Police clerks arrested for certificate scam

Monday, January 25, 2010

Nelspruit - Three police administration clerks have been arrested in connection with a fake matric certificate scam.

Maurine Sibulelani, 40, and Phetheni Annah Ngwenya, 35 who work at the Mpumalanga provincial police offices, and Nelly Zulu, 41, who is attached to the Nelspruit police station were arrested on Friday.

Police said Zulu allegedly organised fake matric certificates for Sibulelani and Ngwenya so that they could apply for their jobs at the provincial office.

The three were immediately taken to the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court. They were not asked to plead to charges of fraud and granted R1 000 bail each. They are expected to appear in court on 3 February.

This brings to eight the number of arrests related to fake matric certificates this month. Five men from Nelspruit and Barberton were arrested on charges of being in possession fake matric certificates on 7 January.

Provincial police spokesperson, Captain Leonard Hlathi, said more arrests could be expected.

"We are currently verifying the authenticity of a number of matric certificates and expect to make more arrests," he said.