The eThekwini Municipality is currently involved in a legal battle with its Deputy City Manager of Corporate and Human Capital, Kim Makhathini, after it was revealed that she misrepresented her qualifications to secure her position.
The matter arose following a report by the City Integrity Committee Investigations Unit (CIIU) and the Hawks, which found that Makhathini faked her qualifications.
The unit (CIIU) found she had misrepresented and recorded in her CV and the online application qualifications, which did not meet her current job description when she applied for the position of Head of Human Resources.
In her application, Makhathini recorded that she had a Master of Arts in Social Science degree which she claimed to have obtained from the University of Glasgow, and a National Diploma in Human Resources obtained from Damelin.
However, an internal report by the CIIU dated 1 March 2023 found that Makhathini doctored her qualifications and recommended disciplinary action be instituted against her for misrepresenting her qualifications.
According to the report, Makhathini was appointed Head of HR on 1 November 2014, with the minimum requirement being a “relevant bachelor degree, relevant postgraduate qualification, and seven years’s experience at the management level, of which two years must be at the senior management level”.
However, in Makhathini’s case, the CIIU found that she did not possess the National Diploma from Damelin and that although her Glasgow Master’s degree in Social Science could not be verified, the degree is equivalent to a Bachelor Degree in Social Sciences in South Africa.
According to the CIIU, the certification manager at the Damelin National Academic Certificate, Andrew Gilchrist, confirmed that Makhathini’s National Diploma in Human Resources, which she claimed was obtained from the institution, was not registered with SAQA on the National Qualification Framework (NQF) and also did not have SAQA ID nor the credit value.
“The certificate was a short learning programme with four modules completed within 80 hours. The qualification in Human Resources Management in the name of Kim Makhathini could not be verified as authentic and correct. The qualification should be considered fraudulent,” Gilchrist stated.
On the verification of Makhathini's Master’s degree in Social Science claimed to have been obtained from the University of Glasgow, the CIIU report stated that it could not be confirmed as Makhatini refused to sign a consent form allowing the verification process as required by the University of Glasgow.
“The investigation team liaised with Kim Snyders, manager of Ratification of Foreign Qualification (SAQA). A copy of the qualification and confirmation letter issued by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) submitted by Makhathini was forwarded to Snyders to confirm whether the same was verified by SAQA.
“According to Snyders, due to the qualification having been issued in 1994, SAQA did not have archives from that time. She further stated that she was unable to do a 100% verification, but she was certain from the documents presented that it was issued by HSRC.
“In clarifying the point, Snyders confirmed that from face value, it seemed like the documents were issued by HSRC; however, this could not be confirmed with records due to no access to archives for the period in question.
“The investigation team subsequently, liaised with David Males, Verification Services, Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD), to ascertain whether the BA Social Science Degree submitted by Makhathini had been issued by the University of Glasgow. According to Males, the university would only accept a hand-signed HEDD consent form signed by Makhathini,” read the CIIU report.
The CIIU alleged that Makhathini refused to cooperate with the investigation but questioned why the investigation team was interested in her qualifications.
The CIIU concluded that Makhathini was dishonest and committed fraud when she misrepresented her qualifications and called for disciplinary action to be taken against her.
At the time when approached for comment, Makhathini questioned why the publication was interested in her qualifications, adding that she had the qualifications that were verified by the municipality.
“I filled out a form here at work for me to have them do the verification, which they did. If you are wondering how I ended up in Glasgow, I obtained a scholarship through the British Council,” Makhathini responded.
In August 2022, the Independent Media sent enquiries to the former eThekwini head of communications, Lindiwe Khuzwayo, asking how the verification process was conducted at the time. Khuzwayo defended Makhathini and said that the city was satisfied with Makhathini’s qualifications.
However, last year, when the publication went back to Khuzwayo with the same inquiry into Makhathini’s qualifications and the findings of the CIIU investigation team, Khuzwayo confirmed there was an investigation.
“The eThekwini municipality confirms that there has been a CIIU investigation relating to Ms. Makhathini’s qualifications. The report is receiving the necessary attention from municipal structures. Finally, information at the disposal of the Communications Team at the time of your initial query was that there were no issues with Ms Makhathini’s qualifications,” said Khuzwayo.
EThekwini Municipality’s Communications Manager, Mduduzi Ncalane, told the Sunday Independent that the city won’t comment on the matter since it was still in court.
He added that the city followed all internal procedures until the issue was addressed during the Municipal Council Meeting before the matter was escalated to court.
thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za