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| Thank Leoka PhD (Image via PEAC) |
South African economist Thabi Leoka has been exposed for allegedly not holding a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics (LSE), as she claims. A Daily Maverick investigation could find no evidence that Leoka has been awarded a PhD from either body. For weeks, Daily Maverick has sought answers from Leoka, requesting copies of her alleged PhD certificate and thesis. Her undertaking to provide evidence has come to nothing.
The LSE and the University of London have confirmed to Daily Maverick that they have no record of Leoka being awarded a PhD from either body. However, following the publication of a Business Day article on Tuesday exposing Leoka as an alleged degree fraudster, the economist has doubled down — falsely claiming on air that Daily Maverick had cleared her of the charge and threatening legal action.
Leoka provided expert testimony before the Commission of Inquiry into Higher Education and Training in Pretoria on 6 February 2017, where she was asked about her qualifications. She said she had five degrees: BA, honours, and master’s degrees, all from the University of the Witwatersrand. She then did an MSC in economics and looked [sic] at economics and economic history and then a PhD in international economics at the University of London, LSE.
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Since appearing before the commission, Leoka has held numerous directorships and high-profile advisory positions to President Cyril Ramaphosa and former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene. Her use of the honorific “Dr” appears in nearly every biography of her available online, and in media interviews, she is frequently introduced as “Dr” Thabi Leoka.
In 2018, “Dr” Leoka was among a panel of researchers appointed by Nene to review a list of VAT zero-rated items and terms of reference. In 2019, “Dr” Leoka was appointed by Ramaphosa to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) to “advise the President and government more broadly, facilitating the development and implementation of economic policies that spur inclusive growth.”
References to her alleged PhD are also dotted all over the internet. There’s a photo of Leoka on the website of her high school, St Cyprian’s High School. Below it is the year she enrolled — 1996. Then, “PhD, Economist”.
She serves on the boards of several companies, including Anglo American Platinum, the Small Business Institute, and the Senegal-based consulting group Act-Afrique. She is also a board member of MTN SA, and in company documents, her official bio says she holds a PhD in economics from the University of London.
The Business Day report has catapulted Leoka to the top of the public figures who have misled the SA public about their qualifications. Leoka has repeatedly defended her phantom PhD qualification to Daily Maverick and attempted to defer or block the story, promising copies of her degree that never arrived.
Thabi Leoka, a South African politician, has been accused of falsifying her qualifications in an interview with 702's Clement Manyathela. Leoka claimed that a journalist from the Daily Maverick approached her with questions about her qualifications and that they abandoned the story due to her vendetta. However, Daily Maverick was finalizing its investigation and was due to publish a story imminently.
Leoka claimed that the time difference between South Africa and New York and her ongoing health issues meant she did not have time to respond to Business Day's questions. She also claimed that she had changed her name, which led to no record of her degree at the LSE or the University of London. Daily Maverick requested that the LSE search for Leoka under her ID number, which would not be affected by her name change, and this, too, failed to yield results for the PhD.
Leoka claimed that proof of her degree would be provided during the legal action she intends to take against Business Day. She also stated that the boards of all relevant companies on which she sits had carried out vetting of her academic qualifications without issue. Daily Maverick has established from three bodies with which Leoka was involved that she was never vetted for her qualifications as this was either not felt necessary or not a requirement. Anglo-American has claimed to Daily Maverick that she was vetted.
Remgro's Lwanda Zingitwa said that Remgro knows the unconfirmed allegations against Leoka. The appointment of Leoka as an independent non-executive director of Remgro was not ratified at the Remgro AGM on 4 December 2023, as she opted to no longer stand for election as an independent non-executive director of the company due to personal reasons. Remgro did not respond to Daily Maverick's question on whether it vetted Leoka's qualifications when she joined Remgro.
