SOWETAN | Lies, not lack of PhD, core issue

Once a renowned economist who sat at some of SA’s most influential business tables, Thabi Leoka’s fall from grace is a sobering reminder of how our country has a crisis of ethical leadership both in government and the private sector. 

Leoka was exposed by our sister publication Business Day last week for having lied about her PhD qualification, which cemented her among SA’s most elite economic voices. 

Leoka had for years claimed she had obtained the doctorate from the London School of Economics. 

Only it appears this was never true. 

Not only did the university confirm it never conferred a PhD on her, she has not been able to provide evidence of the degree, even as she insists that she has it. 

Leoka attempted to cover up the scandal by suggesting that those who ran background checks on her did so using a different name which has since been changed at home affairs.

However, investigations show that no PhD has been confirmed under any of her identities. 

With unrelenting public pressure, this week she resigned (read: let go) from the companies on whose boards she sat, including Anglo American Platinum, Netcare and MTN. She has also been axed from the Presidential Economic Advisory Council. 

In December she resigned from Remgro, in a move some believe is linked to the company’s discovery of the fake qualification. 

The scandal has exposed how some of the biggest companies in SA either failed to conduct due diligence when appointing her, or looked away as verification processes raised questions about the PhD. 

Second, what makes this even more bizarre is that with a number of degrees, including an MSc in economic history from the London School of Economics, Leoka is more than qualified to sit on the same boards to which she was appointed.

The PhD was never a prerequisite for any of her appointments nor would the absence of one have diminished her public standing. 

As the scandal unfolds, some have sought to suggest that Leoka ought to escape accountability on the basis of her existing qualifications. 

This reasoning is problematic as it reduces her culpability to a matter of qualification rather than that of integrity. 

Leoka lied and continued to peddle a lie, even as evidence suggested otherwise. 

We must hold to the same moral standard those who lead business entities as we do those who serve in the public service.