BULAWAYO – Mpilo Central Hospital has been hit by yet another scandal after a trainee nurse was hauled before the courts for allegedly forging academic qualifications to secure admission at the institution’s nursing school.
Thelma Gurupira, 23, of Mbare in Harare, appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba on Monday charged with tendering a fake Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) certificate. She was remanded out of custody on free bail.
According to prosecutor Sibusisiwe Sithole, Gurupira applied for a place at Mpilo’s School of Nursing in 2017 despite lacking the required number of Ordinary Level passes. She allegedly presented a forged ZIMSEC certificate claiming six passes in the November 2017 exams.
“Mpilo School of Nursing acted upon the fake document and enrolled the accused person as a student nurse, where she trained from September 2022 to September 2025,” Sithole told the court.
Gurupira was represented by lawyer Tanaka Muganyi of Tanaka Law Chambers.
Her arrest comes just days after another nursing student, Sandra Kudzaishe Ndege, 25, of Murehwa, appeared before the same court on similar charges.
Ndege is accused of forging an O-Level certificate showing eight passes, including English, Mathematics and Science, after twice failing her exams. She allegedly used the forged document to gain entry into training in 2023, where she received a monthly salary until her fraud was exposed in July this year when Mpilo forwarded her results to ZIMSEC for verification.
Investigations showed she only managed four passes across two sittings, but her forged certificate reflected top grades such as Agriculture (A), Shona (A), English (B) and Mathematics (C). Ndege pleaded not guilty and is also out on bail.
The back-to-back arrests have added to concerns about the integrity of recruitment at Mpilo, already tarnished by the sensational case of Taurayi Prosper Vanhuvaone.
Vanhuvaone, 29, masqueraded as a doctor for two years under the alias “Dr Prosper Mpofu.” He went as far as setting up an office inside Mpilo Hospital, treating unsuspecting patients and swindling desperate job-seekers by promising fake nursing placements. His brazen scheme unravelled earlier this year, leading to his conviction in March. He was jailed for seven years, with part of the sentence suspended.
The string of scandals has shaken public confidence in Mpilo’s systems, with growing calls for tighter vetting of health professionals and trainees to safeguard patient safety and restore credibility.
