Cape Town – A South African medical student has reportedly been expelled by the Villa Clara University of Medical Sciences in Cuba, just weeks before completing his studies.
The medical school suspended Selby Mabokela for three years after he, along with a fellow student from KZN, allegedly kidnapped two young Cuban women, reports said.
However, Mabokela claimed the two women were part of a trio who had robbed them of a cellphone and they were trying to get the women to give the phone back, reported TimesLive.
The report said Mabokela and another student had gone out of the campus residence to buy cigarettes when the trio snatched his cellphone and ran.
He said they gave chase and caught up with the two women and took them to their residence, hoping they would help retrieve the stolen cellphone.
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The report said that security officers at the residence told Mabokela to release the women and rather open a case of robbery.
“We told them we’d let them go if they’d phone the guy to give me my phone. They eventually called the guy and we got my cellphone back,” the report quoted Mabokela as saying.
According to DispatchLive, the suspension letter alleged that Mbokela had two previous sanctions against him, including assaulting a female fellow student.
Family spokesperson advocate Chuma Nonkelela said they believed the suspension was harsh and had appealed to SA health ministry to intervene and let them finish their studies.
“[The attaché] has since escalated the matter to the deputy minister of health (Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo) to talk to the Cuban minister of health, who is in SA, to intervene in the impasse and plead with the Cuban medical school to reconsider its position.
“The department will await the outcome of the meeting with the two ministers,” the report quoted Provincial health spokesperson, Yonela Dekeda as saying.
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
