Sundaymail Editor
A QUARTET of Cameroonian criminal masterminds, who clearly binged on too many spy movies, thought they could stroll into Zimbabwe and reinvent themselves as locals through an elaborate deceptive scheme.
The “star-studded” cast of Christiana Boyembe Dumba (39), Emile MuyaMuya (23), Tegha Marvel Ngei (28) and Yvette KumNnam (24) tried to pull off the ultimate identity heist and become instant Zimbabweans.
But their dreams of instant Zimbabwean-hood went up in smoke when the long arm of the law caught up with them.
Their cunning plan was to cook up fake Zimbabwean identities by colluding with corrupt officials at the Registrar-General’s Department to get birth certificates, which they would use to unlock new passports.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, everything!
It all started in August last year when these aspiring “locals” enlisted the services of one Tawanda Waniwa, a Registrar-General’s Department employee stationed in Mount Darwin.
For the right price, Waniwa greased the wheels of bureaucracy and conjured up birth certificates out of thin air.
All that was left was for our Cameroonian quartet to pick their new Zimbabwean names and play the part.
Dumba, feeling inspired, rebranded herself as Christiana Mhereyenyoka — why not throw in a snake reference for flair? She swore she hailed from Chinhoyi.
MuyaMuya transformed into Emile Chingwaru of Makonde, while Ngei donned the guise of Marvel Chimbwanda from Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe.
And let us not forget KumNnam, who went all in with Yvette Maini from Mount Darwin.
Between August 27 and September 4, these four fraudsters successfully obtained their counterfeit birth certificates and national identity numbers.
But, like every poorly thought-out con job, their scheme fell apart faster than a cheap suitcase. The authorities sniffed out the deception, rounded them up and carted them off to remand prison for five months of soul-searching.
But wait, there is more!
This was not their first brush with the law.
A Beitbridge court had already found them guilty of sneaking into Zimbabwe without proper permits and using fraudulently acquired passports.
Talk about persistence!
If only they applied this level of commitment to hard, honest work.
Magistrate Ms Ruth Moyo wasted no time in handing them their comeuppance.
Each of these chancers was slapped with a US$400 fine — probably the most expensive fake names they have ever bought.
Defence lawyer Mr Tinashe Mbale tried to soften the blow, arguing that these were not hardened criminals as two of the convicts were fresh graduates — a nurse and a teacher — looking for a new start.
But the prosecution, led by Ms Nomsa Kangara, would not buy it.
She rightfully pointed out that such fraud does not just make for an entertaining headline — it poses a serious threat to national security and public trust.
After all, what kind of country would Zimbabwe be if anyone with a few dollars and a well-rehearsed lie could rewrite their past?
Online Reporter