A suspected fake Eastern Cape lawyer has been granted R5,000 bail after being arrested by the Hawks.
Luthando Nomandindi, 33, appeared before the Mthatha specialised commercial crimes court on Tuesday facing charges of fraud, forgery and uttering.
The “decisive breakthrough in the fight against qualification fraud within the public sector” involved the Mthatha-based serious commercial crime investigation unit of the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said Nomandindi had allegedly enrolled for a bachelor of law degree at Walter Sisulu University between January 2010 and December 2016, but had failed to meet the academic requirements to graduate.
“Despite this, Nomandindi submitted a falsified LLB degree certificate and a bogus legal education and development (LEAD) attendance report as part of his application to the National Prosecuting Authority’s aspirant prosecutor programme in 2020,” Mhlakuvana said.
Nomandindi had been appointed as an aspirant prosecutor in January 2021 and later elevated to the position of public prosecutor.
He had also applied for promotion to prosecutor using the same credentials and had been shortlisted for appointment.
“However, when the NPA requested him to submit the original academic certificates, Nomandindi abruptly resigned with effect from March 15 2025,” Mhlakuvana said.
“Investigations by the Hawks confirmed that the university had never conferred an LLB degree on Nomandindi, and LEAD never issued him the attendance report due to outstanding fees.
“Through misrepresentation, the NPA suffered actual financial prejudice of more than R1.1m from the salaries paid to Nomandindi over his fraudulent term of employment.”
The matter was postponed to August 18 for disclosure of docket contents.
Daily Dispatch