Magaya argued that his UNISA diploma, being a higher qualification, should be sufficient.

In a recent interview with Zimbabwean sports journalist Yvonne Tendai Mangunda, which has circulated widely on social media, Magaya claimed he had received an honorary doctorate from UNISA.

However, in a statement issued on January 29, UNISA confirmed that it has no record of Magaya as either a student or a graduate.

The university also asserted that it had never awarded him an honorary doctorate and condemned his fraudulent claims. The statement reads:

The University of South Africa (Unisa) notes with serious concern information doing the rounds in the public domain as well as in a recent video circulating on social media, where it is purported that a certain Zimbabwean national, Walter Magaya, is a graduate or alumnus of the university.

Responding to a media query from a certain international media platform, the university confirmed that, based on the information provided by the said media platform, the system of the university could not find any record showing that Mr Magaya was ever registered or graduated with Unisa.

This effectively means that Unisa does not have Mr Magaya either as a student or a graduate. Any certificate/s he produces which he claims to be from Unisa is/are therefore fraudulent.

Subsequent to the issuing of the media response, the university also came across a video clip in the social media domain, wherein Mr Magaya also claims to have received an honorary doctorate from Unisa.

The university has never conferred any honorary doctorate on Mr Magaya and strongly condemns this false claim.

We believe that conduct of this nature damages and brings our brand into disrepute and we reserve the right to take appropriate corrective action.

Relevant authorities within the university have therefore been requested to take the necessary legal action in this regard.