- The DA’s Bonginkosi Madikizela has been accused of falsifying his qualifications.
- The DA’s federal legal commission will now be tasked with investigating the matter.
- The party says it’s concerned about the allegations and will follow due process to establish the facts.
The DA's federal legal commission will investigate claims that Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela falsified his qualifications.
DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille said the party was concerned following reports that Madikizela claims a qualification he does not hold.
Daily Maverick reported that the Western Cape MEC of transport and public works does not have the BCom degree he claimed to have.
"The DA notes with concern, the allegation that the CV of Bonginkosi Madikizela, the party’s Western Cape leader, claims a qualification that he does not hold. The DA regards this in a serious light and will follow due process in establishing the facts and taking consequent follow up action," said Zille.
Madikizela's official biography on the Western Cape government website notes that he had obtained his BCom from Unisa in 1999.
However subsequent to that, he earned an IT diploma from the National Institute of Information Technology, which the Daily Maverick reporter presumed to be an Indian-based organisation.
According to Daily Maverick, Madikizela conceded that his original CV clearly indicated (unfinished) because he didn’t complete his degree.
"I realised that on my bio that is not clarified," he told the publication.
Leader of the ANC in the provincial legislature, Cameron Dugmore, said the party would call on Premier Alan Winde to immediately suspend Madikizela, pending an investigation by the Legislature Conduct Committee into the MEC's allegedly fraudulent CV.
"We cannot have an MEC going about his business with such a serious cloud hanging over his head. MEC Madikizela is alleged to have claimed that he has a BCom degree in the CV he submitted to the DA regarding his application to be considered as a mayoral candidate for the City of Cape Town," Dugmore said.
Madikizela is up against Geordin Hill-Lewis to be the DA's candidate mayor in the upcoming local government elections.
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