South Africa has a long list of men and women in high-profile jobs who have been found to have falsified their qualifications by brandishing embellished CVs. Here’s a look at some of the people who have landed top government jobs despite having questionable (or no) qualifications.
Vincent Mdunge
Probably the only person who has been convicted and sentenced for faking his qualifications so far is former police spokesman Vincent Mdunge. Mdunge got five years’ imprisonment last year for two counts of fraud and one of forgery for allegedly presenting a fake matric certificate to gain promotion in the police force and to gain entrance to do further studies at Unisa. Mdunge, 49, was convicted on a count of fraud for receiving a salary to which he was not entitled. The highest rank a police officer can achieve in the police without a matric certificate is warrant officer. Mdunge had reached the rank of colonel.
He was found guilty of fraud for submitting his forged matric certificate to Unisa to obtain admission to a National Diploma in Police Administration course.
His former teacher testified in court that he handed Mndunge his matric certificate and that he got an E agregate which did not reflect what he thought were his abilities as a student.
Mndunge is appealing the sentence.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng
The controversial SABC chief operations officer has remained steadfast in his position at the broadcaster despite a report by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela that he had lied about his educational qualification, among others. The DA took the matter to court and it ruled that he be suspended immediately. He appealed the court decision. His boss, Communications Minister Faith Muthambi, decided to ignore both Madonsela’s report and the court ruling and made Motsoeneng’s position permanent this month. Motsoeneng’s famous quotes include: “You have two kinds of people in this world. You have certificated people and educated people. You can have many degrees but also in that you need a brain”. “You can have all the qualifications, but if you can’t operate in the studio, for example, how can you work?” “I qualified myself. People can write and think whatever they want. I don’t know what is the relevance of matric when I have a modern senior certificate, which is higher than the matric certificate.”
Daniel Mtimkulu
The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) this week suspended its head engineer Daniel Mtimkulu less than 48 hours after it fired its chief executive, Lucky Montana. The suspension of Mthimkhulu comes after an investigation into his qualifications where he failed to produce the academic certificates that he claimed he had. Last week, newspaper reports revealed that Mtimkulu was not officially registered with the engineering profession’s statutory body and that in 2006 the Engineering Council of SA had rejected his application for registration. Mtimkulu claimed he studied engineering at Wits University before going on to obtain his doctorate in Germany. After the revelations, Prasa instituted an inquiry. At the time, Prasa spokesman Sipho Sithole told News24: “Now there is a formal disciplinary inquiry… because he has failed to produce the academic qualifications that he claimed he had.” Prasa says the suspension comes as a result of the confirmation by the inquiry that he lacked the necessary qualifications.
Yolisa Pikie
The latest and probably the youngest CV cheat to date comes from the SA Revenue Service and is none other than Yolisa Pikie, is a former special adviser to the ex-Sars deputy commissioner, Ivan Pillay. He quit in April after he was caught lying about his qualifications. According to reports, Pikie claimed to have a BCom degree from the University of the Western Cape when he applied for his job with Pillay. However, Pikie’s academic record from the university shows that he did not complete his degree after repeatedly failing several subjects, including accounting, statistics, management and industrial psychology. Sars sources said he also passed himself off as a lawyer at official meetings, even though he did not complete his law degree at Unisa. Pikie rose through the ranks to become special assistant to then Sars commissioner Pravin Gordhan. Sars rejected his resignation and lodged a criminal complaint of fraud against him.
Eugene Nyathi
Albert Nana, AKA Eugene Nyathi – a self-styled economist and grand master of deception will go down in history as one of the worst qualifications cheats South Africa ever encountered. Nyathi surfaced on the eve of South Africa’s new democracy with his eloquent radio and television analysis about current political affairs. He had South Africa on his feet as he projected himself as a new generation of skilled and educated black professionals. Not until he was exposed as a fraud. Not only that, Nyathi had also lied about his origins and had us believe he was born in Newcastle, KwaZulu Natal when he was in fact born in Zimbabwe. He disappeared from our television screens. Not after he charged a whopping R15 000 an hour as a consultant tasked with the restructuring of the Mpumalanga Development Corporation.
Pallo Jordan
When a newspaper investigation showed that Dr Zweledinga Pallo Jordan, as his official biography claimed, possessed neither a PhD and nor did he complete a degree or diploma at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, South Africans were shocked and saddened at the same time. His claim that he also had a degree from the London School of Economics was found to be false. The truth about his fraudulent qualifications forced Jordan, who had served as a minister in several portfolios and as a member of parliament, to resign in 2014. He retired from public life. He told City Press that it was after the tragic bomb blast that killed Ruth First in Maputo in 1982, in which he was also injured, that he was first referred to as “Doctor” Jordan: “I didn’t dispute it,” he said. And the belief that he had a doctorate “developed a momentum of its own”.
Ellen Tshabalala
When the University of South Africa was called before Parliament’s portfolio committee to give evidence as to whether or not SABC board chairperson Ellen Tshabalala lied about her academic qualifications on her CV, it showed she registered for a BCom degree in 1988, and again in 1996. She failed to obtain the qualification. She had also registered for a diploma in labour relations in 1995. During the academic year, she passed two, failed two and did not write exams for two of the modules. In January 1996, she was allowed to rewrite the two she could not write the previous year. She obtained a mark of 13 percent for her human resources module and 35 percent for labour relations. Unisa then wrote to Tshabalala informing her that she had not qualified to redo the course.
Mohau Pheko
South Africa’s ambassador to Japan has come out to say she regrets misrepresenting herself on her CV by saying she had a PhD when she had not, in fact, completed the degree. Pheko was appointed to the post in 2012 and lists a PhD in international relations from LaSalle University in Louisiana, in the US, among her academic achievements. Yet LaSalle did not exist in 2000, when Pheko claims she was awarded the degree. LaSalle was shut down in 1996 when it emerged it was a “diploma mill”, selling degrees and other academic qualifications via the Internet “for the bargain price of US$2 000 to $3 700”, according to records at the time, the Financial Mail reported. The authenticity of Pheko’s CV was initially flagged by the Canadian government in 2010, when she was appointed by President Jacob Zuma as the new envoy.
The Sunday Independent