Investigations by CITE revealed that one *Mondli Mpunzi’s
corrupt acquisition of the birth certificate using falsified information could
be a tip of the iceberg as employees at the registry claimed that corruption
had become institutionalised.
They blamed former provincial registrar Willard Sayenda for
the chaos, claiming that he allowed corruption to fester during his tenure amid
allegations that he benefited personally from the underhand dealings at the
office.
In Mpunzi’s case, the village head who purportedly signed
the letter confirming that he was born under his jurisdiction says he does not
know the applicant.
“The village head is not the one who wrote the confirmation
letter but was written by an official working under Sayenda,” reads a report by
the Lupane registry into the saga, which was obtained by CITE.
“A headmaster at Elihlo Primary School is said to be the
one who wrote the school letter for Mpunzi (to obtain the birth certificate)
yet he never attended school at that same institution that is 70 km away from
Makhovula area where these people reside.
Mpunzi’s birth certificate was acquired at the provincial
office instead of the district office as per government regulations.
This was despite the fact that in Lupane, the provincial
and district registry offices are housed in the same building.
Lupane registry officials told investigators the provincial
office failed to direct the applicant to the district office to cover up a
corrupt deal.
“The name on Mpunzi’s health card was tampered with and it
is clear that a certain name was erased to insert the applicant’s name,” added
the report in CITE’s possession.
“The sex of the applicant on the health card was also
altered including the date of birth, the mother’s name on the health card was
erased and substituted with the name of the applicant’s mother.
“The handwriting that completed the birth registration
forms is the same that endorsed the physical address in the health card.
“The analysis further shows the health card was initially
issued in 2017, even the vaccination dates show 2007 and 2008 whilst the
applicant’s birth year is listed as 2011.”
Further analysis of Mpunzi’s health card revealed that the
applicant’s mother was single, but the registration forms say the applicant’s
parents were customarily married.
“The declarant did not declare this registration since the
ID number used does not belong to her and it was registered in 1982 when the
declarant was only 12 years old and not due for ID registration,” the report
added.
“Therefore, there was no witness for this registration. The
official could have just used the ID number and used a false name as the
declarant and unfortunately, Sayenda did not bother to request for the copy of
the declarant’s ID and the declarant herself as required by the Births and
Deaths Registration Act.”
Those familiar with the case told CITE that Mpunzi’s birth
certificate must be cancelled because it was fake.
Mpunzi’s case is one of many alleged corrupt deals by
Sayenda and other senior registry officials in Lupane that are now being
exposed following the top’s officials’ departure. Sayenda was reportedly moved
to head the Umguza district registry under a cloud.
Some of the whistleblowers claim that they were victims of
the former provincial registrar’s bullying.
They said they were allegedly transferred to other stations
without due processes after they questioned alleged corruption in the issuance
of passports and IDs.
“Lupane province was allocated 90 emergency passports per
day but workers were only allowed to book 70 people and the other 20 were
allegedly Sayenda’s friends who would not join the queue like other citizens,”
claimed one of the employees.
“When we queried the system, Sayenda transferred us yet he
had no power to do that.” Sayenda refused to comment on the allegations, which
he said were not true.
“That is not correct, I cannot comment,” he said. Timothy
Mumba, Human Resources Director at the Registrar General’s office in Harare,
also refused to comment. “Sorry I cannot respond to any of these issues,” Mumba
said.
“They need clearance from the head of ministry, who happens
to be the disciplinary authority. No matter what evidence is available, our
spokesperson is the head of ministry.” The HR director was accused of
protecting Sayenda by the disgruntled workers.
“Sayenda tendered his resignation in January 2021, but he
withdrew it in April,” one of the workers alleged.
“He was then transferred from Lupane to head a district
office in Umguza registry allegedly at the behest of Mumba
“He is sitting comfortably, enjoying a company car and
other benefits. Mumba is aware of this because workers wrote affidavits and
sent them to him in September 2020, but he is protecting Sayenda,” workers
claimed.
Tawanda Mazango, Lupane Youth Development Trust Programmes
Director, said locals were concerned about the alleged corrupt activities at
the local registry office.
“We did our investigation and we discovered corrupt
activities as locals were not benefiting from these passports, failing to
access them yet applicants would come from far places to collect passports,”
Mazango said.
Zimbabwe has a huge backlog of passport applications, which
has been attributed to lack of foreign currency to buy consumables to produce the
travel document.
Observers say the shortage of passports is fuelling
corruption as registry officials solicit for kick-backs from desperate citizens
seeking to jump the queue to get the document.
Zimbabweans also struggle to acquire birth certificates and IDs due to bottlenecks at the Registrar General’s office and they end up paying bribes to get a service. Cites.org.zw
0 comments:
Post a Comment