In June, the department of jurisprudence sent out an email to first-year students titled “JUR110 S1 2022: Serious Matter”. In this email, the department detailed the strange story of another student who “[pretended] to be a professor with the Faculty of Law at UP and [held] lectures and [prepared] lecture notes for JUR110 students”. With the assistance of the first-year class representative of JUR 110, Lucca Rautenbach, PDBY explored this peculiar set of facts.
The “Prof”
The alleged student is first-year student Moses Modisane, known as “Prof” by his “students”. His CV is rather impressive. According to Modisane’s LinkedIn, he was a delegate with the South Africa-Sweden University Forum. In addition, he was a managing director of a company known only as “3rd Realm”. Furthermore, he is the founder and executive chairman of the Tsholetsang Foundation. Among all these accomplishments and accolades, his job titles include: corporate social responsibility manager, assistant manager, executive assistant, and manager. Notably, none of these titles and accolades mention “law professor”.
Modisane’s formal education is a checkered record. According to his LinkedIn, he has never completed a degree at any of the three institutions he attended. While enrolled at Unisa and Wits, he pursued a teaching degree, which he never completed. He is currently enrolled at UP, doing his first year in law. From the above it is apparent that Modisane was neither qualified nor competent to teach jurisprudence (legal philosophy) in any capacity.
The lectures
Modisane ran his operation on a WhatsApp group called “LLB Campus Study Group”, where he would inform his class of first years of the particulars of each “lecture” session. The sessions would be held either virtually on Zoom, or as a contact class in a Thuto lecture hall. However, access to the group and his “class material” was not available to all students who took JUR110 that semester. Access to the group was by invitation only. According to Rautenbach, “to join the group, students had to provide their Facebook, a picture of themselves, and where they reside”. Furthermore, any disclosure of the group’s existence would be met with a sanction. The sanction was stated as one of the rules in the group’s description, which he regularly reminded students to refer to. One exchange in the group reads, “Dear ***** It has come to my attention you have disclosed the particulars of the next session on a public platform […] I refer you to the group’s description, particularly rule 8.” In light of the group being accessed by invitation only, it is rather peculiar that the students in the group were mostly women. In order to gain access to future class session, students were apparantly required to message Modisane privately, as he would explain on the group: “If you will be attending, you are requested to text prof personally and make the necessary arrangements […]”. The nature of his correspondence with the students is an enigmatic blend of professional/academic and inappropriate.
Modisane’s engagement with his students mimicked that of a real professor, as he would begin announcements with “greetings students,” or end his correspondence with “Regards, FLY@UP.” In one announcement, he even expressed his dissatisfaction with low class attendance, saying, “it is bizarre as I have received 30 inbox messages where people wanted to attend the Saturday session where I offered the lecture. I cannot fathom whether people lack the motivation to attend […]”. Modisane even made lecture slides for his “lectures”, however, they featured the watermark for the Faculty of Humanities as opposed to the Faculty of Law, which he allegedly belonged to.
Modisane’s exchanges with students over WhatsApp enter the realm of inappropriate in private messages such as the following:
“3 things. We need to talk. If you want a study partner, I’m here. I want us to vibe.”
Furthermore, some students were only taught by Modisane and caught his lecture sessions if they remunerated him. The nature of the remuneration is unclear from the evidence tendered to PDBY, but certain inferences can be made from a text sent on the group, which reads: “Truth be told, I am and have been available only to those who delivered the drink mentioned at the end of the first quarter (exception has been made at some points)”. His reasoning for this remuneration is best explained by Modisane in a WhatsApp message when he says, “Good people, we cannot continue giving ourselves to people that are unappreciative in all material aspects”. In response to this, Modisane said to PDBY that there was never a prescribed drink but that he noted that drinks “would be very much appreciated”.
No exact date concerning the founding of the group and the start of the lectures can be determined from the evidence tendered to PDBY. However, from the evidence, it is clear that the “lectures” went on unnoticed by the Faculty of Law for as long as April right through to the end of the semester in June, when the department sent out the correspondence to the first-year students.
When approached for comment, Modisane said “Nothing happened. We just had a study group […]. I and my fellow law students […] am tired of things being blown out of proportion”, “no one can dare come forward and claim that I said I am a staff member of UP. […] I have never said such a thing. […] Prof was a WhatsApp username […] and has nothing to do with misrepresentations or anything of the sort”. He maintains that despite the format and the particulars of these “lectures” that “the study group sessions were not lectures or classes” and that “the terms classes and lectures are exaggerated”. Students can access Modisane’s full responses below.
The Faculty
When PDBY approached the Faculty of Law on this matter, the head of the department of Jurisprudence, Dr Joel Modiri, stated: “This matter was entirely handled by the Dean’s Office. Suffice it to say that the alleged conduct of this student was quite strange and disturbing. What is also of concern in this matter is the need for students to also be vigilant and sensible and to rely on the formal structures and personnel in the module (class reps, tutors, lecturers) if they have any challenges with the administration or content in any module.” PDBY then approached Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law Prof. Charles Maimela, who echoed the sentiments of Dr Modiri and explained: “The matter is currently with Legal Services for investigation. I do not think at this stage it will be wise to engage on this matter due to the investigation that is ongoing”.
When speaking to Rautenbach on how the students were not able to tell that this person was not, in fact, a lecturer, she explained: “The first-years have no prior experience of how the campus and university operate. The student exerted power and control. Alongside calling himself “Prof” and using large lecture venues, this tricked the students.” As for his intentions, Rautenbach was unsure but speculated the following: “though I’m sure the study sessions assisted some students, there are definitely signs that point to the entire scheme being for monetary gain, as some students were tutored privately. It is also probable that due to the alleged harassment, the point was to target vulnerable female students”.
Conclusion
The peculiar case of “Prof” raises some concern over the vulnerable status of first-years and those who prey on them. What is more concerning is that these individuals who prey on naiveté also occupy the same space as them on campus. One can only speculate on how many students were swindled, or how many were harassed by this student. Students should always approach matters similar to the above with the greatest circumspection and caution, and get the opinion of another more experienced student where they may be suspicious of certain behaviour.
Modisane’s reponses
- Why did you pretend to be a JUR110 lecturer?
“All, if not most of my contemporaries, know I am a fellow law student. For I have maintained such.
No one can dare come forward and claim that I said I am a staff member of UP. I have never said such a thing. I have always maintained that after my LLB I will pursue pupilage and pursue postgraduate studies, i.e., do my LLM and LLD here at UP and be a professor someday. Also, Prof was a WhatsApp username. Hence, some started calling me Prof per such an aspiration. I mean, some people’s usernames go as far as “chief justice”, “china-doll” etc, does that mean the person is a doll? No, It is just a WhatsApp username.
We call each other your worship, advocate, etc, as per our aspirations. I can summon witnesses to this effect that that’s what we sometimes call each other amongst each other. It has nothing to do with misrepresentations or anything of the sort. It is friends calling each other such to motivate and remind each other of our dreams.”
2. Why did you require students to send their address, a picture of themselves and Facebook to join your classes?
“This was agreed upon during the development of the study group. This was asked of everyone, indiscriminately so, be it male or female and the reason was so people can have walking buddies as most did not know campus very well. After a while, it was even discarded. So it was not really a requirement per se.”
3. What was the prescribed “drink” that’s students were supposed to pay in? what else did you accept in the alternative?
“There was never a prescribed drink or anything accepted in the alternative. I received praise for the study group as it is very beneficial, and most students asked me what they could get me, I simply noted a drink would be very much appreciated. Those that didn’t deliver still remained in the study group, so no, it’s not a prescribed drink. We all studied together in the absence of any drink being delivered.”
4. What do you have to say to the students who attended your lectures?
“We had study group sessions not lectures or classes. We need to be careful of terminology here, I hear you keep using the term “classes” and “lectures”, we never had such. We had normal study group sessions where we all engaged like in a normal study session. To answer your question, I don’t need to say anything because we still talk, and to my shock, perhaps yours too, some still ask me when are we resuming with the study sessions. They know whether we had lectures or study group sessions. Sometimes I didn’t attend the study group sessions but they continued in my absence, if these were my classes then how would they continue for 2 weeks without me?
This was a study group. The terms “classes” and “lectures” are exaggerated.”
Photograph: Jaime Lamb
Oh my this is awkward. Having to tell you who I am is a whole ordeal because I am still trying to figure that out myself lol. The most I know at this point is that, I am an unhinged hillbilly from a small town in Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal; My first love had “Petronella” as a middle name (gross right?); I will on occasion get dressed in a onesie, using my red blankie as a cape to live out my fantasy of being the caped crusader of justice: Captain Tanuki; Finally, I have an obsession with owls that should get its own section in the DSM-V. On that owl thing, I feel like in one of my many past lives as a shrew somewhere in the world, I met my end to one of those majestic birds and that specific bird reincarnated as my first love who, at the time of writing, has not killed me…yet! Talk about a circle of life, neh. My goals? Well right now, I have but one very simple goal: to be the best human I can possibly be. Achieving that would make a hillbilly like me, a better person and growth is always good. My time at the paper has made sure I stay on this path. Should a lost soul wanting to know about the paper, stumbles across this bio, I want you to know that I will totally be a radically different person in the best way possible. Who knows, I might have reincarnated as an owl, by then.