The University of South Africa (Unisa) has been embarrassed after Mduduzi “Unyazi” Shembe, who leads the biggest faction of the Nazareth Baptist Church, turned down its offer to award him an honorary doctorate.
Unyazi – the charismatic leader of the eBuhleni faction of the church popularly known as the Shembe Church – was scheduled to be conferred an honorary Doctor of Philosophy in Theology degree during the autumn graduations, which took place in April and May.
Hopes that he would be part of the spring graduation ceremonies, which kicked off this week and will end in December, have also been dashed.
The invitation to Unyazi kicked off on a bad note. A source with intimate knowledge of the discussions said the church was irked when the offer was dispatched by e-mail.
“The university was quickly set right that the leader of the Shembe church does not accept correspondence sent by e-mail and that they needed to send representatives for a face-to-face meeting,” said the source.
Also known as the Nazareth Church, the Shembe church is the second largest African-initiated church based in South Africa after the Zion Christian Church (ZCC).
Accordingly, the source said, a delegation which included the regional executive of Unisa in KwaZulu-Natal went to eBuhleni – situated in Inanda, north of Durban – for the meeting.
“After walking barefoot, the delegation did not return with good news,” said the source.
Mbongwa Nzama, a senior reverend and close confidant of Unyazi, said their leader had declined to attend Unisa’s graduation when the university expressed a desire to honour him last year.
“As far as I know, the Inkosi Yamanazaretha (Unyazi) had an important trip to attend to. It was the main reason he would not honour the invitation.”
It is not the first time that Unisa has been snubbed by a leader of one of the country’s biggest churches.
ZCC leader Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane – whose symbol is the star – turned down Unisa’s invitation to be awarded an honorary degree last year.
According to a source, Lekganyane may have been offended that Unisa recommended him for an honorary degree along Bishop Engenas Joseph Lekganyane, who leads the St Engenas ZCC, whose symbol is the dove.
Bishop Engenas Joseph Lekganyane accepted the offer and was awarded the honorary Doctor of Philosophy in Theo-logy degree on October 27 last year.
The ceremony caused an uproar from families of graduates who were forced to watch their loved ones graduate on screens in a hall adjacent to the ZK
Matthews Hall where the ceremony was held.
When contacted for comment regarding the Shembe issue, Unisa said it has not received any communication from Unyazi indicating that he was declining the invitation.
“Any assertion that they have responded unfavourably to the invitation is therefore pre-emptive and preposterous,” Unisa said to a Sunday World enquiry.
Asked whether they had received any feedback from Lekganyane regarding their offer, the university said it was still engaging the leader.
“Designated officials in the university are handling the engagement with the representatives of the two approved recipients [Lekganyane and Shembe].
“As soon as finality has been reached on the matter, the university will communicate the details of the degree conferments,” Unisa said.
