UNESWA SYNDICATE TARGETS OWING STUDENTS

MBABANE – Some University of Eswatini (UNESWA) students did not get their results because they fell victim to an elaborate syndicate that cheated them of their tuition money.

Some employees, who operate as a syndicate, are alleged to have made the students pay, but kept the money for themselves. This led to some confused students blaming the institution for withholding their results. It was alleged that the culprits were able to facilitate the registration of owing students, much against the university rules. Some of the university officers are believed to have entered into illegal agreements with the owing students, and made them pay varying amounts duping them to believe they were clearing their debts for outstanding fees.

Fraudulent

It was alleged that the institution lost millions of Emalangeni through the fraudulent activities, over the years. An investigation carried out by the institution regarding the allegations has allegedly exposed the escapades of the syndicate. As a result of the thriving fraud, some students cannot access their results because they reflect as owing tuition fees. They were informed to settle their outstanding fees first.   

According to sources, students are made to pay half of the outstanding fees directly to the perpetrators, instead of the university’s bank account.  Regardless of the amount owed, it was said members of the syndicate demanded half of the owed amount ,in exchange for being cleared.  It is not clear how these students, together with the syndicate, committed the corruption.

Sources said the enabler of the fraud was a specialist in information technology (IT) who found it easy to navigate the varsity system. A source told this publication that some of the students failed to raise 20 per cent as upfront payment, in order to register for the new semester and thus were forced to fall for the scheme. According to the source, some students with outstanding fees amounting to E15 000 were purportedly asked by members of the syndicate to pay at least E7 500 directly to the syndicate and not the university account.

Fees

He further said about three weeks ago, a certain student who was failing to register for the new semester, because she owed E1 800, ended up getting assistance from the syndicate. The source further said another student was asked by the syndicate to pay only E800, instead of the E1 800 owed to the university, in order to register for the current semester.He said soon after the student made the payment, she was able to login to the university portal and register for the new semester. Not only that, some graduates, with the help of the syndicate, got their qualifications after their outstanding fees had been cleared.

One of the graduates who benefited from the syndicate said he only paid E1 000 to get the certificate after failing to raise a sum of E11 000.  “The university is in a serious financial crisis because certain individuals are stealing the money that was intended to run the institution.  A serious investigation needs to be carried out within the university to apprehend such culprits,” said the source. “Shockingly, the syndicate is able to clear the debt, even if the registration process has been closed,” said the source.

Meanwhile, UNESWA Student Representative Council (SRC) President Bongmenzi Dlamini informed this publication that some affected students approached the SRC during the registration period, reporting the difficulties in getting registered.  He said the students found themselves owing a huge amount in tuition fees. He said this was despite the fact that the syndicate had taken a certain amount of money from the students, with the aim of clearing the debt on their behalf.

Owing

“Let me say someone was owing E14 000, then university staff demanded only E8 000 to clear off the debt.These people were not telling the students that they only cleared them for that semester, said Dlamini. The SRC president said some of the affected students reported their issues directly to the electoral officer (EO).  He further stated that the students also reported their issues to the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA).  According to him, some of students had been attending lectures, writing tests and assignment for nothing, simply because they had not been registered for that particular semester.

“Some of the students had their results floating, because they are not registered. This then forced some of the students to repeat all the courses,” he said. The SRC president said he also reported the suspicions to the DSA’s Office, who promised to probe the matter.
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