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College crook gets three years in jail

File Photo
File Photo

A young lecturer who took part in a scam to defraud students of their registration fees has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Judge Jan Steyn of Carletonville's Oberholzer Regional Court, west of Johannesburg, sentenced English lecturer Takunda Majuru to three years in jail for 23 counts of fraud after he stole registration money from students at Sedco FET College in Carletonville.

Majuru, 22, and the college's caretaker Zvisinei Tony Chireje allegedly colluded to cheat over 20 students on 87 transactions worth R100000.

Chireje is still at large and police are looking for him.

Steyn said he considered the interest of the society and Majuru's personal circumstances.

The college is now facing financial problems with a possibility of shutting its doors.

College director Agrippa Moyo earlier yesterday told the court the institution had two receipt books and that Majuru and Chireje were using one book to issue official receipts of payments to students.

Moyo said that book was hidden from him and monies reflected in it were never deposited to the institution's account.

Moyo claimed the two accused would only use the second book for payments of money they had genuinely deposited into the bank account.

He also said in some instances registration fees were taken from students but their names would not be loaded onto the system which caused problems when students had to write exams.

Moyo brought to court the college's bank statements from April 2015 to January 2016 and said only some of the payments shown in the legitimate receipt book were reflected in the statements.

He also rejected earlier claims by Majuru that the college's bank account was not operational, hence they encouraged students to pay in cash.

"I didn't even know that they were taking cash from students because our policy doesn't allow staff to do so," Moyo said.

Majuru stressed yesterday that Chireje was the one who took money from students and went to deposit it into the college's bank account.

"He would give me a deposit slip which I would keep in a safe at the college. I didn't suspect anything. I didn't have time to verify the deposit slips because I had classes to attend to. My job was to be a lecturer. Even when I got arrested I was never given time to show the police the bank slips," Majuru said.

During heads of argument, state prosecutor Andreas Mongalane accused Majuru of neglecting his job by not verifying the deposit slips.

"The accused and Tony [Chireje] were in cahoots in defrauding the students of the money that their families worked hard for," Mongalane said.

Defence attorney Bukhosi Sibanda, however, said it was unfair to pro-secute his client.

"The state has not proven its case. Some of witnesses contradicted each other. The court cannot punish the accused on the action of another person [Chireje]. My client never benefited but Tony [Chireje] did and he ran away."

Warrant Officer Peter Masooa confirmed they were still hunting for Chireje for fraud.

sifilel@sowetan.co.za

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