Parliament pushing bill to combat fake qualification scourge

THE government is cracking down on fake qualifications, with Parliament pushing through a bill that will address the issue.

One measure to dissuade those with dodgy qualifications from applying for jobs is for a “name and shame” list to be published by the government.

MPs said yesterday that they were concerned with the increasing number of job applicants using fake qualifications.

The Department of Higher Education and Training said it needed to improve its systems to tackle the phenomenon.

It said the bill would force the government and stateowned entities (SOEs) to verify the qualifications of their workers, even those sitting on the boards of SOEs.

In the past few years, a number of prominent figures in the country have been caught with fake qualifications.

Former SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng was found by then-Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to not have a matric certificate.

South Africa’s former ambassador to Japan, Mohau Pheko, was found to have a fake PhD degree.

Pallo Jordan, a former cabinet minister, was also found to have not obtained a PhD degree in the US, as he claimed.

The chief director for legal affairs at the Department of Higher Education, advocate Eben Boshoff, said the National Qualifications Framework Bill would ensure there was a clampdown on fake degrees.

The bill makes it compulsory for employers to report people with fake qualifications.

“The SA Qualifications Authority must develop and publish a register for fraudulent and misrepresented qualifications,” said Boshoff.

“It is a legal duty to report misrepresented qualifications by educational institutions, providers and employers,” he said.

Juli Kilian of the ANC said it was a step in the right direction to strengthen the law to prevent the use of fake degrees.

Belinda Bozzoli of the DA warned that educational institutions may not have the capacity to take all those with fake qualifications to court. Bozzoli said it would be appropriate for a statutory body to take up the cases of those found to have fake degrees.

The director of the National Qualifications Framework directorate in the department, Shirley Lloyd, said that when the bill was mooted, it was envisaged that it would cover all three spheres of government and SOEs.

Lloyd said the bill would provide for the naming and shaming of people with fake qualifications. “If you are an employer and somebody presents a fraudulent qualification, you have an obligation to report it,” she said.