Home Affairs employees nabbed

Zvikomborero Parafini
TWO Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage employees, who are employed as processing officers at the Registrar of Births and Deaths at Market Square, appeared in court over the weekend, charged with criminal abuse of duty.

The two, Hilda Chiedza Ncube and Eneritha Dube, were not asked to plead when they appeared before Harare magistrate Yeukai Dzuda.

The court heard that on May 30 this year, Ncube was approached by Moreblessing Hove of Warren Park 1, who needed a birth certificate for her child.

She didn’t have the documents required for the process.

Ncube allegedly charged Moreblessing Hove US$100 for processing the birth certificate and said she would share the money with Dube.

Hove handed over the US$100 to Ncube who said she was going to hand over US$50 to Dube, who was going to do the paperwork.

She completed the Notice of Birth of a child forms and handed them to Dube at Counter 7, with the US$50.

Dube was told to wait while the birth certificate was being processed.

The matter came to light when it was noticed that Hove had previously came to the Registrar’s Office without a birth record of her child but she was then in possession of one.

A report was filed with the police leading to the arrest of the two accused persons.

According to the State, the two accused persons acted in a manner inconsistent with their duties as public officers.

Meanwhile, Hove and two other alleged accomplices – Irene Bambadzi and Paul Mutori – also appeared before the same court accused of supplying false information for the purpose of birth registration.

The court heard that Hove approached the provincial registry offices in a bid to acquire a birth certificate for her daughter, who was born in Botswana in 2007.

She allegedly approached Bambadzi and told her about her issue and the two connived to supply false information that her child had been born in Bocha at the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church.