Senior lecturer at Lupane State University Accused Of Demanding sex From Students In Return For University Trips
A SENIOR lecturer at Lupane State University (LSU) has been accused of allegedly demanding sex from students in return for university-facilitated trips that pay up to US$30 a day in allowances.
Dr Thulani Dube is the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and also senior advisor of the University Christian Union. Dube worships at a city church and holds a senior position.
A student that he was allegedly having “sexcapades” with before their love turned sour said Dube would select female students that he targeted to be in between the sheets with, and a few male students.
“Most of the students that he pounces on are in the Climate Change Club who work with him as research assistants. He would select female students that he targets to have sexual sojourns with and a few male students. He would propose love during the trip. It becomes difficult to turn down his sexual advances because of fear of being dropped from the next trip and losing out on the US$30 per day. That is equivalent to someone's salary,” she said.
The student revealed that two students (names supplied) raised a red flag about the issue after he dropped them from the trips.
“Two students who complained to him about his sexual affairs with other students were dropped from the trips,” said the student.
The student alleged Dr Dube was involved in affairs with four students who have benefited from conferences like the Climate Change Conference and Climate Change Research Project.
There are chats Dr Dube allegedly exchanged with one of the students, Elaine, who is pursuing a Development Studies Degree.
In the chats in which the lecturer complained that a friend was spreading rumours that he was madly in love with a student on attachment, the two chat about meeting and enjoying each other's company and also ensuring that their secret was not known to a Phiri as “the whole university will know”.
Elaine strongly denied that she was involved in a sexual relationship with Dube: “I'm not in a relationship with him and if you write that I will sue you.”
ZimTrending learned from Bmetro that When the publication told her that it was in possession of the chats she exchanged with Dr Dube she said: “Where can we meet? I want to see the chats. I can't come to your workplace.”
Another student who is privy to Dr Dube's shenanigans said one of the female students was even seen driving his car.
“One of the students was seen driving his car around campus during the weekend because most of the students would have travelled to Bulawayo,” the student said.
Dr Dube was contacted on Monday last week but he terminated the calls and ignored WhatsApp messages sent to him.
On the following day he responded through a WhatsApp message: “The truth is this is a politically-motivated story. There is no truth at all behind it. As you may be aware the university Pro-Vice Chancellor (name supplied) is moving to Gwanda State University. The next line of leadership to fill up the gap is at my level. There is a group of people who have come up with a strategy to soil my name for a position I'm not even interested in.”
He added: “They are keen to ensure that my reputation is destroyed so that I don't compete for this post. The issue is that I'm entangled in a political storm where stories are created to soil my name. The people that know me will know if there is substance or not to the story. In short I know nothing about the story.”
When he was contacted on Tuesday through his wife's phone and he said: “I responded in a chat. I don't have a comment.”
