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| Image: MoneyWeb |
South African economist Thabi Leoka has been terminated from the Presidential Economic Advisory Council due to a PhD scandal. Leoka was exposed for allegedly not holding a PhD in economics from a top UK university and is no longer a member of the council. She has also resigned from the boards of Anglo American Platinum and MTN SA to attend to her health and academic qualifications.
Leoka is at the center of a qualifications row after she was exposed for allegedly lying about holding a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). The LSE can find no record of her being awarded a PhD by the institution, and her undertaking to provide evidence of her PhD certificate and thesis to Daily Maverick has also come to nothing.
Anglo American told Daily Maverick that prospective non-executive directors are vetted before appointments are made, but it did not comment on whether Leoka, specifically, was vetted before her appointment in July 2020. In February 2017, Leoka testified under oath before the Commission of Inquiry into Higher Education and Training that she had a PhD from the LSE. If she fails to prove that she has a PhD from the institution, she could face perjury charges, a fine or imprisonment.
Private healthcare group Netcare admitted it failed to adequately verify Leoka's claimed PhD qualification before appointing her to its board in January 2022. A report by an external specialist integrity assessment firm commissioned by Netcare listed Leoka's highest qualifications as an MA and an MSc, but the PhD qualification she claimed to have on her CV was not listed on the report, and Netcare did not interrogate her claim further.
Leoka remains a board member of the Small Business Institute and continues to serve on the Statistics South Africa Council, where she chairs the Economic Statistics Committee.
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