Research indicates that sick notes can be bought

Independent research agency Freshly Ground Insights (FGI) recently investigated how people planned to get out of work during the World Cup to go to the games and found that 45% of the sample would claim to be sick, with some claiming that they would actually buy their sick notes.

FGI conducted further research into whether people knew doctors who sold sick notes, how much they thought the price should be and how much they would actually pay for such a document. The research was conducted among 564 respondents representing a cross-section of the South African population.

Sick notes cost

Results showed that 59% claimed to know a doctor willing to sell them a sick note. Of those, 73% estimated the cost of such a note to be between R100 - R300, with 5% estimating R1500 and 4% estimating R2000. When asked what they themselves would be prepared to pay, 62% of respondents suggested prices between R100 - R200; 4% would offer between R2000 - R3000 to get out of work and into the stadiums and the highest bidder was R4000. A determined 6% said they would pay any amount necessary. However, the majority remained on the more economical side of the scale, with R300 being the average amount across the entire sample.