Windhoek — The deputy Registrar at the Polytechnic of Namibia Gerard Vries informed the court yesterday that Deputy Commissioner of Prisons Tuhafeni Hangula did not register with his original Standard 10 certificate when he registered at the institution in 2009.

Vries is the third state witness to testify in the matter in which Hangula is charged with fraud over the authenticity of his school certificate. The deputy commissioner pleaded not guilty to six counts, including fraud, theft and uttering when his trial commenced in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court on Monday. The charges the 44-year-old Hangula faces stem from allegations that the Standard 10 school certificate he has been using is not genuine. He faces one count of fraud, one count of theft, a count of forgery, two counts of uttering and a count of receiving stolen property. Despite the fact that Hangula did not produce his original certificate, he was awarded a diploma on April 17, 2010. When Vries was asked by Hangula's defence lawyer why that was done, he replied that it was because Hangula had registered for a Bachelor's degree. The defence lawyer was however not satisfied with the response. Hangula graduated from the Polytechnic of Namibia with a Bachelor of Criminal Justice (Correctional Management) degree in 2012. Namandje, his defence lawyer, then asked Vries, "as it stands does Hangula have a valid degree," to which the witness replied "yes." Control officer in the ministry of education, Cathren Hollenbach was the first state witness. She testified on Monday that on February 16, 2011, she received a letter from the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the Standard 10 school certificate of Hangula. Hollenbach further testified that in order for one to be issued with a Standard 10 certificate, one needed at least 720 aggregate points and Hangula only had 689. The subjects the candidate passed must also appear on the certificate, the witness informed the court. The witness further said the serial number of Hangula's certificate "did not appear in the ministry of education's books to indicate that the certificate was issued."

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