Moyo’s defence of Grace Mugabe PhD strange

By Nathan Malianga

Information minister, Jonathan Moyo has taken the unusual step of defending First Lady Grace Mugabe’s doctorate that has been the subject of much discussion and speculation over the past few weeks.

But instead of shedding light and bringing finality to the matter, as Moyo might have hoped to achieve, his move has seemingly only served to stoke the frenzied speculation surrounding the PhD further, as the key details regarding Grace’s admission and studies at the University of Zimbabwe remain shrouded in mystery.

The only thing that Moyo dealt with in his spirited defence of the First Lady’s doctorate was the fact that Grace did not award the degree to herself.

But then again, no one has ever said that she awarded herself the PhD.

Which leads one to ask what really is going on with Grace’s doctorate and why Moyo — who has curiously taken the role of spokesperson for the First Lady lately — is getting into this heavyweight boxing match with his hands seemingly tied behind his back.

In his polemical defence of Grace’s doctorate on Tuesday, Moyo said President Robert Mugabe’s wife, who graduated from the UZ and was duly capped by her Chancellor husband last month, was a victim of newspapers who had covered the issue from an ignorant and political viewpoint.

“There is no-one who has spoken about this doctorate from a position of information. Since the last time I checked, I haven’t checked today, no-one! No-one has commented on this from an academic point of view. Nobody, not anyone. We are talking about an academic degree and must remember that nobody awards themselves a degree.

“You can only be judged yourself by what you do, but one thing you can never ever do — you can’t give yourself a degree. She has never done that and no-one has claimed anything to that effect. I think that there is, sometimes a problem when the media creates an issue and we run with that issue and then miss facts. So far there is no controversy.

“If there is any, it is the controversy created by ignorant people who actually have not seen the degree itself. They have not seen the dissertation and they have not seen the dissertations of others.

Probably, they have been told about the dissertation. They talk about one. Have they seen the other 11 (people who graduated on the same day with the First Lady) and do these 11 meet the internationally-acceptable standards? You can’t say that unless you have seen it (the degree),” Moyo thundered.

But he didn’t stop there, as one would expect.

In a further revealing comment that perhaps highlights the real mega politics of Grace’s PhD, Moyo said the allegation that a dissertation by Vice President Joice Mujuru, who was also awarded a doctorate at the same graduation ceremony, had been filed at the UZ library was misleading.

“You go there. The last time I went there, there were none, not even one. So, I think if people have issues of a political nature with a public figure, it will do all of us good to stick to those issues,” he said.

Aha! So, it would appear that the less critical press that Mujuru received regarding her PhD, compared to the First Lady, is what rankles in the minister’s circles.

Could this indeed be the nub of this “political” and media onslaught that Moyo is complaining about, particularly given the political dynamics and the geography of Zanu PF’s factions?

I leave readers to reach their own conclusions on this.

What is baffling to many, particularly as this is coming from a politician and academic of Moyo’s standing, is that he should be surprised that Zimbabweans and the media are interested in Grace, her political ambitions and her PhD — including the circumstances under which she acquired it.

Let’s be honest, only Grace and Joice were the mega high profile figures who graduated with PhDs on the day in question. The other distinguished PhD scholars, with due respect to minister Lazarus Dokora, were relatively small fries.

Indeed, one cannot happily play in public spaces as Grace is doing and lapping it when the attention is positive to her, and not expect to be scrutinised closely when the situation is deserving, as is the case with this PhD. As it is said, she can’t have her cake and eat it at the same time!

Moyo also forgets in his misguided defence of Grace’s PhD that some of the people querying this doctorate are in fact senior academics at the UZ who want the allegation that the First Lady may have acquired her degree in controversial circumstances to be dealt with transparently and fully in the interests of Grace herself and the university.

In that light, it is surely not asking too much of our dithering UZ authorities that they should, in this case, take urgent steps to deal with this matter themselves, rather than via Moyo — by availing to the public all relevant facts such as her qualifications prior to enrolling for the PhD, when she enrolled at the university, the criteria used in enrolling her and who her treatise supervisor/s are/were.

Surely, the UZ understands the damage that this saga is causing to the vaunted institution the longer this matter is not decisively and appropriately dealt with?

Whatever Moyo and other politicians may think, this issue is no longer just about politics.

It is also now about the future of the UZ itself, the integrity of all people concerned with the UZ, and the standing of Zimbabwe and its citizens internationally, among many other important considerations to be taken into account.