Johannesburg – Nonjabulo Bahle Mabuza (47) and Sibongile Rose Khuzwayo (50) have been sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Volkrust Regional Court for fraud.
The pair pleaded guilty to the crimes and were convicted of fraud.
Mabuza and Khuzwayo applied for employment as educators at the Department of Education in Mpumalanga.
On 1 July 2006, the department approved their appointments as PU level at Wakkerstroom Circuit office.
Khuzwayo was employed at Hambani Primary School, while Mabuza was employed at Seme Seocondary School.
In their applications for employment, Khuzwayo submitted a fraudulent senior certificate of a person who had passed away and Mabuza submitted a fraudulent Bachelor of Education decree purportedly Issued by the University of Pretoria.
The department became suspicious about the qualifications of the educators in 2017 and requested them to submit their qualifications.
The pair decided to resign and the department opened a case which resulted in the arrest of Mabuza and Khuzwayo and their subsequent conviction.
The state advocate called an official of the Department of Education to testify in aggravation of sentence.
He testified that these types of offences are prevalent within the department.
Magistrate Snowy Masango told the court that the pair defrauded the nation.
Their children knew them as teachers where as they did not qualify.
They were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment wholly suspended for five years.
The state prosecutor, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Patrick Nkuna, applied for a confiscation of their pension fund in the amount of R600 000 each.
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