Three government officials were on Tuesday arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) on accusations of abusing the Presidential Scholarship Programme.
The officials were identified as Deputy Director Scholarships in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Oliver Mucherwa, Godknows Mupembe and Silent Mubariki who work in the same office.
ZACC spokesperson Commissioner John Makamure revealed that the trio will appear in court on Wednesday. He said:
We have arrested Oliver Mucherwa, Deputy Director Scholarships in the Office of the President and Cabinet, and one Godknows Mupembe, an officer in the same office, for fraud arising from their fraudulent doctoring of an invitation letter from Fort Hare University in South Africa where the office had been invited to attend a graduation ceremony.
Apparently the office had seconded students under the Presidential Scholarship Programme.
The initial invitation was for two days but the two, acting in connivance with another deputy director who is still at large, doctored the invitation and extended the invitation by seven days to cash in on travel and subsistence allowances.
The offence was allegedly committed during the late former President Robert Mugabe’s reign.