Another Mpilo student nurse arrested for using fake certificate

Another student nurse at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo has been arrested for allegedly using a fake academic certificate to secure a place at the nursing school.

Thelma Gurupira (23) from Mbare, Harare, is accused of tendering a fraudulent Zimbabwe Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) certificate which falsely stated that she had passed her exams.

She initially appeared in court on Thursday facing fraud and forgery charges and was remanded in custody to 29 September for a bail application.

On Monday, she appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba, represented by lawyer Tanaka Muganyi of Tanaka Law Chambers, and was remanded out of custody on free bail.

Prosecutor Sibusisiwe Sithole told the court that Gurupira applied to Mpilo School of Nursing in 2017, knowing she did not have the required number of passes.

“Sometime in September 2017 Mpilo School of Nursing advertised an intake for student nurses where the requirements included five ordinary level subjects passed with symbol C or better,” Sithole said.

“Gurupira applied well knowing that she did not have the required number of subjects. She then tendered a forged ZIMSEC ordinary level certificate which indicated that she had passed six subjects in the November 2017 examinations well knowing that the document was fake.

“Mpilo School of Nursing acted upon the tendered fake document and enrolled the accused person as a student nurse where she trained from 12 September 2022 to 11 September 2025.”

The arrest comes barely a week after another 25-year-old student nurse from Murehwa appeared before the same court facing similar charges of using a fake certificate to gain admission at the same institution.

Mpilo Central Hospital has been hit by a series of fraud-related scandals this year. In June, a 27-year-old man was jailed for seven years for masquerading as a qualified medical doctor at the health institution.