A woman at the University of Zimbabwe has been suspended and will face disciplinary action from the school after she gave the President of Zimbabwe and Chancellor of the school, Robert Mugabe, a mortarboard that was “too small” for his head on October 2.
Ngaartendwe Takawira, a senior official of the university had been in charge of graduation ceremony in the school since 1996 and had been accused of giving the president a mortarboard too small for his head on a previous occasion.
However, when the president refused to wear the academic cap this year because he said it was too small, the scramble to get another one that would fit him led university authorities to the previous one that was rejected last year for the same reason. Only this time, the cap seemed to fit.
According to court papers filed by Takawira’s lawyer, she approached the labour court to stop disciplinary actions being taken against her on account of the academic cap issue.
“The cap sizes were obtained from the Chancellor’s office and also, when he was asked to fit the caps, his office indicated that he was busy,” the court papers stated.
She prayed the court to stop what she described as “biased” disciplinary actions against her and called for an independent committee to conduct the proceedings.