Limpopo woman in court for allegedly swindling aspiring nurses of over R3 million
Salome Ngwana has appeared briefly before the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on 33 counts of fraud, after she allegedly defrauded students who enrolled for nursing courses at her Far North Nursing School.
Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Limpopo, Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said Ngwana has also appeared in other courts around Limpopo on similar offences.
“It is alleged that Salome defrauded students who were enrolling in nursing courses at Far North Nursing School. The unregistered colleges were in Botlokwa, Morebeng, and Vhembe districts,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.
Ngwana is also facing 40 counts of fraud in Thohoyandou, 13 counts in Makhado, and 43 counts in the Morebeng Magistrate’s Court.
The NPA said Ngwana was arrested in March, at the OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng, after landing from Zimbabwe.
“The monies which were defrauded is more than R3m,” said Malabi-Dzhangi.
The accused was untraceable for more than six years, as she was not staying at her residential address in Makhado, since the cases were opened in 2017, until she was arrested on March 10, at OR Tambo Airport, coming from Zimbabwe.
“The case is postponed to 15 June, 2023, for a bail hearing,” she said.
In March, SAPS in Limpopo said they had arrested the 54-year-old woman, who vanished in 2017 when she was wanted for several cases of fraud and theft by false pretences.
“This after she allegedly defrauded a lot of unsuspecting job seekers and persons aspiring to acquire nursing qualifications,” Limpopo police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said.
The woman allegedly ran bogus nursing colleges, and fraudulently registered unsuspecting students under the pretext that they were to acquire diplomas in nursing.
“The victims were also assured of employment across the province upon completion of their studies. The suspect’s fraudulent dealings were unmasked when it was eventually discovered that the colleges were not authentic,” Mojapelo said.
“The students immediately opened cases of fraud and theft under false pretences against the woman in Polokwane, Morebeng, Thohoyandou, Waterval and other places in Gauteng Province.”
-IOL
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