Pallo Jordan and his PhD still missing

                                                                      Pallo Jordan

 

Johannesburg - ANC stalwart Pallo Jordan appears to have gone to ground following revelations that he does not hold a PhD as claimed on his CV.

According to the Sunday Times, Jordan, who has long gone by the title "Dr", is nowhere to be found following revelations last Sunday that he does not hold any degree.

The newspaper reports that Business Day has also dropped him as a columnist after he failed to meet his deadline and that close friends, comrades and neighbours have not seen nor heard from him these past few days.

No comment from ANC

When asked by the newspaper to respond, ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the party was not ready to comment.

News of Jordan's fake qualifications broke last weekend when the Sunday Times reported that no evidence could be found that Jordan had any degrees despite his CV claiming he has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the London School of Economics (LSE).

The office of the registrar at LSE told the publication: "We can find no record of Zwelidinga Pallo Jordan having been awarded a PhD from the school."

The newspaper said it had tried to get Jordan to confirm his qualifications but to no avail.

The office of the student services registrar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison confirmed that Jordan did study there, but he obtained only 97 credits between 16 September 1963 and 24 February 1964 and never completed his degree, according to the newspaper.

Text messages

The Sunday Times published a long exchange of text messages between Jordan and its journalist.

At one instance, Jordan promises to have the relevant documentation ready but it does not materialise.

Jordan later suggests the journalist could be his official biographer in exchange for not publishing the story.

At the end of the text messages, Jordan tell the journalist he would sue Times Media (owners of the Sunday Times).

"Tell me, does Tokyo [Sexwale] still own Times Media? I will not take an old friend to court, but I'll take you to the cleaners, the dry cleaners plus the laundry!! So do what you wanna!!."

Jordan is a former minister of arts and culture, minister of environmental affairs, and minister of posts, telecommunications and broadcasting.