Farayi Munyuki Just a few days ago, the University of Namibia announced that two of its senior members of staff had been suspended for stealing computers worth N$70 000. For a long time, it was the security guards and the students who were accused of stealing and taking property belonging to the university. At one stage security guards were suspected to have been the culprits and now it is the professors themselves. By suspending them, the university has taken the right decision and by referring the case to the police, the authorities want those who have been bleeding the university to face the music for their uncalled for actions. Instead of teaching students, the two officials deprived the university of its computers, the very instruments that the students use for their lessons. The two need to be canned so that they will never do it again. They have damaged the good reputation of the teaching profession and destroyed whatever remains of Unam and other professors. A month ago, another law professor hit the local media when it was reported that he had fraudulently deprived a student of her money left in his care. This does not auger well for those working at Unam as professors. Then there are those charges that some lecturers were hired on fake degrees and certificates. Most students enrol at Unam to learn and struggle to amass the required school fees. But they do this neither to be taught by thieves nor to find themselves in a den of thieves as the case may be. Say the courts find them not guilty, will they be allowed to return to the precincts of university life? What next will professors steal at Unam? In the past, there has been a litany of offences, including university final exam papers being shown to some students. This kind of behaviour lowers the proclivity of the university and makes the public think Unam degrees are not real but fake. Those in authority need to take strong measures against those who steal examination papers, against those who steal computers and other items. Time has come for those in authority to say enough is enough. Such behaviour debases the good name of our university and the country as a whole. A good university is judged not by the colours of its gowns but by the quality of its products and graduates. Namibia requires graduates in all spheres of life. The country needs scientists, doctors, teachers, good and dedicated nurses, engineers, but these can only be gotten through hard work and not through fake examination papers and thieving professors. Now that they have been caught, let’s see how the authorities are going to deal with them. This is no time for kid gloves. The professors need a sledgehammer so that there will be no repeats of such a nature.