Fake graduates damage country
CHINUA Achebe’s comment that when you throw a stone in the market place in Nigeria, you are most likely to hit a university graduate seems to be coming true in South Africa as well; except that in our case, the stone might be hitting a fake graduate.
The recent incidents of alleged misrepresentation of qualifications in South Africa have really shaken a lot of people, especially those who have honestly worked their way up in the job market.
When talking of working your way up, I can’t help but feel robbed somehow by those who falsify qualifications, especially when I reflect on the strenuous discipline and difficulties experienced in obtaining a university degree.
Remember those sleepless nights of working through big books and assignments before one went on to endure the torture of exams.
Not to mention the financial drain involved when studying for these qualifications. Some parents even sell their last cow to enable their children to attain tertiary qualifications.
Now, contrast this with someone simply using some ingenious method to manufacture a certificate, say cutting and pasting someone else’s hard earned certificate and presenting it as theirs.
Alternatively, some simply walk into interviews and claim to be doctor so and so or professor such and such and get hired on the basis of these false credentials.
The list of people with questionable credentials who occupy high positions in government departments or in parastatals is astonishing. For example, Hlaudi Motsoneng, the SABC CEO has been subject to scrutiny, with some alleging that he does not even have a matric certificate while the chair of the SABC board Ellen Tshabalala’s claim of being a Unisa graduate has been denied by the institution.
Similar allegations have followed Dudu Myeni, chair of the South African Airlines board.
But the greatest shock has to be that related to Pallo Jordan, who at least resigned from parliament after it emerged that his “Dr” title was a myth. It was really difficult to swallow the fact that this ‘Dr’ we have respected for so long has nothing at all on paper.
All the while these folk have raked in megabucks in salaries, thanks to their fake qualifications.
What makes things worse is that there may be thousands of others in government also with fake qualifications but who have not yet been exposed.
Imagine, thousands of other fake professors, drivers, teachers, accountants and many more occupying public office. Surely, fake credentials would contribute immensely to under-performance in government departments.
The result of placing important, influential and costly entities like the national broadcaster and the airlines into the hands of people who are not properly qualified speaks for itself: they are bankrupt and in need of bailouts. No wonder our airline has been struggling to take off.
I think the government should consider doing a thorough audit of the qualifications presented by civil servants across all departments and parastatals to root out this shameful practice. Such an audit will help restore respectability and improve performance.
Some of those entrusted with verifying people’s credentials may have been out-foxed; others may have knowingly accepted bogus qualifications, with a little thanks on the side. But it does not help the nation to have dubious “graduates” in every corner with credentials not even worth the paper they are written on at a time when we are sinking deeper into economic and social crises.