The chief engineer of South Africa's state-run passenger rail agency falsely claimed to have a master's degree and a doctorate in engineering, earning

A top 'engineer' faked his degrees and only had a high-school education. He got away with it for years.

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2024-09-07 23:00:04

The chief engineer of South Africa's state-run passenger rail agency falsely claimed to have a master's degree and a doctorate in engineering, earning him a handsome salary of about $160,000 a year.

On Tuesday, a court in Johannesburg sentenced Mthimkhulu to 15 years in prison. He had been charged with nine counts, including fraud and forgery.

He was arrested in July 2015, having worked at the rail agency for 15 years, including five years heading up its engineering department.

He got the top engineering job by lying on his résumé, claiming to have a master's degree from Johannesburg's Witwatersrand University and a doctorate from a German university.

In 2019, Mthimkhulu admitted during an interview that he did not have a Ph.D. and had "failed to correct the perception" that he held a doctorate.

The court in Johannesburg also heard that Mthimkhulu had forged a job-offer letter from a German company and used it to negotiate a salary increase at the rail agency, BBC News said.