HARARE – Walter Magaya’s claim to going through tertiary education has come under fresh scrutiny after it emerged the preacher may have forged a University of South Africa (UNISA) diploma which he submitted at the High Court last week as evidence of his academic qualifications.
The potential fraud has been exposed by United Kingdom based Zimbabwean journalist Maynard Manyowa of Dug Up who took the onus to contact the institution to find out if the Yadah Stars owner and business tycoon possessed any qualifications attained from it.
In return correspondence to the Dug up scribe, a UNISA press officer said Magaya’s name did not exist anywhere in the university’s database.
“Kindly be advised that based on the details you provided; our system could not trace either a student number or date of birth for Mr. Magaya,” read the university’s response to Manyowa in a letter dated January 28, 2025.
UNISA added, “This effectively means that we do not have Mr. Magaya as a student of UNISA.”
Yadah Chief Executive Officer, Admire Mango did not respond to questions sent to him on his mobile and did not pick calls when attempts were made to seek comment with him over the potential scandal.
Magaya was in December last year disqualified from running as a presidential candidate for the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) held last weekend after failing to submit his Ordinary Level certificate, a key requirements from those who aspired to get the country’s most influential football job.
The Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder took the matter to the High Court where he complained over his disqualification arguing that he was in fact overqualified, a reason he insisted made an Ordinary Level qualification inferior.
He then tendered three diplomas in Marketing and Theology purportedly obtained from UNISA to support his argument.
His failure to produce an O’ Level certificate brought more questions as to how he even enrolled at the renowned college let alone acquire diplomas.
