Fake CVs cost SA millions

2003-09-01 12:39

Johannesburg - Bogus qualifications bandied about in the public and private sectors are costing the economy millions of rands annually, says Professor Tjaart Steenekamp, head of the University of South Africa's economics department.

"Because qualifications fraudsters are also often confidence tricksters, they are very good at hiding the fact that they don't know what they're doing. As a result it sometimes takes a company years before they discover the fact that the individual is unable to perform his or her duties satisfactorily and by then the harm has been done," he said.

Although exact figures were not available because the problem had not been thoroughly researched, losses to employers both in the private and public sectors were huge.

Steenekamp said the problem was particularly acute in areas such as accounting.

"In exact sciences such as accountancy and economics, the damage an underqualified person can do can be catastrophic. It can literally drive a company into bankruptcy," he said.

Ina van der Merwe, managing director of MIE Resource Services, South Africa's oldest and largest credentials verification company, said their own statistics showed that about 18 percent of the workforce had lied about their qualifications.

Van der Merwe said between 18 percent and 20 percent of the many thousands of qualifications we check every month turn out to be bogus to a greater or lesser extent.

The cost of employing an individual with sub-standard qualifications, or no qualifications at all, often manifested itself in low productivity and an inability to do the job.

- SAPA