Chippy Shaik’s doctoral thesis facing plagiary probe

A Sunday Times report alleges he has for four years laid claim to a bogus doctorate that he and internationally-acclaimed SA professors fraudulently concocted. It alleges Shaik\'s 2003 PhD in mechanical engineering from the then University of Natal (UKZN) was plagiarised. Shaik’s legal team has described the allegations as ‘fanciful’ and intended to poison the atmosphere around this week\'s bid by his brother, Schabir Shaik, to appeal against his corruption conviction at the Constitutional Court. The report notes the academics who supervised Chippy Shaik’s thesis – Professor Viktor Verijenko, head of the school of mechanical engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and his colleague, Professor Sarp Adali – face being fired. The report quotes from a confidential communique sent to the university Senate on Friday, in which acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Isobel Konyn said she regretted that the integrity of a UKZN degree had again been called into question. ‘The university has conducted its own investigations and the allegations have foundation. An investigation of the matter has been instituted within the university and senators will be kept informed.’ Full Sunday Times report What the University says Shaik’s response

Professor Verijenko’s response: ‘It is my firm judgment that the thesis submitted by Dr Shamim Shaik was of a high standard and satisfied the criteria for the award of the doctorate. The work he performed, on his own, was significant and worthy of recognition.’ Read the statement The taunt that led to the investigation of Shaik’s qualifications

Yunis Shaik said yesterday his brother was a ‘significant contributor’ to the journal article he is alleged to have plagiarised in his thesis. ‘Shamim is a co-author and significant contributor of the very journal article that he is said to have plagiarised,’ he is quoted as saying in a Beeld report. He said 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 VE Verijenko, TR Tauchert, S Shaikh and PY Tabakov. He said the name Shaik had been 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. Full Beeld report

Claims that Schabir Shaik is enjoying special privileges at Durban’s plush Albert Luthuli Hospital are to be probed by Inspecting Judge of Prisons, Judge Nathan Erasmus. Members of the hospital staff said Shaik was enjoying free rein in the hospital’s general cardiac ward and did not appear to be ‘overtly ill’. Shortly after his conviction, Shaik spent more than 80 days in St Augustine’s Hospital after being diagnosed as suffering from hypertension and depression, says a report on The Citizen site. His stay there was cut short by Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour amid political pressure from opposition parties and prisoner rights organisations. About three months later, Shaik was admitted to the cardiac unit in Albert Luthuli Hospital after examination in the out-patients department. Full report on The Citizen site