Alarming increase in fraudulent qualifications

HIGHER Education Minister Naledi Pandor has noted with concern the increase in the number of fraudulent qualifications reported over the past five years.

The total number of fraudulent foreign qualifications and South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) certificates of evaluation was 2263 over this period. “There is an upward trend in the number of misrepresented qualifications that have been detected,” Pandor said.

She said this in a written response to a parliamentary question from the ANC’s Juli Kilian, who asked about the role of the SAQA to safeguard the integrity of the national qualifications framework.

Pandor said in 2010/11 there were 47 reported fraudulent qualifications, 37 in 2011/12, 76 the following year and 62 in 2013/14. The number grew to 106 in 2014/15, only to drop to 92 in 2015/16, 24 in 2016/17, 982 in 2017/18 and 385 since April.

Pandor said SAQA has been tracking qualifications since 2005.

“Up until 2015, SAQA paid Umalusi for every school-leaving record that was verified. There was no agreement in place between Umalusi and SAQA in 2015 and 2016, and this led to a relatively high number of school-leaving qualifications not being confirmed as misrepresented qualifications in 2017.

“The relatively high number in 2017/18 is due to those qualifications being confirmed as misrepresented qualifications to SAQA in 2017.

“Furthermore, the Qualifications Council of Trade and Occupations (QCTO) began submitting their misrepresented qualifications to SAQA in August, 2017.

“This also accounts for the higher number of misrepresented qualifications in 2017/18,” Pandor said.

Pandor also revealed a total of 892 fraudulent foreign qualifications with 201 reported in 2016/17 and 444 in 2017/18.

Pandor said the high number of forged SAQA certificates of evaluation that was detected by the Department of Home Affairs was alarming.

“SAQA responded to the trend by piloting the eSAQA certificate of evaluation and has rolled out the project as a permanent feature in this financial year. The Department of Home Affairs can identify forged certificates because the foreigners are unable to bypass all the security features,” Pandor said.

Asked if the government took necessary steps to verify qualifications before appointing public servants, Pandor said all departments were required to verify the qualifications with SAQA.