Hearings on certificate scam at Unam draw to an end

THE University of Namibia (Unam) has finalised disciplinary hearings against students who were accused of having forged qualifications to gain admission to the institution.

Audrin Mathe of Unam’s Communication and Marketing Department told The Namibian that the university was now awaiting recommendations from the disciplinary committee before embarking on further action. “The [disciplinary] hearings have been concluded but no action has been taken against any student as yet.We are still waiting for the recommendations of the DC,” Mathe emphasised.Towards the end of last year, Unam de-registered 165 Angolans and nine Namibian students after it was discovered that they had been studying at the institution with fake Grade 12 certificates.The students were, however, accepted back in February after 11 of their colleagues gave notice that they planned to launch an urgent application in the High Court to have their expulsions and course cancellations declared unconstitutional and invalid.They were re-registered between February 16 and 18, pending disciplinary hearings against them.The Namibian has learned that only half of the 174 students expelled by the university appeared before the disciplinary hearing as the rest had re-registered with the institution.In August, The Namibian reported for the first time on how a large number of Angolan students had for years used fake Grade 12 qualifications to study at Unam.Available information at the time pointed to the existence of a shady syndicate, comprised of Angolan nationals and some Unam staff who allegedly sold fake Angolan “matric” certificates with inflated pass marks.The culprits apparently presented certified copies of Angolan certificates or declarations issued in place of lost certificates purported to have been issued by the Angolan Ministry of Education.The original documents were in Portuguese, but were translated into English and certified as true copies of the originals by the Angolan Embassy in Windhoek.A 28-year-old Angolan national resident in Namibia, Manuel Jose Andriano, also known as ‘Nelu’, has since been arrested.He has been charged with fraud, forgery and uttering for allegedly supplying Angolan students in Namibia with false academic papers.It was claimed that students paid ‘Nelu’ between US$300 and US$400 for every forged qualification or translation of a qualification supposed to have been supplied by him.Andriano escaped from Police custody early this year and is still at large.”The [disciplinary] hearings have been concluded but no action has been taken against any student as yet.We are still waiting for the recommendations of the DC,” Mathe emphasised.Towards the end of last year, Unam de-registered 165 Angolans and nine Namibian students after it was discovered that they had been studying at the institution with fake Grade 12 certificates.The students were, however, accepted back in February after 11 of their colleagues gave notice that they planned to launch an urgent application in the High Court to have their expulsions and course cancellations declared unconstitutional and invalid.They were re-registered between February 16 and 18, pending disciplinary hearings against them.The Namibian has learned that only half of the 174 students expelled by the university appeared before the disciplinary hearing as the rest had re-registered with the institution.In August, The Namibian reported for the first time on how a large number of Angolan students had for years used fake Grade 12 qualifications to study at Unam.Available information at the time pointed to the existence of a shady syndicate, comprised of Angolan nationals and some Unam staff who allegedly sold fake Angolan “matric” certificates with inflated pass marks.The culprits apparently presented certified copies of Angolan certificates or declarations issued in place of lost certificates purported to have been issued by the Angolan Ministry of Education.The original documents were in Portuguese, but were translated into English and certified as true copies of the originals by the Angolan Embassy in Windhoek.A 28-year-old Angolan national resident in Namibia, Manuel Jose Andriano, also known as ‘Nelu’, has since been arrested.He has been charged with fraud, forgery and uttering for allegedly supplying Angolan students in Namibia with false academic papers.It was claimed that students paid ‘Nelu’ between US$300 and US$400 for every forged qualification or translation of a qualification supposed to have been supplied by him.Andriano escaped from Police custody early this year and is still at large.