---
title: "Busting the bluffers one bogus qualification at a time"
description: "A pattern of unverified credentials and confident lying allowed DA candidate Abdulkader Elyas to advance through university and political structures largely unchecked, exposing how easily bluffers exploit institutional gaps. Universities’ refusal to maintain searchable graduate records is a key failure enabling this kind of fraud to persist across sectors, from business to politics."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "AFTER THE BELL"
author: "Stephen Grootes"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/stephengrootes/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-09-17-busting-the-bluffers-one-bogus-qualification-at-a-time/"
published: "2026-09-17T21:09:22"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 842
---

# Busting the bluffers one bogus qualification at a time

> A pattern of unverified credentials and confident lying allowed DA candidate Abdulkader Elyas to advance through university and political structures largely unchecked, exposing how easily bluffers exploit institutional gaps. Universities’ refusal to maintain searchable graduate records is a key failure enabling this kind of fraud to persist across sectors, from business to politics.

By Stephen Grootes · Published 17 September 2026, 23:09 SAST

## Key points
- DA candidate Abdulkader Elyas built a political profile on unverified claims – fake degrees and phantom gigs – slipping into party structures largely unchecked.
- This author recalls a “bluffer” at a London radio station: confident, defensive, damaging – a reminder how charisma and lies mask incompetence until someone peels back the veneer.
- Universities’ refusal to maintain searchable, public graduate records (citing “privacy”) is a major enabler of credential fraud across business and politics.
- Charismatic liars exploit institutional gaps; the fix is simple: transparency, searchable verification and smarter gatekeeping.

## Content

Many years ago, when I was about half the age I am now, I was struck with a strange problem.

I was working at a news radio station in London and was still really learning what on earth these things of journalism and life really are. It was a time of much fun, hangovers and occasional youthful heartbreak. A part of my life I’m very glad I got to enjoy.

A new person had started, someone who was easily 15 years older than me, he and I were assigned to work side by side. I started to notice that the quality of his work was very poor, and I had to often fix problems that turned out to have been created on his watch.

He would get quite defensive whenever someone questioned him and would point to his experience in the field. Even for some as imbued with self-confidence as I just didn’t know what to do. How could this elder person, someone with so much experience, just be so weak?

My bosses didn’t seem to notice and I couldn’t really approach them. Following the time-honoured tradition of youngsters everywhere, I went and found a quiet moment with a much older and experienced person, someone I really trusted.

### ‘Just a bluffer’

As I started to explain my problem, he listened for a moment, until I mentioned the person’s name. Immediately he just smiled, and said: “Stephen, he’s just a bluffer; he won’t be here for long.”

So innocent was I at the time (this was before I started reporting on South African politicians) that the idea had just never occurred to me. This guy was a liar. About his qualifications, his experience, all of it. And he had managed to bluff his way into this job where he was now causing chaos.

Once I realised that, it was much easier to deal with. All the problems were him, not me, and as more and more of my colleagues realised what we were dealing with, so people would help me work around him.

I wonder if there are some people in the DA who have that realisation right now. Rebecca Davis’ fantastic piece about Abdulkader Elyas and [his track record of lies](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-09-17-fake-degrees-and-phantom-gigs-the-bogus-claims-of-da-candidate-abdulkader-elyas/) is an incredible example of a person who lied, and lied big!

Amazingly, it looks like a student, the president of the SRC at UCT at the time, was able to see through this guy pretty quickly. It makes one wonder what a former UCT SRC president, Geordin Hill-Lewis, missed…

The full story of how Elyas was able to worm his way into the DA’s candidate list for Cape Town, and the role he appears to have been playing in their campaigning machinery has yet to be written. However, like so many people before him, he was clearly able to sell a good story.

I think it’s a sign of our slightly desperate times that we sometimes believe people when they’re clearly lying. Perhaps it’s because we still want to believe the best in people, perhaps it’s just that we still hope, maybe they just know which buttons to press.

Think of how someone like Thabo Bester was able to lie and cheat his way out of a prison and cause people to fall in love with him, despite being a rapist and murderer. I think Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala is probably the same kind of personality; these are people who can get all kinds of things by pushing the right buttons.

I’m sure that at some point, whether in your office or just in your street WhatsApp group, you’ve come across someone who you just know is too good to be true.

But what then?

For companies this is a really big problem. First, you will have someone who gets suspicious, then there will be gossip, then you will all feel bad for gossiping, then something will happen that will make someone investigate a little further, the liar will make some kind of mistake and eventually some boss will sigh and start to go to work on the problem.

### Searchable database

And even then, unless the person lied about their qualifications (as Elyas did at one point), then it’s still very difficult to get rid of them. In an era in which so many people lie about qualifications, I’m always slightly amazed that universities don’t just have a searchable database about who has graduated from them and with what.

Colleagues have told me how some institutions have even claimed they can’t release information about qualifications because of privacy issues.

That’s nonsense. A recipe for disaster. Not just for people investigating liars, but for the tertiary institution itself.

It means I could claim to have doctorates from Wits in Applied Astrophysics and GeoEconomics. And anyone wanting to check on whether I have achieved such feats would be unable to ever get to the truth.

Now, twice the age I was back then, I still come across bluffers. They are still around… But at least now, I can often see them coming. **DM**