Forging their matriculation certificates led to the arrest of two officials from the North West department of education.
The Hawks have confirmed the arrests of the two officials, who are from the Bojanala district office. They appeared before the Rustenburg magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
According to the department’s spokesperson, Mphata Molokwane, the case concerns two officials — one appointed in 1998 and the other in 2008 — who were both discovered to have fake university degrees.
This indicates that one of the officials received an unjustified salary for 26 years and the other for 16 years as a result of the alleged fake matriculation certificates.
First step in combating fraud
“The verification process revealed that the matric certificates purportedly issued were invalid, as confirmed by the Umalusi,” Molokwane said.
“Following these findings, the matter was referred to the department’s labour unit for intervention prior to the Hawks and National Prosecuting Authority investigations.”
According to Molokwane, the detention of the implicated officials is an important first step in combating fraud within the department.
The officials are out on R12 000 and R2 000 bail each, respectively.
Viola Motsumi, the MEC for education in the North West, reaffirmed her commitment to eliminating dishonest behaviour in the education sector and to clean governance.
“As the department of education, one of the priorities that we are pursuing is to improve education, training, and innovation and to contribute towards building a developmental state in the country,” said Motsumi.
Apex of good governance
“When we improve education, training, and innovation, we want the education department to be regarded as the apex of good governance.
“To achieve that, we must clean up corrupt or fraudulent tendencies within the department.”
She continued: “These arrests are a result of an ongoing investigation that has appeared on various media platforms in recent months.
“It is time for the law to take its course, and we trust that the state will handle these matters appropriately.
“As the department, we will not interfere with the process. Our focus remains on preparing our learners for the upcoming exams, with a targeted 90% pass rate across the province.
“While this matter is before law enforcement, our primary responsibility remains to ensure a quality education for all learners.”
