BY BAYANDA NKATHA
A group of 12 employees from the Registrar General’s Office have been arraigned before the Harare Magistrates’ Court facing charges of criminal abuse of office as public officers. The accused include:
• Ruramai Mutyatya (37), a supervisor
• Maureen Natasha Munemo (32), a processing officer
• Chiedza Hlomani (34), a processing officer
• Romio Shonhiwa (45), a processing officer
• Marian Roman (40), a processing officer
• Tanaka Lisaphael Magaya (27), a processing officer
• Edith Moto (38), a processing officer
• Grace Kapungu (34), a processing officer
• Luckmore Chinokokora (34), a processing officer
• Nena Sombi (44), a cleaner
• Trymore Chipanga (20), a cleaner
• Acid Asidi (42), a cleaner
The allegations against them are as follows:
• On September 17, an individual known as Tatadzwa or Mai Tayara, who is still at large, hatched a plan to acquire Zimbabwean passports for four Cameroonian nationals.
• Tatadzwa fraudulently obtained Zimbabwean birth certificates for the four in Mt Darwin and National Identity cards in Harare.
• She then colluded with accused persons 10 to 12 (Sombi, Chipanga, and Asidi), who are cleaners at the Registrar General’s office, to escort the Cameroonian nationals to make passport applications.
• Accused persons 1 to 9 (Mutyatya, Munemo, Hlomani, Shonhiwa, Roman, Magaya, Moto, Kapungu, and Chinokokora), who are processing officers and a supervisor, issued the passports without verifying the information on the application forms against the birth certificates, which had discrepancies.
• The entire process was captured on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras.
• The Cameroonian nationals were later arrested at Beitbridge border post on their way to South Africa when they were caught using the fraudulently acquired passports.
• This led to investigations at the Registrar General Passport Office in Harare, resulting in the arrest of the accused persons.
The accused are facing charges of criminal abuse of office as public officers and are currently before the Harare Magistrates’ Court.