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The government is working on a new policy to deal with the prevalence of fraudulent qualifications and fraudsters who misrepresent their academic qualifications.
In recent years, a number of senior public officials and politicians have been exposed as frauds and now the government is planning to root out the problem.
Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa told Parliament yesterday that the government has indeed considered the reported incidents of persons who misrepresented or faked their qualifications.
“Such incidents do great damage to the credibility of our country’s education and training system,” he said.
Ramaphosa revealed that Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande was preparing a proposal for the Cabinet’s approval on various mechanisms to address the problem.
He said the proposal will result in measures that will end up with those people [who misrepresented qualifications] being reported to the police and being charged and the National Prosecuting Authority also pursuing charges against them.
Ramaphosa said this was being done “as this problem has reared its head in such a way that it needs attention”. He said further details will be made available once the Cabinet has considered and approved Nzimande’s proposal.
Nzimande has already requested the South African Qualifications Authority to establish a national register that will list the names of individuals who have misrepresented their qualifications and who have invalid qualifications.
“It is important that the rigorous verification processes that are undertaken in the public service at national and provincial level are extended to other public institutions and entities,” he said.
“We urge all public and private entities to make every effort to verify the qualifications of all prospective employees and directors and to report any suspected fraudulent activity to the South African police or the National Prosecuting Authority,” he said.
Ramaphosa revealed all this during a question and answer session in the national council of provinces.
He was responding to a question from the United Democratic Movement’s Lennox Gaehler who wanted to know whether the Human Resource Development Council and the government had considered the regularly reported incidences of persons with either none and/or fake qualifications in the public and private sectors as a serious concern.
Ramaphosa called on members of the public to make sure that they do not jeopardise their employment prospects or face criminal charges by misrepresenting their credentials or qualifications.
“When it comes to qualifications; it’s either you have it or don’t have it. If you do not have it, do not misrepresent yourselves.
“Go and study and get your qualification and only when you are qualified can you put your qualification in a curriculum vitae or put that qualification behind your name,” he said.
Ramaphosa called on those who still practice this behaviour to desist from it and to focus on getting their qualifications.
“We call upon them to remove those fake qualifications from their CVs immediately. Remove them immediately and embark on a process of studying.
“Let us not be fakes. Let us not be fraudulent when it comes to our qualifications. Let us be properly educated people,” he urged.
Earlier in the session, Ramaphosa was made to sweat just a bit as a DA MP posed an uncomfortable question about succession in the ANC.
DA MP Jacques Julius asked Ramaphosa whether he would support a female candidate to lead the ANC when it elects its next leader.
Julius said he was asking the question following the declaration by the ANC Women’s League that the organisation was ready for a female president.
“It is always the ambition of a deputy president to become a president one day or in the next term. I am sure you have an ambition to become president of South Africa,” he began.
“Seeing that the ANC Women’s League expressed the desire of a female president from the ANC’s side which puts you in a difficult position I would say … can we now say the ANC is ready for a female president?
“Would you support a female candidate for the presidential election?” he asked.
The deputy chairperson of the NCOP, Raseriti Tau, who was presiding over the session tried to block the question saying Julius was “making reference to people and structures that cannot answer for themselves in the House”.
Ramaphosa gave a long-winded response about the processes of electing an ANC president, but never directly answered the question.
“It is not up to you and it is not up to me, it is up to the membership of the ANC at branch level. Watch this space; it is going to do the right thing again,” he said.
Julius asked his question as a follow up to a question on whether the government was engaging political parties and civil society organisations on their role in ensuring that the nation achieves gender parity political decision-making as is required by the SADC Gender Protocol.
