Pretoria, Sunday
FOLLOWING the revelation that a top government official had landed his R40 000-a-month job with ”dodgy” academic credentials, a Pretoria company specialising in the verification of degrees and diplomas said this was merely the tip of the iceberg and that both the private and public sectors were ”riddled” with bogus credentials.
Ina van der Merwe, founder and managing director of MIE Resource Services, said at least 15% of all credentials being tendered at present were questionable or outright bogus.
”One of the reasons why so many employees get away with false degrees and diplomas is because employers simply don’t take the trouble to verify these credentials.”
James Tamakloe, chief executive of the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority who was exposed by the Sunday Times as having awarded himself several degrees – including a Ph.D and an MBA -was suspended from his post this week pending the outcome of an in-depth investigation.
Tamakloe admitted to the newspaper that his CV was fraudulent but he blamed a recruitment company for the ”errors”.
Two of the degrees and another three diplomas were awarded by Discovery Community College founded by Tamakloe in 1993 and run from his home in Johannesburg.
Van der Merwe said the desperate unemployment situation in South Africa as well as the dire shortage of skilled personnel was to some extent responsible for the problem.
Because there is no legal requirement for employers to check credentials, many simply didn’t bother, she said.
”About the only companies who do regular verification checks are banks, financial institutions and recruitment agencies.”
At present more than 25% of all the candidates vetted by MIE Resource Services on behalf of prospective employers were guilty of CV fraud to a greater or lesser degree.
”It ranges from being black listed with credit agencies up to and including completely bogus degrees and diplomas,” she said.
As the sole custodian of the National Qualifications Register (NQR), which contains the academic records of most universities and Technikons in South Africa, MIE can do a credentials check in a matter of minutes, Van der Merwe said.
”We have agreements with universities and technical training institutions world-wide which allows us to do international checks within a very short period.”
She said credential verification was extremely cost effective.
”In most cases a comprehensive check which includes drivers licence, criminal record, identity check and academic qualification check will cost the client no more than R150.” – Sapa