Human rights professor grilled about his role in qualifications debacle
Prof Karthy Govender denied defending former dean of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Michael Cowling, who allegedly misrepresented his qualifications
RENOWNED human rights professor Karthy Govender was grilled at the Judicial Service Commission judges interviews on Monday about his role in the 2008 mini-scandal when former dean of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Michael Cowling, misrepresented his qualifications. Prof Govender was one of three candidates to be interviewed for appointment to the KwaZulu-Natal High Court. The other two were advocates Fazal Moola SC and Ian Topping SC. Magistrate Sitembiso Maphumulo withdrew her candidacy. Govender was asked by JSC commissioner Julius Malema why he had "defended" Cowling, whom he called a "fraudster". Cowling reportedly took early retirement without fully explaining how he had claimed to have LLM (Cantab) and M Phil (Cantab) degrees from the University of Cambridge — the university denied that he had been awarded the masters degrees. Govender said he had not defended him, but at a public meeting had called for him to be allowed an opportunity to give his side of the story. But he w...
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