TEACHERS have been charged with fraud of over R25-million in the Durban Commercial Crime Court.
During February, members from the Durban Commercial Crime Unit arrested 19 teachers in and around KwaZulu-Natal. This comes after an initiative of the Department of Education in 2009, where it was found that some teachers did not possess matric certificates. When they applied for employment they produced fraudulent matric certificates.
Some educators even furthered their education at tertiary level using the same fraudulent matric certificates, which resulted in the department increasing their salaries after they obtained their teaching diplomas. There were others who had legitimate matric certificates but obtained fraudulent tertiary qualifications, which also entitled them to salary increases.
Criminal cases were opened and handed over to the Durban Commercial Crime Unit for further investigation. The members started with their investigation and travelled as far as KaNgwanase, Nongoma, Ngwavuma, Dumbe and Jozini, where 19 teachers were arrested. The suspects were charged with fraud with the collective estimated value of over R25-million. Some of the arrested teachers had already been dismissed by the department and others were still teaching.
The teachers appeared at the Durban Commercial Crime Court and are out on bail.
The Provincial Commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal, Lt Gen Mmamonnye Ngobeni, commended the Durban Commercial Crime Unit for their dedication to rooting out white collar crimes.
“It is important that we deal with white collar crimes as firmly as we do with other serious crimes, as these fraudulent activities deprive people of their livelihood while robbing government of funds that could be used to deliver services,” she said.
