Social commentators in the country are advising the public not to celebrate the misfortunes of their fellow citizens. This advice follows the public’s jubilation on social media in response to the alleged fake honorary doctorate degrees (PhDs) supposedly awarded to social media influencer Pemphero Mphande, musician Patience Namadingo, and businessman Mansoor Sharif Karim by the University of South Africa (UNISA).
UNISA issued a statement in which they disassociated themselves from granting these honorary PhDs to Mphande, Namadingo, and Karim in 2020, 2022, and 2023, respectively.
Humphreys Mvula, a social commentator in the country, expressed his disappointment in the fact that some Malawians are celebrating this issue.
“Mocking them is not a good idea as these people got those PhDs unknowingly that it was a scam,” said Mvula.
Both Mphande and Namadingo have responded to the statement though differently.
“If UNISA is denying this today, either they are a part of the scam or they too are being scammed. I personally would be happy to work with UNISA to get to the bottom of this. Our team will investigate and would love to meet with officials from UNISA to understand how this has happened under their nose for years,” Mphande wrote on his Facebook page.
Namadingo on his Facebook page wrote: “We don’t think Doc organized this big event with professor’s himself and filled the UNISA great hall with South Africans just to fool Malawians; and it took years before the university discovered he was in their hall three years ago with other 35 graduants from other different countries.”
