19 July 2015
Inside the minds of CV cheats
By Zingisa Mkhuma
At the height of his corruption trial in 2005 Shabir Shaik admitted he did not have two degrees, from the
US and the UK, and was not a published writer, although his CV listed these accomplishments.
Johannesburg - At the height of his 2005 corruption trial in the Durban High Court, President Jacob
Zuma’s former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was asked by senior prosecutor Billy Downer why he
falsified his qualifications.
In answering, Shaik was calm and frank. He told Downer that his brothers were highly qualified and he
felt he had missed out.
This was after it was discovered that he did not have an MBA, contrary to what was stated in the
brochure of his company, Nkobi Holdings.
He also admitted he did not have two degrees, from the US and the UK, and was not a published writer,
although his CV listed these accomplishments.
Shaik’s tale perhaps gives an insight into the mind of a fibber and why so many people fake their
qualifications in a quest to secure top positions that come with high salaries.
South Africa has a long list of men and women in high-profile jobs, in government and in the private
sector, who have been found to have falsified their qualifications by brandishing embellished CVs.
The spotlight has fallen most recently on “Dr” Daniel Mtimkulu, the executive manager of engineering at
the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), who is alleged not to have a BTech in engineering or a
Master’s or doctorate.
He has also been under fire as he is not registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa.
Registration is a legal requirement for practising engineers.
In explaining why people who should know better find themselves cheating about their credentials, Wits
University associate professor of psychology Sumaya Laher refers to “the dark triad of personality”.
She says such people tend to display such traits as Machiavellianism, narcissism and pyschopathy in
clinical settings.
In the case of people in high towers, there was a tendency for Machiavellism – all they wanted was
power and status.
The dictionary describes this trait as being or acting in accordance with the principles described in
Machiavelli’s 16th-century treatise The Prince – where political expediency is placed above morality.
Craft and deceit are used to maintain the authority and carry out the policies of a ruler.
Laher says internal factors influence people to behave in a certain manner.
“External factors are when institutions or organisations fail to do proper checks and balances, allowing
people to get away with false credentials – and then others decide to do likewise.
“Internal factors are what happened in the mind of, say, (former cabinet minister) Pallo Jordan, when
someone makes a conscious decision to lie about their credentials. A person can’t say it happened by
mistake. Why would a person do that, what goes through his mind?
“The answer could be, ‘Just because I am so-and-so, I can get away with it’.
“If we look at the dark triad of personality, where certain personality traits such as Machiavellianism,
narcissism, and psychopathy will manifest themselves in a clinical setting – in the workplace – it is
common among successful people to display Machiavellianism; they crave status and power and need
success and stature.
“Internally, people are motivated by a need for power. ‘I will get it and it doesn’t matter what it means
or takes to achieve it, but I will get it.’
“In South Africa, if you look lower down, when we recruit people, we do integrity testing – while people
in high positions are not subjected to that. Besides, who would think that someone like Jordan for
instance – someone higher up who knows what he is doing – would fake his credentials? And that is
where the problem lies.”
However, Professor Malehoko Tshoaedi of the sociology department at the University of Pretoria says it
all boils down to the culture and the race politics waged in all institutions.
Asked to comment on why more black professionals than whites were being fingered for embellishing
their credentials, Tshoaedi says this is not a black phenomenon – there are just as many whites in similar
situations, but they are protecting one another.
“Blacks are competing for these positions with whites and Afrikaners in parastatals and universities. You
need to understand that whites stay in one institution for many years and upward mobility for them has
always been based on loyalty. The culture in some of these institutions is that you stay loyal to me and I
will reward you.
“Democracy and politicisation have messed up this system of loyalty and it is frustrating for many
whites.
“If you come in as a black person and assume that your qualifications are going to earn you promotion,
then you are wrong.
“There is competition for resources and the pressure is high. The dominant culture is that which rewards
loyalty and patronage, and we are not familiar with this culture. Hence we don’t stick because we come
from a struggle culture and we expect change – and when we find that it’s not there, we say, I am not
my mother so I am not going to put up with this nonsense.
“There is a lot of resistance to change in these institutions. We can be in a workplace for 10 years
without knowing, ordinarily, what qualifications our colleagues have.
“I work with my colleagues and I have not seen their CVs. If they say they have a Master’s or a PhD, then
I take it as is. People will check your qualifications only if there is conflict. We shouldn’t take it at face
value that black people are cheats.
“It is always done in well-calculated moves. Look at how the Prasa issue started. First it was the science
around the trains that was not right. But they knew that they had done their research. Look at the
(former Wits Professor, Malegapuru) Makgoba issue, they wanted him out.
“Look at academia and the issue of plagiarism. There is a fine line between your work and the work of
others. You can take one sentence, but if somebody is out to get you and they expose you and you never
recover.”
Source: The Sunday Independent
http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/inside-the-minds-of-cv-cheats-1.1887382#.Va3kkuKqqkp