The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is facing a court challenge that could derail its upcoming graduation ceremony, after a senior lecturer lodged an urgent application to stop the event over allegations of flawed examination processes.
Dr. Phillemon M. Chamburuka, a lecturer and representative of the Association of University Teachers, has approached the High Court seeking an order to prevent the Vice Chancellor, UZ Council, and other senior officials from proceeding with the August 15, 2025 graduation.
In his application, Dr. Chamburuka wants the court to suspend the conferral of degrees until an independent forensic audit is conducted into the 2024–2025 second semester academic processes. He argues that degrees issued under the current circumstances risk being devalued — and could even be invalidated — if an investigation later confirms serious procedural breaches.
According to Dr. Chamburuka’s affidavit, the semester in question was marked by significant industrial action, with many lecturers downing tools for extended periods. This, he claims, left some courses partially taught and others not taught at all.
Despite these disruptions, examinations were still set, moderated, and marked — but allegedly without adherence to the university’s own academic rules and quality control mechanisms.
Court papers reportedly contain a confidential Senate report detailing major lapses in teaching, supervision, and examination processes. These include inconsistent marking of student projects, failure to follow invigilation protocols, and incomplete or irregular grade moderation.
Dr. Chamburuka contends that the absence of these safeguards undermines the credibility of the results and, by extension, the degrees based on them. “Some qualifications awarded could later be nullified if it is proven they were issued following compromised academic processes,” he warns.
The legal challenge is bolstered by a memo from the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, dated May 27, 2025, in which the administration admits to “serious gaps in the teaching and assessment cycle.”
However, the memo recommended pushing ahead with examinations to preserve the academic calendar, despite these acknowledged shortcomings. Further correspondence cited in the court papers points to discrepancies in grading, including cases where moderated marks differed sharply from the final grades without documented justification.
UZ Lecturer Seeks Court Order to Halt Graduation Over ‘Compromised’ Exam Results
The University of Zimbabwe Students Union (UZSU) has also publicly opposed the decision to hold graduation under these circumstances. In a statement, the UZSU warned that graduating students while results remain under a cloud could damage the institution’s reputation and diminish the value of its degrees both locally and internationally.
Adding to the concerns, the Council of Social Work has reportedly raised red flags over the risk of unqualified graduates entering professional practice. The body cautioned that if students from affected programmes are registered as social workers despite incomplete or substandard training, the public could be exposed to unprofessional and potentially harmful services.
Dr. Chamburuka says he made repeated attempts to engage the UZ Council on the matter, but his concerns were either ignored or dismissed without substantive action.
He claims that the decision to approach the court was made only after the university publicly confirmed the August 15 graduation date on its official website.
In his draft court order, Dr. Chamburuka is asking for three specific remedies:
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An immediate halt to all graduation preparations and ceremonies.
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A directive for the university to commission an independent forensic audit of the semester in question.
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A requirement for the audit findings to be made public before any degrees are awarded.
At the time of writing, university officials had not issued any formal comment on the court application. The case has not yet been set down for hearing, but legal observers say the urgency of the matter could see it fast-tracked given the looming graduation date.
If the court grants the order, it would mark a rare instance of a Zimbabwean public university being forced to halt its graduation over academic integrity concerns.
For now, both students and faculty are left in a state of uncertainty — some anxiously awaiting the chance to graduate after years of study, others insisting that rushing the process without resolving the alleged irregularities risks doing lasting harm to the country’s oldest and most prestigious institution of higher learning.
As the legal battle unfolds, it will pit the urgency of maintaining the academic calendar against the imperative of safeguarding the credibility of the degrees awarded — a dilemma with potentially far-reaching consequences for graduates, employers, and the university’s standing.
Source- iHarare
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