Smith says he has personally never submitted a CV containing inaccurate information about his credentials. Some ANC members have laid fraud charges against Smith following allegations that he lied about his qualifications. This comes after a biography emerged which stated that Smith had an Honours degree in English from Stellenbosch University, which in fact he never completed.

Smith says a staff member who edited his biography omitted the word 'incomplete' next to his postgraduate studies. The incorrect bio or 'blurb' was distributed by support staff to various events and speaking engagements, including the DA's provincial elective congress. He says the bio has since been corrected, removing all references to the incomplete Honours degree.

The DA's Federal Legal Commission is investigating the matter which Smith describes as a "fairly innocent mistake". "We will now see what our internal disciplinary process makes of that", the politician tells CapeTalk. He says it is clear that there was no intention to fabricate information or deceive anyone through this error. When asked about the criminal case opened against him, Smith says there are some DA members who will also be laying charges against the ANC members accusing him of fraud. Smith says he has become an easy target for his political opponents who accuse of being anti-poor because of the City's by-laws against homeless people which he helped draft.

With the ANC choosing to resort to laying criminal charges... that has set a precedent and some of my colleagues are now in the process of preparing to lay criminal charges against the same ANC individuals. JP Smith, Mayoral committee member - Safety and security at City of Cape Town I think that I can demonstrably prove that wherever I have submitted a CV, the CV correctly states the BA degree only and that the Honours is incomplete. JP Smith, Mayoral committee member - Safety and security at City of Cape Town It says so on the council website, it says so in the candidates application that I submitted last year.. long before this thing started to percolate... it says on six or seven places where I submitted a CV.

JP Smith, Mayoral committee member - Safety and security at City of Cape Town Where the problem did come in - and it is a legitimate problem - is with the blurb or bio... in that document, the word 'incomplete' was omitted by one of the staff at some point when that thing was updated. JP Smith, Mayoral committee member - Safety and security at City of Cape Town There is a period during which this inaccurate document was distributed by staff but those same staff will tell you that I didn't distribute it and I did not sign-off or draft it. That is something for which they are willing to take ownership. JP Smith, Mayoral committee member - Safety and security at City of Cape Town