Deregistered master's students want University of Limpopo to 'do the right thing'

JOHANNESBURG - Master's degree students who won an unfair termination of studies court case against the University of Limpopo are calling for the institution to do the right thing and award them their qualifications.

In February 2023, the university deregistered Ntando Mnguni and Philisiwe Cele two years into their studies.

At the time, the university said there was an oversight on their registrations as they did not meet the general requirements.

However, the Limpopo High Court has now set aside the decision by the institution to deregister them.

Before their deregistration, Mnguni and Cele had completed their thesis and were recommended for graduation by their respective supervisors.

One of the requests they made they made in their application, was for the court to order the university to award them their master’s degrees.

While the Limpopo High Court ruled their deregistration was unfair, it said the prerogative to award the degrees remains with the institution.

Mnguni said she was hoping for a positive result from the university.

“It really does make me happy that even though this is not an exceptional reason for the court to bypass the university and directly award us the degree, they are found to be unfair on their processes and how they came about to make this decision. The university has to take a new decision on our case and I hope they take the right one.”

The university has been ordered to re-determine its decision to not award the degrees.

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