Daniel Mthimkhulu, the former chief engineer at South Africa’s state-owned Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa), has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for fabricating his engineering qualifications, media reported.
Mthimkhulu, 49, held the top engineering post at Prasa for five years, earning an annual salary of approximately 2.8 million rand (over $156.800). His resume claimed that he held multiple engineering degrees, including qualifications from the prestigious University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and a doctorate from a German university. However, the court heard that Mthimkhulu had not attended any university and had only completed high school, reports revealed.
The fraud came to light in 2015, when questions were raised about Mthimkhulu's credentials. He was arrested shortly afterward, and an investigation revealed that his entire academic history was fabricated. Mthimkhulu had joined Prasa 15 years earlier and rapidly climbed the ranks, largely due to his fake qualifications.
In addition to falsifying his educational background, Mthimkhulu also forged a job offer letter from a German company in an attempt to leverage a higher salary from Prasa. This deception not only led to a substantial financial loss for the state agency but also resulted in Mthimkhulu spearheading a disastrous 600 million rand ($33.6 million) train procurement deal with Spain. The trains bought under his leadership were later found to be unusable in South Africa because they were too tall for the country’s rail infrastructure.
Phindi Mjonondwane, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, welcomed the court’s ruling.
"The sentence sends a strong message that perpetrators of white-collar crime will not go unpunished," she reportedly said, emphasizing the seriousness and prevalence of fraud in both the public and private sectors.
Mthimkhulu is reportedly planning to appeal the court’s decision, but for now, his fraudulent rise to success has come crashing down, serving as a stark warning against white-collar crime in South Africa.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time South African civil servants have faked their documents. On September 1, 2016, Ntombelanga Pretty Labane applied for a position as a business and accounting teacher at Hlelimfundo Secondary School in Amersfoort, a town in eastern South Africa. She submitted a CV along with counterfeit copies of a matric certificate, a bachelor's degree, and SACE (South African Council for Educators) certificates and subsequently secured the position.
Throughout her teaching career, Labane earned R1,292,382 (approximately $72,400).