Let’s fake it for a job

Fraudsters who got their jobs by faking their qualifications and experience, are being caught one by one when the employers finally, and often only after some years, verify their CVs.

Two employees who faked it were given quite a drubbing by the courts after their dishonesty had come to light:

In Umgeni Water v Naidoo and Another, Naidoo was appointed after pretending that he had a B.Sc. degree in Engineering. As Umgeni Water failed to verify his alleged B.Sc. degree, he got away with it for some eight years. His fraud only came to light after the appointment of a private company by Umgeni Water. This appointment required that the qualifications of all members of staff had to be verified.

Although Naidoo persisted with his version that he had graduated with a B.Sc. degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, university records showed  that he never graduated because he was “excluded” from the Engineering faculty after he had “failed to make significant academic progress with  his studies”.

Umgeni Water now said it would never have appointed him if it had known that Naidoo did not have a B.Sc. degree.

The court ordered Naidoo to pay back his salary in the amount of R2 203 565.04, and to do so with interest until the full amount was repaid. The Court further gave Umgeni Water permission to claim the amount from his Provident fund.

Meanwhile, Lesedi Local Municipality’s erstwhile CFO, Mphele, must have been quite happy after a CCMA arbitrator found that his dismissal was unfair and instructed the municipality to retrospectively reinstate him despite the fact that he had misrepresented his qualifications and his various professional memberships.

This happiness, however, was short lived when the municipality succeeded in having the arbitration award set aside and the dismissal confirmed by the Labour Court.

The court had the following harsh words to say to employers who do not verify the claims made in a CV, as well as to the fraudsters who lie and cheat their way into positions for which they are not qualified: “The misrepresentation of qualifications is a pervasive and menacing evil that greedily devours and indelibly taints our employment landscape. It trivialises our institutions of learning, devalues the sanctity of honest educational pursuits and cheapens legitimate and hard-earned achievements. It can never be excused, rationalised or condoned. It is sickening to the core and detestable in every possible respect. It is not only morally offensive but is also vocationally revolting. Every attempt to uproot it must be applauded and rigorously pursued … This rot must be resisted and exposed at all costs.”

These judgments show that employers should question and verify all qualifications and employment records a job applicant relies on before confirming an appointment. Discovering the fraud only after the damage has been done, is simply much too late.