NMU ends ties with professor linked to plagiarism scandal
Amathole and Ngqushwa paid Adendorff R2.2m to write planning reports
The Nelson Mandela University (NMU) has parted ways with its adjunct professor Christian Adendorff over a R2.2m plagiarism scandal.
Adendorff will relinquish his honorary title at the university.
The Dispatch published two exposés in October, which detailed how Adendorff lifted texts and did cut-and-paste jobs on documents containing the long-term visions of Amathole district municipality and Ngqushwa municipality.
Adendorff is the chair of Amathole district municipality‘s economic development agency, Aspire, and is part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution commission.
Some of the words contained in the Ngqushwa document, titled Envisioning Ngqushwa
2057: A 40-year Prognosis Towards Prosperity ”, were copied from a Namibian policy document, while some of the text for the ADM document was copied from a US intelligence report.
The Dispatch also reported that premier Oscar Mabuyane’s office had plagiarised an Irish document for its ICT policy.
In a memo sent to NMU staff on Wednesday, seen by the Dispatch, the university announced that it had parted ways with Adendorff. With plagiarism regarded as “an anathema to the academic project, the university contacted the professor to respond to these grave allegations, in line with a process that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.
The intention was for the “university to fully consider the matter at hand and to decide on the applicable course of action. The professor has since submitted a letter, effectively relinquishing his honorary title as adjunct professor. The university has accepted his decision to step down and, as a result, has officially parted ways with the professor, the memo stated.
University spokesperson Zandile Mbambela forwarded the memo in response to our queries.
Ngqushwa council paid him R600,000, while ADM forked out R1.6m for the copy-and-paste job.
Adendorff did not respond to a Dispatch query, but previously indicated Ngqushwa is happy with the document and has been implementing the strategy as contained in the document ”.
Ramaphosa’s acting spokesperson Tyrone Seale did not respond when the story broke. Though he saw the Dispatch’s WhatsApp query on Wednesday, he had not responded by the Thursday deadline.
In light of the NMU developments, the Dispatch asked ADM and Ngqushwa if they would try to claw back the R1.6m and R600,000 they had paid Adendorff.
ADM spokesperson Nonceba Madikizela had not responded at the time of writing.
The Dispatch sent Ngqushwa spokesperson Ncumisa Cakwe questions at 8am followed by a reminder.
The spokesperson said: We are in a council meeting, We need to focus. So it’s not possible. ”