Fake Mbada Diamonds agent swindles job-seekers

By Kudzai Mundeta

A CHITUNGWIZA woman was last week dragged to court for allegedly swindling 21 job-seekers in Nyanyadzi of $13 000 after promising them good jobs at Mbada Diamonds. The incident happened during the period between June and October last year. 

Prosecuting, Mr Witness Nyamundaya said Chioniso Taworera of Unit D, Seke, Chitungwiza, allegedly contravened Section 136 of the Criminal Law and Codification Act.

Chioniso pleaded guilty to the offence and said she had converted $7 000 of the money to her personal use, while the rest was taken by her accomplice, who is still at large. She appeared before Mr Clemence Ngweshiwa. Chioniso’s sentence was still to be delivered at the time of going to print.

“Chioniso duped people saying she was a Mbada Diamonds agent and would help them secure jobs as security guards, secretaries and drivers.

“Chioniso claimed money as much as $1 300 from one person so as to secure a job as a driver. The amount one paid depended on the job. She managed to collect $13 917 from desperate job-seekers,” said Mr Nyamundaya.

He said Chioniso and her accomplice, Samson Gurumombe, who is still at large, would make people pay money on different intervals.

“They would charge $50 for lettereads, $10 for fingerprints, $25 for printing of Curriculum Vitaes, $150 for securing the job and $20 for the sending of the Curriculum Vitae. Money was demanded for many reasons such as printing, administrative fees and medical fees.

“The payment differed from person to person. Some would even pay for the servicing of Samson’s car, some for airtime and transport fees,” he said.

One of the witnesses in his statement stated that he was ordered to pay $345 for fingerprints.

“Chioniso would go to Nyanyadzi to collect the money and sometimes the complainants would go to Harare. She created fake recommendation letters to non-existing companies or would take the applicants’ CVs to Mbada Diamonds headquarters in Harare. This went on for a while before people realised that they were being duped,” said Mr Nyamundaya.

Eleven witnesses were called to testify in the trial.

One of the witnesses, Gladys Choofamba, said she was invited to Harare for induction, which was never done. Gladys said she was made to wait until 6pm before being taken to Telecel offices the following morning where Samson took her CVs before ordering her to go home.

The duped people later realised that Chioniso and Samson were neither employed by Mbada Diamonds nor were the company’s agents and decided to demand their money back. Chioniso and Samson failed to reimburse the complainants resulting in the victims making a police report. Manica Post