The Herald – Breaking news.

Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent

THREE Harare Men have appeared in Court for allegedly printing fake Advanced Level certificates for a Student who then went on to apply to a scholarship for study in Denmark.

Farai Chauke was a director of Red Haven Media (Private) Limited a company that specializes in printing and design. He and two unemployed accomplices Joel Sikaliveni appeared before Harare Magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje, who placed them in custody until tomorrow to await a bail decision.

The complainant in this case is the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council, represented by James Nyabonde as the head Security and Loss Control Department.

On June 22, Sandile Biancah Mabhena allegedly approached the Zimsec office in Harare in order to have her certificates authenticated. She was reportedly enroling for studies abroad in Poland.

Mabhena was found to have a Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level in her possession. It had 10 subjects, with the symbols Combined Science B, Mathematics B. Lnglish language B. History B. Family and Religious Studies B. Business and Enterprise Skills B. Economics B. Principles of Accounting B. Food Technology and Design C. Ndebele C. This certificate, which bore serial number 5570212, was in Mabhena’s name.

Mabhena had a Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education for Advanced Level. It included three subjects marked Business Studies A (Business Studies), Economics B (Economics B) and Accounting B. The certificate in Mabhena’s name had serial number: A/20/0003927.

The complainant checked both certificates and found they were tampered with.

Investigative findings revealed that in their system the O level certificate was named Nkosikhona Gumpo, while the A level certificate was also called Rodney Ndhlovu.

Mabhena was arrested after a police report and two fake certificates recovered.

Mabhena sat the O-Level examinations at Lower Gwelo Academy in November 2020. She took seven subjects and got six of them, which were 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. The certificate serial number 0/20/0112173 is in her name.

Mabhena was found to have not studied A-levels at Lower Gwelo Adventist High School or any other school in Zimbabwe.

Investigations revealed Mabhena was interested in studying in Poland. He approached Bonani Ncube, who is still on the run, to obtain an O-level certificate with high marks including Mathematics and A-level certificate.

Ncube charged Mabhena US$720 to process the certificates, and Mabhena paid him in full.

Ncube allegedly engaged Chauke, who is a graphic design by profession, and asked him to process said certificates for a charge.

Chauke then engaged Michael Sikaliveni. He was already in possession a A Level certificate serial number 0020/0003927 which belonged to Prince Mwito, a form 6 student at Highfield High School 2 Harare.

Investigations revealed Mwito did not collect his A level certificate. The certificate was found to have been stolen from Highfields 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.

Chauke, who received the certificates from Joel and then handed them over to him, sent them via DHL to Mabhena.

Chauke was arrested after Chauke’s arrest. A search of his office revealed several Zimsec certificates, belonging to various people. Also recovered were a Xerox printer heavy duty, two laptops and cellphones, a USB, and two external hard disks. Chauke then implicated Michael, Joel and led to their arrest. Several Zimsec O-level certificates and professional certificates were recovered, as well as a printer, laptop, cellphone, Xerox heavy duty printer, two USB and two external hard drives.

Investigating officers visited Highfield 2 High School and discovered that the school had been robbed of a total 97 Zimsec O-level certificates and 47 Zimsec ‘A’ level certificates.