Query: Anti-Corruption Commission, look into this. I fail to understand the logic in the following: a correctional officer was given leave to study nursing and while at college it was discovered that her Grade 12 certificate was forged and she was dismissed from the college, but she is still in the service of Correctional Services with same forged certificate.
Response: The individual mentioned in this complaint was appointed by the Namibian Correctional Services (NCS) as a correctional officer in 2010. She obtained her IGCSE Grade 12 certificate during 2005 and joined the Namibian Correctional Services with a valid certificate from the Ministry of Education. It was with this qualification that she applied with at the Namibian Correctional Services as a recruit. While employed as a correctional officer, she applied on her own to study for a Diploma in Nursing at the National Health Training Centre in Windhoek.
In that application, the officer used the qualification obtained from the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council in November 2007. The Namibian Correctional Services wish to put on record that the officer was employed on the basis of the Namibian IGCSE Grade 12 certificate, not the alleged Zimbabwe School Examinations Council certificate. She was granted special study leave from February 1, 2014 until February 28, 2017.
In May 2015, the Ministry of Health and Social Services informed the Namibian Correctional Services that the officer was suspended pending police investigations into the alleged fake qualifications obtained from a Zimbabwean college that apparently does not exist. To the best of our knowledge this case is still under police investigation.
Deputy Commissioner, Eveline January, Public and Media Relations Office, E-mail Address: eveline.january@ncs.gov.na