Honorary degrees ‘carried no weight’ - Joburg moves to defend JRA CEO qualifications
The City of Johannesburg’s Transport MMC Funzi Ngobeni has defended the qualifications of Johannesburg Roads Agency CEO Tshepo Mahanuke.
This comes after Daily Maverick published an explosive article about his lack of tertiary qualifications.
In an article, the publication stated that Mahanuke claimed to have a master’s degree in “Competitive Intelligence” from ACI College, Harvard Business School that seemingly doesn't exist.
Mahanuke also an honorary doctorate from the Trinity International University of Ambassadors but it was found that the doctorate can allegedly be bought for a small “support honorarium”.
But Ngobeni says Honorary Degree bestowed to Mahanuke carried no weight in the decision to appoint him as CEO of JRA.
Ngobeni says Mahanuke was appointed based on the qualifications he obtained; a National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and BTech in Operations Management.
Both were obtained from Vaal University of Technology.
The minimum requirements for the post were Bachelor's degree in Operational Management or business or engineering or relevant NQF Level 7 equivalent.
Ngobeni says the assumption that Mahanuke embellished his CV to raise his favourability for the position of CEO are untrue.
"From the onset, Mr Mahanuke declared in his CV that the Doctorate that has caused much consternation in the public sphere was in fact an honorary degree. In fact, the CV submitted by Mr Mahanuke, as part of his application for the position, clearly distinguishes earned qualifications from those bestowed upon him.
“It is these qualifications that were considered.
“I accept that there are conventions governing the use of a title arising from an Honorary Degree that may have been broken and caused concern but equally, I accept that Mr. Mahanuke neither wilfully mislead myself or the board in any way nor pretended to possess qualifications he did not earn.”
Ngobeni has also defended Mahanuke's performance since his appointment in August.
"While there are challenges, we have begun to see a turnaround in the ability of the JRA to respond to queries from residents. What is clear is that due to our ageing infrastructure, the JRA and other entities of the city are required to attend to frequent service requests. Nonetheless, we remain committed to delivering equitable service delivery."
Ngobeni says the board will undertake an independent verification process to test the legitimacy of Mahanuke qualifications.
ALSO READ
