BULAWAYO – Former ZIFA vice president Gift Banda was granted US$500 bail by a Bulawayo court on Friday following his arrest for allegedly forging an Ordinary Level certificate.
Banda, 55, walked the short distance from the Western Commonage police station to the courthouse. Appearing cheerful in a black Versace T-Shirt and track pants, he greeted waiting reporters on his way in.
After being processed at the prosecutor’s office, he entered the courtroom in leg irons.
Magistrate Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze ordered the leg irons removed, saying the charges faced by the former Njube Lobengula MP did not warrant the restraints.
Banda was not asked to plead to one count of fraud.
The National Prosecuting Authority did not object to bail and Msipa-Marondedze set bail at US$500.
Banda is accused of engaging the services of a forger, Anele Zikhali, to falsify his Ordinary Level results.
The former Bulawayo deputy mayor is believed to be running to be ZIFA vice president in elections next January on the same slate as Yadah Stars owner Walter Magaya, who is eyeing the presidency of the football governing body.
Questions persist over whether Magaya meets the O’ Level requirement. The Voice of America’s Studio 7 reported that Magaya also faces a police probe after using the same forger as Banda.
New requirements for standing in the elections say candidates must have at least five O’ Level passes. Banda allegedly does not possess the required five passes.
The prosecution says he hatched a plan with Zikhali to create a fake certificate showing that he sat O’ Level exams at Mpopoma High School in 1986 and passed seven subjects.
The certificate however showed that Banda sat a Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) exam, yet in that year, Cambridge University was the examiner. In fact ZIMSEC only became the examiner in 1996.
The school’s headmistress was allegedly roped into the scheme to alter records after Banda sponsored her daughter’s travel to the United Kingdom to find work.
