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ZIM’S EX-MINISTER SETS UP E450M RESEARCH UNIVERSITY IN ESWATINI

20/06/2022 08:56:00 Mfanukhona Nkambule

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MBABANE – There is a new kid on the block.

Economists say education is the cornerstone of a country’s economy. This time a new university with a different approach to education has been set up, approved and accredited by the Eswatini Higher Education Council. It is called Springfield Research University. The brain behind its establishment is an entrepreneur, politician and scientist, Dr. Godfrey Gandawa, the former Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology Development in the government of Zimbabwe during the late President Robert Mugabe’s tenure of office. He has a PhD in artificial intelligence. He was one of the young intellectual ministers who were close to Mugabe alongside Professor Jonathan Moyo. They were touted as tomorrow’s leaders of the ZANU-PF, the ruling party currently under the presidency of Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangangwa.

According to the university’s plan presented to the Eswatini Higher Education Council (EHEC), the total costs of the institution after completion is estimated at US$28 million, the equivalent of E456 million at yesterday’s foreign exchange rate. After completion, the university shall have five faculties which are –
*    Faculty of Science, Agricultural and Earth;
*     Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences;
*    Faculty of Engineering and Electronics;
*    Faculty of Business, Education and Law;
*     Faculty of Arts.

The university plans to have a 50-bed research hospital, hostels, sporting facilities and other social amenities. It has set its sights on closing Eswatini’s technical skills gap and may end dependence on South African and overseas tertiary institutions for critical skills training. The Times SUNDAY has established that Springfield Research University will start classes in August 2022. One of the courses to be offered in August is Political Science and Governance.

It has also been learnt that the Eswatini Higher Education Council has accredited its courses after reviewing its curriculum, staff expertise and other related requirements. The courses include Bachelor’s degrees in Forestry Science with Research and Psychology while Masters Degree courses in Applied Artificial Intelligence have also been cleared for an August start, while Medicine and Dental Science alongside Robotics Engineering are scheduled for January 2023 classes.

In an interview on Friday, Dr. Gandawa, the university’s president and software defence contractor said research and technology will be a key focus for the institution. “The existing tertiary infrastructure is delivering in the broad areas of knowledge but a gap remains in some critical skills, particularly as relates to research and technology. This is our central objective,” he said via a telephone interview.

priority

He added: “If you look at the 2016 – 2020 priority programmes of study being funded by the government, you will see that most of the courses are unavailable locally. The result, naturally, is increased pressure on foreign currency resources. We hope to, at least in some part, reduce the reliance on foreign institutions in this regard. The former minister said there were critical skills for jobs of the future in areas also identified in the 2022 skills audit by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security such as agro processing, material science, renewable energy, biotechnology, avionics engineering and several other areas. He mentioned that the university would be multi-campus with locations in Manzini and another in Boyane where the Faculty of Health and Medical Services and main administration would be located. It was initially set to be built in Nkonyeni near Sidvokodvo, but was moved to Boyane in Matsapha.

Dr. Gandawa announced that some initial classes would run at the prestigious Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) while another campus will be in Buhleni in the northern part of Eswatini. The Eswatini Higher Education Council briefly said it has registered, approved and accredited the Springfield Research University because it met the requirements. Bheki Gama, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training, said they were aware of Springfield Research University as it made a presentation to the ministry. He said the ministry referred them to EHEC where they complied with regulations. “We are working with them; we know them,” said the PS, a former lecturer himself.

Documents that are submitted to EHEC by a prospective tertiary institution include –
*    Eswatini Qualifications framework
*     Regulations Part 1 – Establishment;
*    Regulation Part 2 – Registration;
*     Regulation Part 3 – Accreditation;
*    Programmes evaluation guidelines.

The university or tertiary institution is required to register in terms of the Higher Education Act of 2013. This Act also mandates the Council to verify resources of the prospective university. These are five universities in the country. These are University of Eswatini (UNESWA), Eswatini Medical Christian University, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU) and AMADI University which has partnered with Zimbabwean and Italian universities. Meanwhile, Dr. Gandawa is a former MP for Magunje in Zimbabwe. The distance between Magunje and Harare is over 200 kilometres. He served as a deputy minister from September 10, 2013 to November 27, 2017.
Dr. Gandawa is a former Registrar (Academic) at Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management. He is the director of Fuzzy Technologies, a Zimbabwean company that supplies information technology products and services.

unresolvable

In 2020, ZimLive reported that former Minister of Tourism Walter Mzembi quit the fledgling People’s Party which he founded, citing what he called unresolvable ‘internal contradictions’. Mzembi’s deputy, Dr. Godfrey Gandawa, also quit amid claims that the party’s interim secretary general Lloyd Msipa might have been working with Zanu PF to tie the party’s leaders to terrorism plot. Msipa denied the allegations. At that time, it was reported that Mzembi and Gandawa’s exit brought to an end a chaotic one-and-a-half weeks for the party which saw ugly public exchanges between its senior leaders and Msipa.

He (Msipa) had earlier announced that he had suspended Treasurer General Agrippa Masiyakurima after the latter accused him of attempting to hijack the party in a bid to form an alliance with the Tyson waBantu Movement, which was linked to the exiled former Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere. Masiyakurima refused to step down and instead issued his own statement saying he had suspended Msipa. “Having failed to resolve internal contradictions that have recently bedeviled the People’s Party, we have reached a decision together with my deputy, Dr Godfrey Gandawa, to step down from our positions in the interest of the party,” a statement issued by Mzembi and co-signed by Gandawa read. Mzembi said their positions in the presidency had become a stumbling block and the two had decided to surrender the party to Msipa who joined the party after quitting ZANU-PF and expressing disappointment with President Emmerson Mnangagwa.