Qualification sceptics edit Pravin Gordhan’s profile on Wikipedia

After years of referring to Pallo Jordan as a doctor, only to find out in 2014 that he had lied about his qualifications, South Africans seem to have become very distrusting of people’s qualifications, and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan appears to be another case in point.

Someone has now changed Gordhan’s Wikipedia profile to reflect their cynicism on the minister’s pharmacy degree despite a confirmation about it from the university.

Under information on his alma mater, the Wikipedia vandal added that the minister went to UKZN “even though there is no proof”. The line has already been removed.

UKZN and Durban Westville have been trending today.

Particularly on social media, South Africans have been wondering about the minister’s pharmacy degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, so much so that the university itself released a public statement confirming that he did graduate with the qualification from their institution.

In a statement on Monday, the university said: “The office of the registrar at the University of KwaZulu-Natal confirms that Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan studied and successfully completed the requirements for the degree Bachelor of Pharmacy in 1973. In addition, he recived an Honorary Doctorate in 2003 and the Convocation Award in 2013 from UKZN.”

But some of his critics were still not having it, while others some have gone as far as to say he never qualified or that his degree was actually only a diploma, though none of these allegations have been backed up with facts.

An allegation has also started floating around that since the university had only opened its doors in 1972, this would have made it impossible for Gordhan to have qualified just a year later. However, the Indian University College that preceded it was operating since 1961.

These were some of the reactions on social media:

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