One of the co-authors of an article Shamim “Chippy” Shaik is said to have plagiarised for his PhD, says he has no doubt awarding Shaik his doctorate was justified.

Johannesburg — “Dr Schaik’s work was of the highest quality and it was confirmed by internationally-acknowledged adjudicators,” said Professor Victor Verijenko.

This follows a Sunday Times report that “more than two-thirds” of Shaik’s 2003 PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the then-University of Natal was plagiarised.

Verijenko — the head of the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal — was one of the academics who supervised the thesis. The others were Verijenko’s colleague, Professor Sarp Adali, Professor Pavel Tabakov of the Durban University of Technology, and Professor Victor Birman of the University of Missouri in the U.S.

Chippy’s brother Yunis said yesterday that Shaik was a “significant contributor” to the journal article he is alleged to have plagiarised in his thesis.

“Shamim [Shaik] is a co-author and significant contributor of the very journal article that he is said to have plagiarised,” said his brother.

He said in a statement that the journal article in question was entitled “Refined Theory of Laminated Anisotropic Shells for the Solution of Thermal Stress Problems” published in 1999. Its authors were V.E. Verijenko, T.R. Tauchert, S. Shaikh and P.Y. Tabakov.

He said the name Shaik was misspelt.

“The article is mentioned in the bibliography. More importantly, his co-authors deny the allegation of plagiarism and contend that Shamim was entitled to make use of the work as a co-author,” he added.

With acknowledgement to The Witness.