An inquiry into the “just a matric” scandal affecting the City of Tshwane has exonerated mayor Solly Msimanga from any impropriety but found that his chief of staff lied about her qualifications.

Marietha Aucamp resigned from the job in May amid reports that she only has a matric certificate while the job description required candidates to have “a relevant bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification” as well as 12 years of experience‚ of which five had to be at senior management level.

An investigation report by the city’s Independent Chief Audit Executive was made public on Thursday. The report stated:

• The Chief of Staff has been found to have misrepresented her qualifications by stating that she has a B-Tech degree on a competency assessment form that she submitted.

• The appointment of the Chief of Staff both in an acting capacity and on contract was irregular and was not in line with the job requirements and HR policies.

• There is evidence that City of Tshwane Human Resource officials did not follow procedures and policies.

Among the recommendations are that the City Manager should subject the HR officials involved to a disciplinary process.