A 25-year-old woman who is charged with fraud for allegedly lying about her qualification as a radiographer made a brief appearance in the Commercial Crimes court in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.
The Eastern Cape Health Department offered her a job on a contractual basis in 2015 for the period 1 January-31st December 2016. She arranged with the Department to begin with her employment on the 1st of March 2016. When the department realised that she did not have the necessary qualifications they dismissed her on the 20th of September.
According to the indictment, Mbekela made misrepresentations to the department of Heath and falsely indicated on her Z83 application form that she had obtained a qualification "Radiography Nuclear Med" at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2015.
However, the State alleges that Mbekela lied about her qualification and failed dismally, only passing one of her four subjects during her final examination.
She obtained the following results:
Radiographic Practice 35%,
Clinical Radio-graphic Practice 50%,
Nuclear Medicine Instrumentation 25%
Radio-pharmacy 32%
In order to pass a subject, a student must obtain a mark of at least 50% or more. A student who obtains less than a sub-minimum of 40% shall not be allowed to write a supplementary examination. The National Diploma in Radiography: Nuclear Medicine, is a minimum requirement for registration in radiography.
The case has been postponed to obtain a directive from the National Director of Public Prosecutions as more charges could possibly be added.
Mbekela will be back in court on the 29th of April.
- African News Agency (ANA)
