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Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
TWELVE employees of the Registrar General’s Office and a cleaning company at the passport office in Harare have been remanded in custody for allegedly processing fraudulent passports for four Cameroonian nationals.
Ruramai Mutyatya (47), Maureen Natasha Munemo (32), Chiedza Hlomani (34), Romio Shonhiwa (45), Marian Roman (40), Tanaka Lisaphael Magaya (27), Edith Moto (38), Grace Kapungu(34), Lackmore Chinokokora (34), Neria Sombi (44), Trymore Chipanga (26) and Acid Asidi (42) appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Marehwanazvo Gofa charged with criminal abuse of office.
The investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Christopher Lloyd Tafirenyika, opposed bail and the ruling was deferred to today.
Matyatya is employed by the Registrar General at the passport office as a supervisor, whilst the other eight are employed as processing officers and the last three accused persons are employed by Advert (Pvt) (Ltd) Company as cleaners currently seconded to the passport office.
Prosecutor Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti alleged that on September 17, at the Registrar General Passport Office, Harare, a person still at large, only known as Tafadzwa or Mai Tayara, worked out a scheme to acquire Zimbabwean passports at the passport office for the four Cameroonians Christiana BoyembeDumba, Emile MuyaMuya, Marvel NgeiTegha and Yvette KumNnam.
Tafadzwa had already fraudulently acquired Zimbabwean birth certificates for the four Cameroonian nationals at the Registrar Office in Mount Darwin and national identity cards at the Registrar Office at Market Square, Harare.
She then connived with the three cleaners to escort the four Cameroonians nationals from stage one up to the final stage of acquiring passports, since the Cameroonians nationals were not able to speak any local language or even pronounce the surnames on their newly acquired Zimbabwean identity documents.
They allegedly worked together with the nine processing officers at various stages in the process.
Processing officers did not verify the information on the passport application forms versus information on the birth certificates of the four Cameroonians which had discrepancies.
The court further heard that on September 21, the four Cameroonians were arrested at Beitbridge border post on their way to South Africa by Zimbabwean immigration officers using fraudulently acquired Zimbabwean passports that were issued by the accused persons.
The four implicated Tafadzwa who is at large and the rest of the accused persons, leading to their arrest.
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