The 13% liar

SABC chair Ellen Tshabalala is reported to have scored a pathetic 13% in a labour relations course and was barred from attempting to re-register for a diploma course at Unisa. (Image: SABC)

This and other revelations this week by the executive director of legal services at Unisa, Jan van Wyk, culminated in parliament's communication committee finding Tshabalala guilty on two counts of misconduct.

It found she had misrepresented her qualifications and had lied under oath when she had said the documents proving her qualifications had been lost in a burglary at her home.

It has now been recommended that Tshabalala be suspended while steps are taken to remove her from her R1-million-a-year post.

The final decision to remove her rests with President Jacob Zuma after the matter has gone through the National Assembly, which will happen only when parliament reconvenes in February.

In the meantime the committee will approach National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete to request Tshabalala's suspension.

Van Wyk testified yesterday that Tshabalala had registered for a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Unisa on two separate occasions but never completed her studies.

When studying towards a diploma in labour relations, she had failed so dismally, achieving just 13% for one of the modules, that she had been barred from trying to reregister for the course.

No qualifications awards... Zip, none, not even one, zero

Van Wyk said "no qualification whatsoever was awarded to Tshabalala".

He presented several official university documents and letters to corroborate his testimony.

Van Wyk said Tshabalala had initially registered in 1988 for a BCom. She did not have the matric results to qualify but because she was older than 23 had been granted a certificate of exemption.

She had enrolled for three courses but later cancelled her registration in business economics. She did not write the second subject and failed the third.

She "disappeared" from the system, re-registering for the same degree in 1996, Van Wyk said.

Her exemption had expired and, after she failed to have it renewed, her application to the university was cancelled.

Van Wyk said Tshabalala had in 1995 registered at Unisa's Graduate School of Business Leadership, in Midrand, for a diploma in labour relations, while in the employ of Portnet.

Not exactly a stellar performance

She passed two of six modules, failed two and did not write two.

In January 1996, she had written supplementary exams for the subjects she had not written, but scored just 13% and 35% for them.

After this, the university wrote to her to say that because she was "cumulatively unsuccessful in four or more courses, you cannot be readmitted", he said.

Tshabalala was not present at yesterday's proceedings.

In an affidavit read to the committee by her legal representative, Michael Tilney, Tshabalala said the committee's "unfair and uncompromising" refusal to accommodate the availability of her legal team when setting down the date for the inquiry made it clear "that I will not receive a fair hearing".

She claimed that Van Wyk's evidence constituted hearsay as he merely pulled the information from the system.

She required time to bring forensic experts to testify that the information on the system "had been manipulated".

But the committee chair, Joyce Moloi-Morope, said the committee had "bent over backwards" to accommodate Tshabalala and had on numerous occasions postponed proceedings in the matter, which had dragged on since July.

Tilney left after Moloi-Morope ordered that the inquiry go ahead.

All members agreed that Tshabalala should go after hearing evidence about her qualifications from Unisa. She will have 14 days to comment on the findings before they go before the house.

Source: The Times, via I-Net Bridge