Theft, fraud plague University of Namibia

THE suspended head of the University of Namibia’s Centre for Public Service Training (CPST), Jerry Tobias, will only face a disciplinary hearing in the second week of May.

Edwin Tjiramba, Unam’s Director for Communication, told The Namibian that Tobias, who was suspended in August last year, is still receiving his full pay. He was sent home after evidence indicated during a preliminary audit by an external firm that some funds had allegedly been mismanaged.Tobias has been suspended pending a forensic investigation.Tobias has declined to comment, saying his lawyers are handling the matter.The CPST provides short modular courses to all levels of managers and administrators.Tobias is not the only Unam official currently on suspension.Four other employees were suspended last year on allegations of tampering with examination results, and not for selling examination papers to students, as was reported in the media earlier.Tjiramba said the investigations into the conduct of Sylvester Kaukungua, Biola Vries, Goldine Lawrence and Elizabeth Shiponeni were only completed earlier this year.”The Directorate Human Resources is now preparing a report for the Vice Chancellor in this regard.The pubic will be informed accordingly.This process is expected to be completed before the end of April 2006,” he said.This month, Unam also suspended its Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Research, Professor Geoffrey Kiangi, and the Manager of its Computer Centre, Kaggere Suresh, on allegations of theft of 12 computers worth N$70 000 from the university’s premises.Tjiramba said Unam had completed its internal investigations and two had been charged accordingly.Their disciplinary hearings were set for April 4 to 6 for Suresh and April 10 to 12 for Prof Kiangi.Meanwhile, Tjiramba said Police investigations into the theft of University of South Africa (Unisa) exam papers from Unam premises continue.”Our own investigations to date clearly indicate that it cannot yet be established that the papers were actually stolen from the University of Namibia,” he said.The Namibian revealed the theft of Unisa exam papers from Unam premises in October last year.An anonymous source tipped off The Namibian that the offices of the centre for external studies had been broken into – allegedly by students, including five South Africans who were reported to have travelled to Windhoek to steal the papers.At least five exam papers were stolen, copied and returned to the Unam offices.These included papers on Applied Financial Accounting (TOE407-V), Applied Management Accounting (TOE408-W), Theory of Accounting (TOECTA-E), one law paper and one on credit finance management.They allegedly opened the envelope, took one of the seven exam papers from a sealed plastic bag inside the envelope, made a copy and glued the envelope shut again.Unisa set new exam dates and papers, and students wrote the examinations late last year.He was sent home after evidence indicated during a preliminary audit by an external firm that some funds had allegedly been mismanaged.Tobias has been suspended pending a forensic investigation.Tobias has declined to comment, saying his lawyers are handling the matter.The CPST provides short modular courses to all levels of managers and administrators. Tobias is not the only Unam official currently on suspension.Four other employees were suspended last year on allegations of tampering with examination results, and not for selling examination papers to students, as was reported in the media earlier.Tjiramba said the investigations into the conduct of Sylvester Kaukungua, Biola Vries, Goldine Lawrence and Elizabeth Shiponeni were only completed earlier this year.”The Directorate Human Resources is now preparing a report for the Vice Chancellor in this regard.The pubic will be informed accordingly.This process is expected to be completed before the end of April 2006,” he said.This month, Unam also suspended its Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Research, Professor Geoffrey Kiangi, and the Manager of its Computer Centre, Kaggere Suresh, on allegations of theft of 12 computers worth N$70 000 from the university’s premises.Tjiramba said Unam had completed its internal investigations and two had been charged accordingly.Their disciplinary hearings were set for April 4 to 6 for Suresh and April 10 to 12 for Prof Kiangi.Meanwhile, Tjiramba said Police investigations into the theft of University of South Africa (Unisa) exam papers from Unam premises continue.”Our own investigations to date clearly indicate that it cannot yet be established that the papers were actually stolen from the University of Namibia,” he said.The Namibian revealed the theft of Unisa exam papers from Unam premises in October last year.An anonymous source tipped off The Namibian that the offices of the centre for external studies had been broken into – allegedly by students, including five South Africans who were reported to have travelled to Windhoek to steal the papers.At least five exam papers were stolen, copied and returned to the Unam offices.These included papers on Applied Financial Accounting (TOE407-V), Applied Management Accounting (TOE408-W), Theory of Accounting (TOECTA-E), one law paper and one on credit finance management.They allegedly opened the envelope, took one of the seven exam papers from a sealed plastic bag inside the envelope, made a copy and glued the envelope shut again.Unisa set new exam dates and papers, and students wrote the examinations late last year.