daniel chigunwe
Zvikomborero Parafini
NATIONAL Social Security Authority (NSSA) Research and Schemes Planning manager Cosmas Chikwawawa has been dragged to court charged with fraud after he allegedly duped the parastatal of over US$9 000 in which he inflated school fees for his children.
Chikwawawa appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi who released him on US$200 bail.
NSSA is represented by Kudakwashe Godwill Mapfumo, its Security and Loss Control Officer.
The court heard that NSSA has a benefit scheme for its employees where it is paying school fees for their children.
The employee brings school fees invoices for their children in schools and the company will then pay the fees as schooling assistance.
It is alleged that last year Chikwawawa submitted school fees invoices for his three children in Forms 1, 3 and 5.
He submitted invoices from schools with higher fees where his children were not learners.
He allegedly claimed school fees for the year’s first term for his three children using school fees invoices for Direct Contact, which were pegged at ZWL$1 852 500 which was equivalent to US$2 758 on the prevailing rate of the day per child.
His children were at Emmanuel High School and the fees for the three children was US$3 865.
As a result of the misrepresentation, NSSA paid ZWL$1 852 500 per child, which was equivalent to US$8 276 instead of US$3 865.
The court heard that in May last year, Chikwawawa made a further claim using invoices from Emmanuel High School for US$1540 per child when the children he was claiming for were enrolled at Dendera High School in Mudzi where school fees were going for US$485.
In September last year, he allegedly used invoices from Cornerstone Executive College in Marondera where his children are not learners.
Fees at Cornerstone Executive College were pegged at US$1 540 per child when in actual fact the children he was claiming for were enrolled at Wilmar High School, Goromonzi, where fees were pegged at US$2 900 for three children.
Online Reporter