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Cape Town – The Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) is reportedly set to take President Robert Mugabe and the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) to court over the awarding of a controversial doctorate of philosophy degree to the country's First Lady.
The PhD was granted to Grace Mugabe, a 49-year-old former typist in the president's office, a few weeks ago - just months after she enrolled for the course.
Grace was capped by her husband along with other 3 274 graduates.
According to Voice of America, Zinasu said it would file a court case on Wednesday challenging Mugabe and the UZ administrators to publicise information regarding the awarding of the PhD to Grace.
Zinasu said it decided to take the matter to court after failing to get information on the doctorate from the vice chancellor and other UZ senior officials.
'Scandalous articles'
The union said it had mobilised more than 2 000 signatures of students from across the country's universities which it will attach to the court application, a report by the New Zimbabwe.com said.
Meanwhile, the state-owned newspaper, The Herald claimed on Wednesday that there was a sinister agenda by the private and international media to embarrass the First Lady.
The Herald accused the international and local private media of publishing what it termed "scandalous articles" about Grace’s degree.
Zinasu has, however, maintained that it was not fighting the person of the First Lady but protecting the credibility of the country’s education system.
A recent report by AFP quoted the union as saying that the degree awarded to Grace was "a serious insult to the students, the intelligentsia, doctors, professors and lecturers associated with the University of Zimbabwe".
Gilbert Mutubuki, Zinasu president said: "Any recipient of such a sham miraculous doctorate should feel ashamed unless if their humanity sense and guilty conscience is no more."
