CIO DG Fulton Mangwanya

Veteran Zimbabwean investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono has accused the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) of failing to sniff what he calls Information Minister Jenfan Muswere’s fake qualifications and notify President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa before he appointed him.

Chin’ono says before any senior appointment is made by the President, names of potential candidates are sent to the CIO for vetting and verification.

He writes:

Good afternoon, Zimbabwean Members of Parliament who consider themselves opposition,

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Jenfan Muswere, lied on his curriculum vitae (CV), claiming to hold two PhDs and an MBA.

He doesn’t have any of these degrees.

When the President wishes to appoint a minister, he first submits the name to Zimbabwe’s secret service, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) for vetting, which includes verifying academic qualifications.

Could you kindly, on behalf of the citizens, table a question in Parliament to the Minister of State Security and ask whether this vetting was carried out?

If so, how did it fail to detect that Mr Muswere’s qualifications were fake?

Secondly, if the qualifications were found to be fake during vetting, how did the appointment still proceed, and how were these qualifications recorded as the basis for his appointment.

Also appearing on the official Parliament website.

Did the President ignore the CIO’s vetting report, or did the CIO omit this information from the report?

Could you ask whether the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE) was consulted or involved in verifying Mr Muswere’s credentials before or after the degree was conferred, and what role they are expected to play in such matters?

Could you also ask the Minister of Higher Education why Zimbabwe’s National University of Science and Technology (NUST) allowed itself to be used and issued a purported PhD to Mr Muswere when it was known that he had not done any work for this degree?

Who was involved in this criminal act, who formed the supposed supervisory team, and who were the professors that assessed his fake defence, or was it ever conducted at all?

Could you ask him whether he is aware that this will affect the international reputation of degrees from this university for past, present and future students?

Could you also ask what action he intends to take to address this matter to ensure that the standards for awarding PhDs at this university are restored and never compromised again?

Could you ask the Minister of Justice whether this constitutes fraud and, if so, whether Mr Muswere will face any legal consequences for misrepresenting his qualifications to Parliament and the public?

Will there be an official investigation into whether any public resources were used to process or promote these fake qualifications?

Could you also ask the Speaker of Parliament whether, now that the nation knows Mr Muswere does not possess the academic qualifications listed on the Parliamentary website, those qualifications will be removed?

Will Parliament consider suspending or recalling Mr Muswere pending a formal investigation into this academic fraud?

Could you ask the Public Service Commission through the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare whether there are other officials currently serving in government who have not had their qualifications properly vetted?

Could you also demand that all Cabinet ministers and senior public servants have their qualifications independently verified and published for public scrutiny?

Could you, as parliamentarians, introduce a Private Member’s Bill to create a law that definitively punishes individuals who fake academic qualifications?

Lastly, could you ask what steps Parliament through the Speaker and the Minister of Higher Education will take to protect the integrity of Zimbabwean academic institutions and ensure this never happens again?

Thank you. I await responses from MPs on this App on behalf of citizens.