Durban — EThekwini Municipality’s deputy city manager for Human Resources, Kim Makhathini, has questioned the authenticity of the City Integrity and Investigation Unit’s (CIIU) report, which found that her academic qualifications were fake.
Breaking her silence on Tuesday, Makhathini denied her qualifications were fake and called on the unit’s head, Mbuso Ngcobo, to investigate how his team had come to this conclusion in spite of her co-operating and furnishing them with all the documents.
She said there was an official in the city who had been spreading false information about her with the intention of tarnishing her name. She added that the official even tried to influence unions to challenge her appointment and, after failing, resorted to influencing the CIIU to find against her. She said she did not have a problem giving consent to anyone wishing to contact the institutions where she had studied, including the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
“I do not know why this official is doing this to me, but all I know is that there are people who told me that this official (mentioning him by the name) used to call unions ethi bathule bathini (why they were quiet) when they have appointed me without qualifications.
“This is the same person who conducted the skills audit shortly after I was appointed and confirmed that I was qualified. He also approved my bursary to study further. So when he allegedly reported it to CIIU, obviously, it had to investigate. The CIIU team was provided with all the verifications done by the municipality to confirm that my qualifications were authentic, but the investigator wrote the report knowing that my qualifications were verified.
“So I’m not sure what the agenda is, but I can assure you that, contrary to popular belief, my qualifications are not fake as I graduated from the University of Glasgow in broad daylight. Confirmations of my qualifications have been confirmed by my employer on different platforms…” said Makhathini.
She was promoted to the deputy city manager post after serving as head of the same unit from 2014.
A senior municipality official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the CIIU was deeply involved in factional battles, and two of the unit’s senior officials were called by the City’s senior officials who asked them to compile a report that would find against Makhathini.
The source said it would be better for the unit’s head, Mbuso Ngcobo, to institute an investigation and check the authenticity of this report.
The source added that it was strange for the City to question Makhathini’s qualifications now after she had produced the same proof of her qualifications when she was hired as department head seven years ago – before being promoted to the deputy manager’s position.
“Now that they could not obtain any details without a written consent from her, the question is how did they arrive at the conclusion that she did not have the qualifications. The unit’s head must quickly clear up this mess and deal with these officials, who are being used to fight factional battles, before the unit loses credibility,” said the source.
CIIU head Ngcobo said he had questioned the investigators several times about the report but had to back off because he did not want to be seen as interfering with the investigation. He said Makhathini must write a letter to him so he can ascertain whether his team had properly investigated the matter and used facts to reach their conclusion.
In the documents obtained by this paper, there are photos of Makhathini’s graduation at the University of Glasgow in 1992. Also among the documents is a verification report that was done by an independent company, which was commissioned by the City.
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