A teacher and his student appeared yesterday before Mbare magistrate Tafadzwa Miti facing charges of contravening section 35 of the ZIMSEC Act.
The two are alleged to have acted in connivance with 17 other students and discussed a leaked mathematics paper 2 on November 3.
Thomas Chigodora, aged 23, a student at Eaglesvale College and Christopher Mbizi, aged 24 a private tutor at the college pleaded not guilty to the matter and are expected back in court on November 30 for routine remand.
It is alleged that Mbizi received the leaked maths paper 2 on his WhatsApp and discussed the paper with his 17 students in class. He was later approached by Chigodora who asked him to write for him the mathematics paper paying US$40 for his service.
Mbizi agreed and wrote the exam using Chigodora’s passport as a form of identification, he reportedly told the court that he spent only 45 minutes on the paper and the invigilators were not able to tell that it was not his face that was on the passport.
On November 3, four men who claimed to be police officers approached Mbizi, one of them produced an identification card.
They alerted him that they had information that he had gotten a leaked mathematics paper 2 and also that he had written the exam for Chigodora.
They told him that if he did not want to be incarcerated he would have to bribe them to keep their mouths shut.
Mbizi agreed and gave the men US$ 150. After a few days when Mbizi realised that the four men could not be located, he and Chigodora proceeded to Glenorah A police station and lodged a complaint against these men telling the police that they had been robbed of their US$150.
The police asked them to write a formal report, but Mbizi and Chigodora informed them that they had an exam that same day but would come back and write a formal report on the matter.
They however did not come back to the police station to make the formal report.
On November 11, the Principal of Eaglesvale College Faustine Svuure in the company of his colleagues reported to ZRP Glenorah intelligence unit with a tip off that there were two individuals who had illegally obtained the mathematics paper 2 and discussed it in their classroom.
They also informed the police that one of these individuals had sat for the exam for one of the students; they did not know the names of the individuals but Faustine had
acquired a cell phone number of one of the so called persons, the number turned out to be Mbizi’s.
The police then informed Faustine that there had been two men who had come to the police station complaining about such a matter but had failed to make a formal report.
The police then called Mbizi and told him that they had arrested one of the bogus policemen who had unscrupulously taken their US$ 150. Mbizi then promised to come to the police station within 30 minutes.
Within 30 minutes Mbizi showed up at the police intelligence office.
The police then produced a flash drive pretending that it held evidence and showed it to Mbizi. They told Mbizi that they had discovered what he and Chigodora had done before and after the O’ level mathematics paper 2.
They also informed him that whatever he was going to say should match the evidence that was on the flash drive. Upon being told this, Mbizi reportedly narrated everything that happened including how he had received the mathematics paper from two individuals that he only knows as Taps and Kudzi via WhatsApp.
He also told the police that he had also discussed the paper with his students in the classroom site before the exam. He also admitted to sitting for the exam on behalf of Chigodora after he was offered US$ 40 and also to using Chigodora’s passport to gain entry into the exam.
The police recorded this confession on video as it was being given and is to be produced in court as evidence during the trial.
