A total of 17 citizens, including eight teachers from a school in the district of Nicoadala, in Zambézia, have been charged with being linked to a network of fraud and corruption, in which they amassed close to a million meticais by charging for vacancies at the Nicoadala Teacher Training Institute last year.

The Zambezia Provincial Office for Combating Corruption has filed a criminal case registered under No. 54/04/P/GPCCZ/2024, with 17 accused citizens, all nationals, 8 (eight) of whom are teachers linked to a network of fraud, passive corruption for an illegal act, abuse of office or function and fraud.

According to a report in "O País", the events were triggered in April 2024, when a team carrying out inspections at the Nicoadala IFP found that there were a total of 19 students in various classes attending lessons without their names appearing on the lists of candidates who had passed the entrance exams.

A note from Zambézia's provincial anti-corruption office states that: "The defendants, now teachers, charged interested parties monetary amounts ranging from 10,000.00Mt (ten thousand meticais) to 100,000.00Mt (one hundred thousand meticais), per vacancy."

After paying the sums, the defendants included the names of the candidates legally admitted to the Nicoadala Teacher Training Institute on the lists of those interested without having passed the entrance exams, and for this purpose they illicitly received a total of 975,000.00 Mt (nine hundred and seventy-five thousand meticais) in their bank accounts and mobile wallets.

Of the 17 defendants charged, four (teachers) are awaiting trial in pre-trial detention at the Zambézia Penitentiary and the rest are free on Identity and Residence Certificates.

In the note that we are quoting, the provincial anti-corruption office calls on citizens and public servants in particular to refrain from committing these acts, as they represent an attack on the dictates of the country's education system and an affront to professional ethics and deontology, which are guiding principles for the rule of law and quality education.