South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has fired prominent economist, Thabi Leoka, from his Presidential Economic Advisory Council after she allegedly lied about having a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Journalists from several publications in South Africa including Business Day and Daily Maverick have been trying to verify her PhD but there seems to be no record of it.
Ms Leoka has denied misrepresenting her qualification but on Monday was forced to resign from the boards of two prominent companies, mining giant Anglo American Platinum Limited and Mobile phone company MTN SA.
On the same day, she was told about “the immediate termination of her membership in the Presidential Economic Advisory Council”, Mr Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya told the BBC.
In response to questions being raised about how Leoka was not properly vetted, Magwenya said membership of the body “does not require formal vetting.”
The Business Day newspaper is reported to have asked LSE for a record of Ms Leoka’s doctorate but was told the LSE had “checked our files and can find no record of Thabi Leoka being awarded a PhD from LSE”.
Ms Leoka meanwhile claims she has been busy and has not had the chance to get hold of her degree certificate.
“I’m not based in [South Africa] full time… I have been at the Miami Bascom Palmer Eye Hospital as I have glaucoma and have since lost sight in my right eye,” she told Business Day.
“You also don’t have my names as reflected on my degrees,” she added.
Last week, she said she was about to undergo surgery.
When asked on Radio 702 “have you misrepresented your qualifications?”, she responded: “The answer is a straight no.”
She also said that she had qualified under a different name which was why the LSE was not able to find evidence of her PhD when asked by journalists.
Leoka could find herself being charged in South Africa under the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Act, which kicked in late last year, and make it an offence to “knowingly provide false or misleading information” about academic qualifications.
