The Democratic Alliance (DA) reportedly maintains that the party’s chief whip Natasha Mazzone did her legal education training – this as questions mount on whether she has been dishonest about her educational background.
Headlines of Mazzone’s qualifications came to the fore following the suspension of the party’s Western Cape provincial leader and MEC for Public Works and Transport, Bonginkosi Madikizela.
Madikizela was suspended after he lied about having a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Human Resources on his CV.
“Advocate”
Madikizela admitted that he did study but did not complete his degree.
A report by Kaya FM, revelations about Mazzone’s matter were highlighted by GOOD Party member, Brett Herron, which prompted the party to issue a statement, clarifying Mazzone’s background and qualifications.
Herron claimed that she edited her Wikipedia page to remove the word “advocate”.
But according to DA deputy chairperson of the Federal Council MP Ashor Sarupen, Mazzone never said she had a law degree – she had put down LEAD and articles, which the party confirmed, reported IOL.
“She did LEAD with the South African Legal Society in 2004. She finished her articles with Hahn & Hahn Attorneys on November 24, 2007,” the report quoted Sarupen as saying.
Trannscripts
He said Mazzone did LEAD (Legal Education Development Training), which came before Practice Legal Training (PLT), which could be done for articles.
“Mazzone did do her legal education training and she did do her articles. She dropped out of law school.
“She is very open about that and she said that many times, she is not proud of it. She can provide you directly with the transcripts of her personal documents,” he said.
Daily Maverick reported on Tuesday that Mazzone was not the only DA figure facing this kind of accusation in the aftermath of the Madikizela scandal.
“Questions have also been asked of the DA’s Saldanha Bay Mayor Marius Koen and Western Cape MEC for Human Settlements Tertuis Simmers, with Koen under investigation by the party,” the report said.
Picture: Twitter