Nyagura back in court

Former University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Levi Nyagura is expected to return to court next month when his trial on allegations of awarding former First Lady Mrs Grace Mugabe a doctorate in 2014 is expected to kick-off.

Nyagura is to appear at the Harare magistrate court on April 15 to answer to criminal abuse of office charges.

Circumstances leading to the former Vice Chancellor's arrest are that in 2011, he single-handedly accepted and approved the application by Ntombizodwa Grace Marufu (Mrs Mugabe maiden name) to study for a doctorate in sociology.

Nyagura allegedly did so without the knowledge and recommendation of the departmental board and faculty of higher degrees committee in violation of UZ quality assurance, guidelines and benchmarking.

The court heard that during the same period, Nyagura covertly appointed Professor Claude Mararike to supervise Mrs Mugabe's thesis without the knowledge and approval of the department board of sociology, which was mandated to accept applications and allocate supervisors to students in terms of general academic regulations.

Nyagura led supervisors and examiners to Mrs Mugabe's Mazowe Estate where oral examinations were purportedly done without the knowledge and approval of the academic committee, the State alleges.

The oral examination was supposed to be done at the UZ campus.