Trial delayed for woman who earned R1.2m working as a teacher without matric
The Hawks said Ntombelanga Pretty Labane who has been working as a teacher since 2016 wrote matric four times — in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and in all her four attempts, she failed.
Image: Supplied/Hawks
A Mpumalanga woman, Ntombelanga Pretty Labane, will return to court next year to face fraud charges after she allegedly earned more than R1.2 million working as a school teacher without a valid matric certificate.
It is alleged that Labane does not have matric, although she holds a Bachelor of Education (B-Ed) degree.
She is accused of using a fraudulent matric certificate to apply for admission to the Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape, where she obtained her teaching degree.
Trial postponed to March 2026
Responding to a query from IOL, Mpumalanga provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Monica Nyuswa, said the case had been postponed to March for trial.
“The matter was postponed to 29 March 2026 for trial. The case was remanded as witnesses were not available,” Nyuswa told IOL.
Labane, who is not in custody, has made several court appearances before the Amersfoort Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga following her arrest by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) on charges of fraud.
Teacher since 2016
Previously, provincial Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant Colonel Dineo Sekgotodi, said Labane had been working as a teacher since 2016.
It is alleged that on September 1, 2016, Labane applied for a business and accounting teacher’s post at Hlelimfundo Secondary School in Amersfoort, under Mpumalanga’s Volksrust circuit.
“Labane submitted a CV, copies of a fraudulent matric certificate, a B-Ed degree, and SACE (SA Council for Educators) certificates to the school principal, who informed the school management team to consider her application. They then agreed that she is suitable for the post,” said Sekgotodi previously.
The principal then informed the School Governing Body (SGB) about the management team’s decision, which the SGB endorsed.
Four failed matric attempts
The Hawks said Ntombelanga Pretty Labane, who has been working as a teacher since 2016, wrote matric four times — in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 — and failed each attempt.
“The management team allowed Labane to apply for the post, and she was given an application document called EDU 1 to apply for the post. SGB members and the principal signed the application forms on September 12, 2016. All relevant documents were sent to the circuit manager who signed and took them to the Department of Education’s district office at Ermelo,” said Sekgotodi.
“The application was sent to the human resource Persal registry section, and was forwarded to the human resource provisioning section. After the human resource provisioning section checked it, it was forwarded to the employment section where it was captured and Labane was employed.”
Whistle-blower exposes alleged fraud
Trouble began for Labane when a whistle-blower who knew she had not passed matric reported the matter to the Public Service Commission (PSC) in Mpumalanga.
The PSC investigated and made findings and recommendations.
“The principal, circuit manager, and the district office were asked about a fraudulent matric certificate, and they reported that they did not notice that it was fraudulent, as they do not have detectors to verify the validity of the documents. The Public Service Commission referred the matter to the Hawks’ Secunda-based serious commercial crime investigation unit for further investigation in July 2022,” said Sekgotodi.
The Hawks clarified to IOL that Labane is not in custody, as no warrant of arrest had been issued against her.
Matric certificate ‘forged using another person’s details’
During further investigation, the Hawks discovered that Labane does not have a Grade 12 certificate, despite having written matric four times — in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 — and failing each attempt.
“Labane then forged the matric certificate by putting the certificate number: 04095177028B, which belonged to another candidate called Nozipho Ritta Ngema. The results that were appearing on her fraudulent matric certificate were not her real results,” according to the Hawks.
Labane allegedly used the fraudulent matric certificate to apply for admission at Walter Sisulu University, where she completed her Bachelor of Education (B-Ed) degree.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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