Zweledinga Pallo Jordan (born 22 May 1942 in Kroonstad, Free State) is a South African politician. He was a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, and was a cabinet minister from 1994 until 2009. He studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States (1962). His official biographies, as well as his official CV, claim that he received a PhD and he has presented himself under the title Dr for numerous years, but a newspaper investigation revealed that he did not complete his degree at Wisconsin–Madison.^[1][2]

Political career[edit]

• He was elected to the National Executive Committee (NEC) (since 1985)lIE
• He served as administrative secretary of the NEC Secretariat (1985–1988)
• He served on the NEC's Strategy and Tactics Committee as convenor (1985–1989)
• He was the director of Information and Publicity (1989)
• He served on the NEC's sub-committee on negotiations and the NEC's sub-committee on Constitutional Guidelines
• He returned to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC (1990)
• He was elected to be a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of South Africa (since 1994)
• He was Minister of Posts, Telecommunications, and Broadcasting (1994–1996)
• He was Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (1996–1999)

Claimed qualifications[edit]

Jordan's official CV, as it appeared on the South African Government Communications and Information System's website and elsewhere, is titled, "Zweledinga Pallo Jordan, Dr". Under "academic qualifications", it stated: "Dr Jordan studied at the University of Wisconsin in the United States of America in 1962 and he acquired a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics."^[2]

In the Eastern Cape Province town of Lady Grey, a school was named after Jordan, called the “Dr Pallo Jordan Primary School".^[3]

In 9 August 2014, the Johannesburg Sunday Times reported that no evidence could be found that Jordan, who goes by the title 'Dr' has ever had an honorary doctorate bestowed on him.^[2]

Jordan has no degrees or diplomas from the University of Wisconsin-Madison or the London School of Economics (LSE), the two institutions cited on his CV. He has no formal tertiary academic qualifications whatsoever, the publication reported.^[2]

At the same time, Jordan was fired from his position as a Business Day columnist.^[2]

On August 11, 2014, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe announced that Jordan had resigned from Parliament and apologised to the ruling party after the exposure of his faked qualifications.^[4] The ANC statement also revealed that Jordan had resigned from the national executive committee (NEC) of the ANC and from the ANC.^[4]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Government biography
• ANC Biography (broken link)