The UZ's most eccentric and calculative PhD genius!

Acquiring a doctorate is no mean feat, even for the highly endowed academic minds. Once attained, the prestigious status cannot easily be wished away nor can it be shrouded in secrecy. To any doctorate aspirant,  the question of availability of  time,  completion within the acceptable minimum duration,  personal intellectual application and discipline rings to mind in the process. You have to work it out, in earnest.  But for a mature flag-bearing  torch-bearer  entity of UZ's stature, to bury its head in the sand while its century-old image is besmirched by an ultra-ambitious novice comedian for selfish political aggrandisement,  is trite. Following the emergence of Dr Amai's so-called PhD thesis from the plain blue, the UZ should brazenly salvage its brand equity by clarifying the following dodgy issues, among others:

• Why it took  more than three and half years to release this so-called thesis when in actual fact the same articles by other students take a matter of days  -  remember Mai  Mujuru's thesis  took a few days yet  'they graduated' on the same day. How coincidental  -  two Presidential aspirants graduating at the same time and being capped by their supposed predecessor?
• In standard academic practice, which the UZ naturally ascribes to, the identities of the promoters and supervisors of the PhD thesis are indicated in the preliminary pages of the article –  why are they anonymous
• The PhD candidate's article should also provide a brief academic progression showing  prior academic qualifications especially formative university qualifications such as the Bachelors, and the identity of the awarding institutions
• How does the UZ, as a leading academic institution in Zimbabwe, maintain or restore its role-model status by remaining tacitly absent when all signals seem to point to some cryptic chicanery?  What kind of professionalism is that?
• Does the UZ have a register of attendance and participation both indicating that she was part of the programme, and the persons who supervised her work? Who are those lecturers?
• If her work was genuinely focussing on social issues affecting Zimbabwean families, why would it remain underground for this long – and when was the University expecting the academia, UZ alumni,  peer researchers, and the nation at large to start benefitting from her research findings?
• And did the award, by any level of imagination, reflect on her conduct and critical thinking abilities at any juncture in her public life? Can the UZ be proud of their  'product' anyhow? Is this the calibre of its alumni in recent times?
• Does UZ expect to be regarded as the best in the trade?  And shall NUST, MSU, CUT, BUSE, GZU and others take a leaf out this?  Is this not the same UZ that persuaded ZIMCHE to suspend the NUST medicine cohort, and the Masvingo-based Law school some years back?
• 70% of her referenced quotes (as shown on the list) are derived a from distant primitive era as far back as 1902, 1890, etc. which is against modern academic standards which require that at least  60% of your sources should be within the ten year historical range. Take her example beneath:

" Richartz, F. 1902. " Twelve Years Progress at Chishawasha" in Zambezi Mission Records
(1902-5), ii.(xxiii), 337-44".

For starters, why would a credible supervisor allow her to submit a thesis with a sub-standard referencing style of the sort depicted in the article?

• If the UZ authorities were 'duressed' into issuing out the 'PhD', why are they not taking advantage of the new dispensation and rectify the anomaly before it make contaminate the international standing of the entire Zimbabwean university system? You cannot stoop this low, certainly.
• How many other affluent figures could have benefitted from the rot?

I believe ZACC  has to flex its muscles into this saga before it causes irreparable destruction to the country's reputation   -   our revered education system should not be tempered with. It's our anatomy, our DNA, our identity.  No single person can take that away from us  - and the UZ leadership is currently posturing as an accomplice.  Prof Nyagura - why are you quiet? We need answers.