. In papers before court it was explained that Professor Edwin Ijeoama – who was arrested in 2021 for running an enrolment scam at the university – and master’s students had drawn up a research proposal on Mabuyane’s behalf, with very little input from the premier.

Mabuyane brought an urgent application to stop the probe against him after the SIU indicated that it wanted to search his home and wanted him to produce a number of documents including his identity document and his academic transcripts.

Finding Oscar by janet on Scribd

His counsel, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC, argued that the SIU had no power to investigate Mabuyane. The premier emphasised that he supported the probe but not so far as to include him. He said he had offered his full cooperation to the SIU.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Politicians’ qualification scandals within a forever wounded education system – it’s complex and complicated

Mabuyane’s legal team argued that the SIU was malicious, but Judge Thandi Norman found that there was no evidence to support anything beyond “overzealousness”.

She did rule that a judicial review of the proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa “may find” that it was unjust to include an investigation into Mabuyane’s academic record as this was not expressly authorised by the proclamation. DM

Categories:

Tags:

DM is much better if you are signed in...

South Africa