CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 13: Natasha Mazzone, DA Chief Whip, at the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on February 13, 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. The State Of The Nation of the President of South Africa is an annual event in which the President reports on the status on the nation, highlights achievements, flags challenges and outlines strategies that will be undertaken to unlock developments interventions for the coming financial year. (Photo by Gallo Images/Jeffrey Abrahams)
DA qualification row: Natasha Mazzone denies lying about LLB degree
The DA’s Natasha Mazzone claims former fellow party member, the GOOD party’s Brett Heron, is behind the changes made to her Wikipedia profile, which lists her as being a qualified advocate
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 13: Natasha Mazzone, DA Chief Whip, at the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on February 13, 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. The State Of The Nation of the President of South Africa is an annual event in which the President reports on the status on the nation, highlights achievements, flags challenges and outlines strategies that will be undertaken to unlock developments interventions for the coming financial year. (Photo by Gallo Images/Jeffrey Abrahams)
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) chief whip Natasha Mazzone has denied allegations that she lied about her qualifications.
Mazzone has been a hot topic over the past several hours, particularly after Western Cape transport MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela was suspended from his post, following revelations that he misrepresented his BCom degree.
Now Mazzone is in the firing line as political parties accuse her of slyly updating her Wikipedia page on Thursday to remove “advocate” as her profession. Brett Herron, who dumped the DA for Patricia de Lille’s GOOD party, is one of the first to call Mazzone out.
“Yesterday there was clearly a lot of urgent banging away on keyboards going on in (the DA). Until yesterday, (Natasha Mazzone’s) bio claimed she was an Advocate but today it says “none” for profession. You need an LL.B degree to be an Advocate,” Herron said in a tweet.
However, Mazzone was having none of it and accused Herron of being behind the change in her bio.
“Brett, let’s stop playing games. My Wiki page was changed THREE times today, we all know you are behind this, you’re just so used to working with GOOD you think this scum politics is acceptable, it’s not and this issue doesn’t end here”
DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone
Should the DA take action against Natasha Mazzone?
Natasha Mazzone said it was well known fact that she only had matric and hadn’t completed her LLB degree. According to Mazzone, she managed to complete her articles but couldn’t be admitted as an attorney as she hadn’t finished her qualification.
Several reports have cited “insiders” who claim Mazzone misrepresented her legal qualifications in order to secure a position on the DA’s Federal Legal Commission.
Some have now accused the DA of playing favourites by not taking any action against Mazzone, while choosing to suspend Madikizela – because he is black. The DA is yet to address the saga surrounding its chief whip.
Madikizela on the other hand, the DA’s provincial leader, has been suspended for 14 days pending the outcome of an investigation into his qualifications.
Not too long ago, the party also found itself at the centre of another qualifications scandal as leader John Steenhuisen admitted he only had a matric certificate.
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