Over 200 people from Matabeleland were allegedly swindled of their money after two officials from a training institute, One Africa Trust, allegedly diverted the money paid for examination fees and modules to their own use.
The organisation which has offices in Harare and Bulawayo, recently advertised a nurse aide training course on social media targeting people from the region.
Over 200 people are said to have responded to the advert.
CITE heard two employees representing the organisation, Lizzie Alfonso from Harare and Killiana Choto from Bulawayo reportedly instructed the prospective students to send money to their personal ecocash accounts instead of depositing the money to the organisation’s EcoCash account.
A source close to the embezzlement saga who spoke on condition of anonymity said each student paid $10 in examination fees and $5 for modules.
“It only surfaced after payment that all transfers were supposed to be done to One Africa biller code,” the source revealed.
“A lot of people haven’t received their money yet and it is worrying.
“There was a directive that the coordinators were supposed to send back all the money to trainees so it could be redirected to the rightful biller code”.
The source added that the organisation had not set up proper infrastructure for learning purposes.
“Some learn in open spaces at parks, others in people’s houses. It would have been better if proper places would be arranged,” said the source.
The training is supposed to last for two weeks before the students sit for their examinations.
However, some of the groups who have long completed their training are still to sit for their examinations.
Contacted for a comment, the organisation’s founder Tapiwa Mukombe said he had heard about the allegations but none had brought concrete evidence.
“No one brought forward hard evidence pertaining to the matter,” he said.
“We talked to our coordinators and they admitted to having received the money into their accounts.
“We then instructed them to send back the money so that it could be redirected to the One Africa biller code.
“Some of the students have confirmed their money was sent back to them”.
On the issue of learning conditions, Mukombe said they had not received any complaints from students.
“We asked the students to convey any discomforts or challenges they face during the course but none of them have formally complained,” Mukombe said.
“We are deeply disappointed that they decided to go to the media with their concerns instead. However, we will do our best to address these issues”.
