FRAUD, MISCONDUCT CLAIMS DIVIDE MINISTRY’S EDUCATION COUNCIL

MBABANE – While its mandate is to foster and promote the quality of education, the Eswatini Higher Education Council (ESHEC) has found itself having to answer to accusations of fraud.

Some of those who have been accused include management and officers responsible for ensuring that institutions adhere to all the standards set by ESHEC. There have also been allegations of interference by the Ministry of Education and Training, leaving the Chief Executive Officer, Dr Lorretta Mkhonta frustrated. This is alleged to have happened prior to the granting of the registration and accreditation of a certain university.

The allegations of fraud are to the effect that there was manipulation of ratings contained in the assessment reports and also leakage of crucial information related to same. It has been alleged that before the eventual registration, relations between staff, Board, management and the ministry have been strained. The registration has been granted to Springfield Research University (SRU), which is under the Directorship of Dr Godfrey Gandawa, the former Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology Development in the Government of Zimbabwe during the late President Robert Mugabe’s administration.

Technology equipment

He is also an entrepreneur and owner of Fuzzy Technologies, a Zimbabwean company that supplies technology equipment and services. Before the registration was granted, Gandawa is said to have been made to go from pillar to post as the management of ESHEC felt that his application did not meet the requirements. Out of frustration, the former deputy minister allegedly solicited certain crucial documents which contained how his university was scored when it was assessed. A background of the assessment can best be understood in that the university had a provisional registration, which means that it had undergone an institutional assessment and was due for an assessment for full registration and accreditation.

A desk review was conducted for the university’s readiness for assessment for purposes of the full registration. A process of recruiting subject matter experts (SMEs) for the assessment process was done and SRU was accordingly assessed. The team of experts submitted reports which were then forwarded to the Academic Planning and Development Committee (APDC) for review, in preparation for a Council meeting. It is unclear how the reports ended up being leaked, in particular, to the Springfield director as he allegedly got hold of them, something which he confirmed to this publication.

The director is said to have analysed the reports, discovered that there were positive scores on most of the standards  that are supposed to be met. Having kept the reports, he allegedly waited for the official full assessment that was to be issued, based on the reports. He then made a comparison of the scores contained in the initial reports and those in the final one, and discovered what he felt were various inconsistencies. The director claimed that he also sourced information on the people who allegedly fiddled with the SMEs reports against his university’s favour.

Fraudulent activities
This prompted the director to file an appeal with the ministry whereby he went further to plead for a commission of enquiry to be conducted, citing that there had been alleged fraudulent activities committed, with the reports being manipulated to discredit his university. He is said to have then shared with the minister the alleged original reports from the SMEs together with the ones he claimed to have been doctored by certain officers at ESHEC. In his letter of appeal to the minister, he wrote: “The serious harm caused to SRU cannot go unpunished. After significant investments of time and money, such behaviour within a statutory organisation is unacceptable. SRU may consider legal action to recover the substantial losses incurred. We strongly recommend establishing a commission of enquiry to thoroughly investigate the serious allegations we have raised.”

The letter continued; “if the culprits are found guilty of fraud and other serious misconduct at ESHEC, they should face prosecution.” It has been gathered that following the appeal and the letters written by the director, the CEO has allegedly been having a hard time as she felt frustrated. There have also been reports that she has been accused of not adhering to directives issued by the Board.Ever since she assumed the position, Mkhonta has always urged emaSwati to check the credibility of a tertiary institution before enrolling.

She has on countless occasions emphasised on the importance of enrolling in an accredited institution. Mkhonta mentioned that ESHEC ensures that every year, they publish the list of all credible institutions and the programmes they are accredited to offer. Furthermore, Mkhonta urged individuals who wanted to establish higher learning institutions and the existing ones to follow the stipulated guidelines on registering institutions as outlined by ESHEC.

Denied registration
In February last year, Mkhonta announced that four tertiary institutions had been denied registration, while 46 were accredited. The institutions included the Management Training and Development Institute (MTDI), Wesco College, St John Ambulance and the Christian Family Church International (CFCU) Bible College. Meanwhile, efforts to get a comment from her regarding the latest allegations were not successful as her phone rang unanswered when contacted last Friday, while yesterday, it was not available on the network. ESHEC was established in 2015 in terms of the Higher Education Act of 2013, to regulate higher education provision in the country.

Its mandate is to develop and implement a quality assurance system for higher education, covering among other areas, registration, accreditation, institutional audits, quality promotion and setting of standards. The Higher Education Act defines higher education as all learning programmes commenced after secondary education and leading to a higher qualification. 
For an institution to operate and be recognised in Eswatini, it must be registered in terms of the Higher Education Act, 2013.

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