THREE Harare men have appeared in court for allegedly printing a fake Advanced Level certificate for a student who went on to apply for a scholarship to study in Poland.
Farai Chauke, a director at Red Haven Media (Private) Limited, a firm which is in the business of printing and designing and his two unemployed accomplices Joel and Michael Sikaliveni were facing forgery charges when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje who remanded them in custody to tomorrow for bail ruling.
The complainant is the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) represented by Mr James Nyabonde, the head of the Security and Loss Control Department.
Allegations are that on June 22, Sandile Biancah Mabhena, with the intention to enrol for studies in Poland, approached Zimsec offices in Harare to get authentication on her certificates.
The court heard that Mabhena had in her possession a Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education at Ordinary Level which had 10 subjects with symbols Combined Science A, Mathematics B, English Language B, History B, Family and Religious Studies C, Business and Enterprise Skills C, Economics C, Principles of Accounting C, Food Technology and Design B and Ndebele Language C. The certificate had serial number 5570212 and was in her name.
Mabhena was also in possession of a Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education at Advanced Level with three subjects with the following symbols, Business Studies A, Economics B and Accounting B. The certificate had serial number A/20/0003927 and was in her name.
The complainant checked the two certificates and found that both had been tempered with.
Investigations revealed that the O Level certificate bore the name of Nkosikhona Gumpo and the A level certificate also bore the name of Rodney Ndhlovu in their system and that the symbols were different.
A case was then reported to the police leading to the arrest of Mabhena and the two fake certificates were recovered.
Investigations were carried out and it was established that Mabhena did O level at Lower Gwelo Adventist High School and sat for the examinations in November 2020. She wrote seven subjects and obtained six subjects which are Combined Science C, English Language C, History C, Family and Religious Studies C, Business and Enterprise Skills A, Economics E and Food Technology and Design C on certificate serial number 0/20/0112173 in her name.
It was also established that Mabhena did not study for A level education at Lower Gwelo Adventist High School nor any other school in Zimbabwe.
Investigations revealed that Mabhena wanted to enroll for studies in Poland and approached Bonani Ncube who is still at large to originate an O level certificate with good passes, including Mathematics and an A level certificate.
Ncube then charged Mabhena US$720 for the processing of the certificates and she paid the money in full to him.
It is alleged that Ncube engaged Chauke who is a graphic designer by profession and requested him to process the said certificates for a fee.
Chauke then engaged Michael Sikaliveni who was already in possession of an A level certificate serial number A/20/0003927 belonging to Prince Mwito who was a form six student at Highfield 2 High School, Harare.
Investigations revealed that Mwito never collected his A level certificate from school. It was established that the certificate was stolen from Highfield 2 High School.
Among the forged certificates, Michael endorsed Mabhena‘s names on Mwito’s A level certificate with the following symbols: Business Studies A, Economics B and Accounting B.
He gave the said certificates to Joel who handed them to Chauke sent the two certificates to Mabhena via DHL.
A follow up was made leading to the arrest of Chauke. A search was conducted at his workplace and several Zimsec O level certificates belonging to different people, Xerox heavy duty printer, two laptops, cellphones, a USB and two external hard drives were recovered. Chauke then implicated Michael and Joel leading to their arrest and the recovery of several Zimsec O and A level certificates, professional certificates, laptop, cellphones and a printer.
A visit to Highfield 2 High School by investigating officers discovered that a total of 97 Zimsec O level and 47 Zimsec A level certificates were stolen from the school.
— Herald
