Qualifications fakers to be named and shamed online

PEOPLE who are found guilty of faking their qualifications will be named and shamed on a public offenders list online.

This follows revelations that many senior officials had misrepresented their degrees.

The SA Qualifications Authority has gazetted the Draft National Policy on the Misrepresentation of Qualifications to deal with the scourge of people falsifying their degrees.

It proposes that the names of individuals or providers who have misrepresented their qualifications should be entered into the register, which will be updated bimonthly as information is received.

It also proposes a second register for fraudulent qualifications, which would be updated when police supplied information on court cases that have been finalised and where guilty parties have been sentenced.

Apart from fake degree scams, South Africa has seen senior government officials exposed for not having the degrees they claimed to have on their CVs.

“Media exposure of high-ranking officials claiming to hold qualifications that they were not awarded or for which they did not enrol has created greater public awareness around misrepresented qualifications,” the draft policy reads.

Former SABC chairwoman Ellen Tshabalala was exposed for claiming to have a BCom and postgraduate degrees from the University of South Africa.

In fact, she did not have the qualification and failed most of her modules at Unisa.

Rail agency Prasa was faced with a similar scandal after it emerged that its head of engineering was not registered as an engineer.

Daniel Mtimkulu claimed that he had a doctorate in engineering from a German university, but it emerged later that he did not have any such qualification.

Prominent ANC leader and former minister Pallo Jordan, who stated on his CV that he had a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics, was also found to have misrepresented his qualifications.

This trend was not limited to the public sector.

Net1 chief executive Serge Belamant, who referred to himself as Dr Belamant and claimed to have an honorary doctorate from Burkes University, did not, in fact, have an honorary degree.

According to the proposed

policy, no mercy should be shown to individuals who obtained qualifications from “degree mills”, as they knew that they had not studied towards obtaining a qualification.

“Universities are faced with prospective students who submit, as proof of fulfillment of admission requirements, qualifications that they have not rightfully earned,” it said.

“In addition, degree mills continue to operate unabated. As soon as one is shut down, another mushrooms in its place.”

The qualifications authority said that besides being illegal, the misrepresentation of qualifications had other serious implications.

“People are appointed to positions based on their false qualifications, which raises questions around their competence to hold these positions,” it said.

“In more senior positions, the safety of ordinary citizens and employees, the long-term viability and profitability of organisations and public service delivery rest in these fraudsters’ hands.”

The policy details how institutions should deal with falsified qualifications and gives a strict guideline on what constitutes a bona fide qualification in South Africa.

Members of the public have an opportunity to comment on the draft policy through the authority.