Presidency asks Leoka to come clean
The Presidency has requested former Remgro director Thabi Leoka to address the matter of her qualifications – “in the interest of transparency”.
The Business Day reported on Tuesday alleging Leoka, who serves on several boards of companies including Anglo American Platinum, does not hold a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Leoka has dismissed the reports, saying she would take legal action. “I do hold a PhD in economics from the university. I did economic history and economics,” Leoka told 702 on Tuesday.
Leoka said the reason people have not been able to find her PhD record was because they’ve been searching with the wrong names.
“They didn’t use my full name. Without using the right names, the school wouldn’t verify or confirm a name that is incomplete or not on their system. I changed my name with home affairs.”
According to a Government Gazette published on 29 March, 2018, Leoka did change her name from Bathabile Leoka to Thabi Leoka.
A search by The Citizen of the
LSE online data bases and editions of the LSE Digest failed to turn up Leoka’s name as a recipient of a PhD, although her name was recorded as being awarded a MSc in economic history.
We could find no record of any thesis under Leoka’s name in the database – which has been digitised and goes back to 1905.
No record of a thesis submitted by her could be found in the database of the Senate House Library of the University of College of London – which has a relationship with the LSE.
Theses are required to be submitted to the library.