"South African Woman Earned R1.2 Million As A Teacher Using Fake Matric"
A South African woman, Ntombelanga Pretty Labane, is scheduled to return to court in March 2025 to face fraud charges after earning more than R1.2 million working as a school teacher despite not having a matric certificate.
Labane, from Mpumalanga, holds a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree. However, she allegedly used a fraudulent matric certificate to apply to Walter Sisulu University, where she obtained her degree.
Mpumalanga provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Monica Nyuswa, confirmed to IOL that Labane’s case has been postponed to March for trial.
Labane, who is not in custody, has made several court appearances before the Amersfoort Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga.
She was arrested by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, also known as the Hawks, on charges of fraud.
Lt. Colonel Dineo Sekgotodi, a provincial Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga, said that Ntombelanga Pretty Labane had been employed as a teacher since 2016.
It is alleged that on September 1, 2016, Labane applied for a business and accounting teacher’s position at Hlelimfundo Secondary School in Amersfoort, under Mpumalanga’s Volksrust circuit. Said Sekgotodi:
Labane submitted a CV, copies of a fraudulent matric certificate, a B-ED degree, and SACE (SA Council for Educators) certificates to the school principal, who informed the school management team to consider her application. They then agreed that she is suitable for the post.
The principal notified the School Governing Body (SGB) of the decision made by the school management team, and the SGB expressed its support for the decision. Said Sekgotodi:
The management team allowed Labane to apply for the post, and she was given an application document called EDU 1 to apply for the post. SGB members and the principal signed the application forms on September 12, 2016.
All relevant documents were sent to the circuit manager who signed and took them to the Department of Education’s district office at Ermelo.
The application was sent to the Human Resource Persal registry section, and it was forwarded to the Human Resource Provisioning section.
After the human resource provisioning section checked it, it was forwarded to the employment section where it was captured and Labane was employed.
Labane’s troubles began when a whistleblower, aware that the woman had not completed her matriculation, reported the issue to the Public Service Commission offices in Mpumalanga. This led to an investigation by the Public Service Commission. Said Sekgotodi:
After the investigations, findings and recommendations were made.
The principal, circuit manager and the district office were asked about a fraudulent matric certificate and they reported that they did not notice that it was fraudulent as they do not have detectors to verify the validity of the documents.
The Public Service Commission referred the matter to the Hawks’ Secunda-based serious commercial crime investigation (unit) for further investigation in July 2022.
The Hawks spokesperson confirmed to IOL that Labane is not in custody, as no arrest warrant has been issued against her.
Further investigations by the Hawks revealed that Labane does not possess a Grade 12 certificate.
She attempted the matric exams four times— in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006— but failed each time. Said the Hawks:
Labane then forged the matric certificate by putting the certificate number: 040 9517 7028 B which belonged to another candidate called Nozipho Ritta Ngema.
The results that were appearing on her fraudulent matric certificate were not her real results.
Labane submitted her fraudulent matric certificate to apply for admission at Walter Sisulu University, where she successfully obtained a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree.
More: Pindula News
