Pallo Jordan not a doctor - claim

Johannesburg - Former minister of arts and culture and ANC stalwart Pallo Jordan has routinely used the title of “Dr” for years only to now be exposed as a fraud.

The Sunday Times claimed in a report that Jordan, who is widely acclaimed for his intellectual writings appears to have never even finished university – despite an official government CV of his suggesting he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the London School of Economics. Jordan did however study at Wisconsin-Madison but did not graduate.

After an investigation, the Sunday Times found that there was no record of Jordan ever having received a PhD or even having had an honourary doctorate bestowed on him. In fact the newspaper found he had no formal tertiary academic qualification at all.

However, his official CV, titled Zweledinga Pallo Jordan, Dr, states he studied at Wisconsin-Madison and obtained a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). However the registrar at LSE says they have no records of Jordan ever having attended the college.

Biography

When asked by the Sunday Times journalist to provide documentation pertaining to his qualifications, Jordan stalled only to allegedly hint at a deal – that the journalist be granted the honour of writing his memoirs in exchange for dropping the story.

Wikipedia however clearly states that Jordan, born on 22 May 1942 in Kroonstad, Free State, studied at Wisconsin-Madison but did not complete his degree.

In the short biography it points out that the ANC stalwart was a cabinet minister from 1994 until 2009 and that “he studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States (1962) but did not complete his degree”.

The website states that in 1979 Jordan was appointed the director of the ANC's first internal mass propaganda campaign, The Year of the Spear, marking the centenary of the Battle of Isandlwana of 1879; that he was named head of the ANC's research unit of the Department of Information and Publicity in 1980; was elected to the national executive committee (NEC) in 1985; served as administrative secretary of the NEC Secretariat from 1985 to1988; was the director of information and publicity in 1989; returned to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC in 1990; was elected to be a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly in 1994; was minister of posts, telecommunications and broadcasting from 1994 to 1996 and was minister of environmental affairs and tourism between 1996 and 1999.