Prominent businessman Schabir Shaik, currently on trial for fraud and corruption in the Durban High Court, cheated in an exam while a student at the former ML Sultan Technikon in 1990, according to several well-placed sources.

Durban Businessman Schabir Schaik
Photo: Themba Khumalo

Three documents in the possession of DITonline note that Shaik, who studied electrical engineering at ML Sultan, was caught cheating in a T5 High Voltage Engineering exam on May 28, 1990. ML Sultan Technikon and Natal Technikon merged to form the Durban Institute of Technology (DIT) in 2002.

All three documents had the names of the education officials, who are known to DITonline, removed and replaced with symbols to protect their identities.

In summary, the documents allege that Shaik was caught cheating twice during the exam. In the first incident, he was allegedly caught copying answers from crib notes, after which his answer book and the notes were confiscated. He was then issued with another answer book, and 10 minutes later was allegedly caught with two other answer books, which were almost full of writing.

The first document, written by an examinations controller and addressed to the examinations officer on May 29, 1990, and headed “Irregularity during examination", states, “The following was brought to my attention concerning candidate Nr. 870107. Mr N the invigilator during this time, saw the candidate copying answers from pieces of paper.”

DIT Engineering Faculty Assistant Neetha Singh confirmed this week that candidate number 870107 was indeed Shaik's old student number, and that his new student number is 18750134, which appears on his academic record (Pages 1, 2 ).

The first document states, “The matter was reported to me and I advised Mr N to confiscate all the relevant examinations material on the candidate's desk. At 10h50 Mr N then confiscated all documents visible on the candidate's desk and issued him a new book.

“At about 11h00 I was called to the examination venue (Room B5-8). On arriving there Mr N pointed out to me that the candidate was in possession of two other books which was almost full of writing and that not one of them could have been the book he issued him after confiscating the material on his desk. I then called the candidate out of the room and asked him where he got those books from. He said that Mr M, who relieved Mr N at approximately 10h00 issued him with one book after he requested a second book. The third book he claimed he found on a desk nearby and took this book without anybody's permission.

“I confiscated the other two books in question, because he wrote in these books before he was caught copying. The candidate then followed me to my office and we discussed the matter further. I pointed out to him that it was irregular to hide these books from the invigilator and not hand them in as well when he was caught. He then claimed that he wrote everything in those books from 10h50 to 11h00. I pointed out to him that it would be impossible to answer almost the whole question paper in 10 minutes and that I cannot believe him, therefore I had to confiscate those books as well. He then pleaded for my goodwill …”

The second document referring to the incident and providing similar details is a letter from an invigilator to the chief invigilator, also titled “Irregularity during examination” and dated May 29, 1990. This document also provides a detailed description of the sequence of events which occurred on the day Shaik was caught allegedly cribbing.

 S. Shaik was brought before a disciplinary committee on a charge of exam irregularities and subsequently had a sentence handed down, which was to be barred as a student [from the institution] for 12 months” - Kiru Naidoo, DIT Vice-Chancellor Prof Dan Ncayiyana’s personal assistant

“During the final examination of the High Voltage T5 course I suspected Mr S. Sheik [sic] of copying at 10h45. On advice from the examination controllers on duty, I confiscated all current examination material, viz. one answer book with photocopied material inside and one question paper from S. Sheik. Nothing was left on Mr S. Sheik's desk,” states the document. Shaik, the letter says, was then “issued with another (new) book to continue with the examination”.

The invigilator reported in this letter that at approximately 11am he discovered that, “The book that was reissued was not in his possession and could not be accounted for. Two answer books almost full of writing was found on Mr Sheik's desk. All answer books issued by me at the start of the examination had the student's examination number written on them. Therefore no other answer books were lying around on any desk.”

The third document, addressed to the dean of engineering from a member of the Department of Power Engineering, urges the dean to take strong action following the incident.

Kiru Naidoo, DIT Vice-Chancellor Prof Dan Ncayiyana's personal assistant, confirmed the incident. “S. Shaik was brought before a disciplinary committee on a charge of exam irregularities and subsequently had a sentence handed down, which was to be barred as a student [from the institution] for 12 months.”

Prof Theo Andrew, who is now the executive dean of engineering at Technikon Witwaterstrand, and who was a lecturer in the department at the time, added, “I can confirm there was an incident of exam irregularity regarding Schabir Shaik.”

But Shaik has denied that he cheated. After DITonline confronted Shaik with the documents, he said, “This does not pertain to me. This could have been typed by anybody. It's definitely not correct.

“I can't respond to this. I think it's very unfair and incorrect,” added Shaik. “I never performed any irregularities.”

But a number of sources, all of whom did not wish to be named for fear of reprisal, were certain the incident took place.

The head of department of electrical power engineering in 1990 confirmed the validity of the documents pertaining to the cheating. He said that he could confirm the incident occurred and that Shaik had been suspended following a hearing after the incident.

A former dean of engineering at ML Sultan Technikon said he recalled the incident involving Shaik. “I can recall this hearing did take place. I know about the case,” he said.

 I pointed out to him that it would be impossible to answer almost the whole question paper in 10 minutes and that I cannot believe him, therefore I had to confiscate those books as well. He then pleaded for my goodwill… – an examinations controller

In Shaik's academic record, he received “0” for High Voltage Engineering and a description reads “CANCELLED ”.

DIT's registrar, David Helliger, said “cancelled” next to a subject on an academic record at DIT indicated that the student had probably been found guilty of exam misconduct.

Shaik also received “0” for the other two subjects he registered for that year. Both marks were labeled “ABSENT/NOT AVAILABLE/INCOMPLET [sic]”.

Shaik's academic record also reveals that he did not receive a Master's Diploma in Electrical Engineering , as the Sunday Times reported two weeks ago. Shaik confirmed to DITonline that he had not completed his master's.

“I attempted my master's. I hadn't completed that.”

In December 2002, the Mail & Guardian reported that Shaik had resigned as a lecturer from Peninsula Technikon in 1986 after he was questioned about his academic credentials and was unable to furnish the institution with the originals of his qualifications , allegedly obtained from a Hawaiian institution *2.

Shaik's admission to ML Sultan in the first place was unusual in that the first records reflect him registering for a “re-exam” under the National Diploma for Electrical Engineering on the T3 level in 1987, one year after he resigned from Peninsula Technikon. The records indicate that he failed all seven subjects with no course mark. The same year, Shaik registered for a Master's Diploma in Electrical Engineering and passed most subjects.

 
Shaik with his Brothers
Photo: Themba Khumalo

It appears that from 1987 onwards, Shaik registered for courses more advanced than some he had failed. For example, he registered for Engineering Mathematics T5, after failing Engineering Mathematics T3 the previous semester. Yet he passed Engineering Mathematics T5 on his first registration with a distinction.

In subsequent years – 1990, 1991 and 1993 - however, he was registered for a total of eight courses but received no marks. Five of these results reflect “ABSENT/NOT AVAILABLE/INCOMPLET”. The remaining three, all registrations for his research project and dissertation, reflect “0 FAIL NO COURSE MARK” and “0 ABSENT/NOT AVAILABLE/INCOMPLET”.

Asked how Shaik was allowed to progress to his MTech in 1987 after failing all his T3 diploma subjects that same year at ML Sultan, the former HOD of electrical power engineering in 1990 said that he may have presented an equivalent qualification from elsewhere *2 and would've therefore been exempted and allowed to study his MTech. He added that at that time, in 1987, he was not the head of department and he did not admit Shaik into the MTech course. “I would never have put him on the course in the first place ,” he said.

Another well placed source who lectured in the engineering department in 1990 said, after looking at Shaik's academic record, “It blows my mind … he doesn't have anything here that would allow him to write high voltage engineering *1 . [It was] technically impossible at that time when I was a lecturer there to do T4 and T5 subjects [without passing a diploma]; you need pre-requisites *2 to do it,” said the source.

The dean of 1991 agreed, saying in a written statement, “… in terms of the Regulations of the Department of National Education, no student was allowed to proceed into the Masters Diploma if he/she had not fulfilled the requirements for the award of the National Higher Diploma…. My Department followed these regulations strictly unless authorized by the Academic Board/Senate or the Technikon Council.”

 – additional reporting by Richard Frank

With acknowledgements to Reesha Chibba, Matthew Savides, Richard Frank and DIT Online.

*1 Would you allow this goon to come anywhere near a high voltage near you?

*2 This guy's prowess in exam fraud, course registration prerequisite irregularities and conjuring implausible explanations out of thin air is far mightier than his prowess Engineering Mathematics and any other kind of genuine engineering for that matter.