Motsoaledi Branded Afrophobe After PhD Student Commits Suicide

Former Zimbabwean Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development has taken aim at Aaron Motsoaledi. Professor Jonathan Moyo’s shot at Motsoaledi comes after a Zimbabwean PhD student committed suicide after his study permit was not renewed.

Philip Chuma, a PhD student at the University of the Witwatersrand, committed suicide this week after being unable to register for the 2022 academic year. The Zimbabwean national was in the country to renew a study permit that had expired at the end of November.

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Cabinet decided not to renew Zimbabwean Exemption Permits in November of last year, leaving over 180 000 Zimbabweans, including students and those in the country for work, in the lurch.

According to Moyo, the PhD student’s fate was tragic, with all of the “evil trappings” of the anti-Zimbabwean Afrophobia that Motsoaledi is accused of attempting to enforce.

PHILIP CHUMA, a PhD candidate at Wits University in Johannesburg, died by suicide over the weekend; in a tragic case that has the evil trappings of the anti-Zimbabwean Afrophobia being pursued by Minister Motsoaledi at Home Affairs. Chuma played by the rules, to no avail. MHSRIP! pic.twitter.com/wDO1AcIAnK

— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) May 2, 2022

Chuma submitted a Letter of Good Cause to the Department of Home Affairs for processing. The student had been working with the government entity, but his efforts had been in vain.

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Chuma was allegedly distressed as he sat for months without a permit to pursue his life’s work. Wits could not register him as a student because he lacked the necessary paperwork.

According to university officials, he had been in constant contact with his academic supervisors about the situation.

The PhD student was interested in researching the Transition of Newly Qualified Teachers into the Teaching Profession.