A WINDHOEK man was arrested last month after he was accused of allegedly using his passport photo on someone else’s driver’s licence, and passing it on as his own.
Okahandja Park resident Augustu Chininga Ndumba (34) claims that Frans Wanga Agustu (28) ruined his life when he forged his temporary driver’s licence, which has now landed him in trouble as the traffic officers slapped him with N$750 in speeding tickets.
After opening a case against him at the Wanaheda Police Station last month, Agustu was arrested on 24 April, and appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on 2 May on charges of forgery.
He was released on bail of N$1 500. Agustu, a resident of Okuryangava, confirmed to The Namibian on Friday that he was indeed arrested, and appeared in court on charges of forgery.
He, however, denied forging Ndumba’s licence, adding that he has his own. The case has been postponed to 14 August. The investigating officer at the Wanaheda Police Station, only identified as Vilho on Friday confirmed the case, but declined to comment.
The unemployed father of two claims he first learned that his licence was forged when he went to the City Police head office on 5 February to apply for a blue permit to drive a taxi, only to discover that he has a warrant of arrest issued on his name that was registered last year in August.
“According to the records of the City Police, I was driving a car with number plate N192 500W for Waka Construction CC,” explained a shocked Ndumba, who claims he never worked for Waka Construction, or driven a car with that number plate. He added that he was working for Rabe’s Body Repairs during the said period.
Traffic officers issued the warrant ticket amounting to N$750, and handed it to him before informing him that he needed to appear in court.
On 8 February, Ndumba appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court. He was asked by the magistrate why he did not show up for his first court appearance on 24 October 2017.
“I informed the court that I did not know that there was a warrant of arrest on my name,” he said.
He said he furnished the court with his payslip from Rabe’s Body Repairs to prove that he never worked for Waka Construction. He was then asked to make his second appearance on 2 May, and to pay the fine. He also said he did his own investigations using the information on the traffic ticket by tracing the owner of the vehicle he was purported to be driving, and found that it belonged to a certain Nandjembo EES.
After further investigations, Ndumba said Nandjembo informed him that a certain Frans Agustu Agustu was driving the said vehicle on that particular day. He then set out looking for Agustu to “clear his name”.
“On 19 April 2018, I called the number on the paper of the warrant of arrest ticket [Agustu’s number], but the number was not reachable,” he said. He then send Agustu a text under the pretext that he had two cars, and looking for a driver, and only then did Agustu take his calls and agreed to meet him at Okahandja Park.
Ndumba said that he demanded his driver’s licence so that he can be given the driving job, but was informed that he did not have it with him. Ndumba said that he then confronted him for the first time on why his picture and occupation details appeared on his driving documents.
“I informed him how my reputation has suffered because of his actions. He admitted that he has been using a copy of my licence that he lost,” he said.
Ndumba said he continued getting traffic tickets, including another one for N$1 500 under a taxi with the number D471. Ndumba claims he later saw Agustu driving a taxi with the same number. He then took Agustu to the police station where the latter was arrested.
Ndumba also claims that last week his licence was revoked by the Namibian Traffic Information System because they noticed that “something was wrong with his licence on the system.”
“All I want is for my name to be cleared so that I can finally get a job and feed my children, but I cannot get employment while this case is ongoing,” he lamented.
