The EFF has escalated its campaign against Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane by opening a criminal case against him over allegations of academic fraud linked to his disputed University of Fort Hare master's degree.
Image: Cwayita Nondula / I'solezwe lesiXhosa
The EFF has opened a criminal case against Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane on Thursday.
The party laid the charge at the main police station in KuGompo City, formerly East London.
EFF Eastern Cape chair and MPL Zilindile Vena said Mabuyane should be held criminally liable for alleged academic fraud at the University of Fort Hare.
"Oscar is a fraudster," Vena said after opening the case.
"He must go to jail for fraud.
"We have followed this case, and we will make sure Oscar resigns and goes to jail."
Police spokesperson Captain Majola Nkohli confirmed the case had been opened.
"The SA Police Service confirms that a case of fraud was opened in KuGompo City this morning," he said.
The move comes two days after the KuGompo City High Court dismissed Mabuyane's urgent bid to silence EFF leader Julius Malema, who had accused him of stealing a master's degree.
Mabuyane had asked the court to declare Malema's claim false and defamatory, and to stop him from repeating it.
Malema made the claim in April, when he stood outside the KuGompo magistrate's court and called for Mabuyane's arrest over the degree.
Judge Johannes Eksteen dismissed the bid with costs.
He said public figures cannot be shielded from criticism that is true and in the public interest.
The case is about Mabuyane's enrolment for a master's degree at the university.
Mabuyane was deregistered from that programme in March 2021 after the university found he did not meet the minimum requirements.
Eksteen's ruling leaned on a 2021 forensic report by Horizon Forensics.
The report found ghostwriters had worked on Mabuyane's master's proposal, and that he had applied for doctoral study while claiming a master's degree he was never awarded.
Mabuyane has denied any wrongdoing throughout.
He maintains he does not hold a master's degree from Fort Hare and has called the allegations false and without merit.
Mabuyane said he would most likely appeal the ruling.
A separate case, in which Mabuyane is challenging the university's decision to deregister him, is still before the courts.
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