A HARARE-BASED private security firm, Volsec Security Services, fraudulently acquired its ISO certification status last year after using stolen documents from its rival, Securico Services (Pvt) Ltd, NewsDay has learnt.
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This was revealed last month after former Securico secretary Zinya Makombe (34) appeared before Harare magistrate Tilda Matambanashe and was convicted of theft after she breached her former paymaster’s password and transferred the quality assurance documents to her new employer Volsec’s computer system.
The court heard that Volsec management then submitted the stolen documents to the Standards Association of Zimbabwe purporting to have originated them in line with ISO9001/2008 requirements. As a result of the misrepresentation, the security firm was awarded an ISO quality assurance certificate.
In her judgement, the magistrate noted that evidence pointed that Makombe had indeed played a part in the acquisition by Volsec of an ISO certificate and that the role she played could not have been clean beyond doubt. Even Volsec, she said, had admitted Makombe had played a crucial role in their recognition.
“The Arbitration Committee even mentioned that Volsec admitted that Makombe (accused) was key to Volsec’s certification project team and that she played an active role in Securico’s certification then and that she had used her experience and exposure gained over the years.
The court cannot fault this, but these are the other circumstances that pointed to the accused person as the culprit excluding all the others raised by the defence,” the magistrate said in her judgment convicting Makombe.
Securico Services (Pvt) Ltd was the first indigenous security company to attain ISO certification by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.
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The court heard that sometime between February and October 2012, Makombe, who had worked for Securico for 10 years before she formally resigned to join Volsec, broke into her former employer’s computer system server using a password. She then transferred the template which Securico had used to apply for its ISO certificate to her new bosses’ system.
The offence only came to light after some former Securico employees who are now employed by Volsec Security noted some striking content similarities between the firms’ quality assurance manuals.
According to court documents, the State produced evidence to prove that Makombe had played a key role in both companies’ certification projects and that she was the sole custodian of Securico’s computer password before her departure.
Magistrate Matambanashe initially sentenced her to 12 months imprisonment, but suspended six months on condition of good behaviour and the remainder on condition she performed 210 hours of community service at Warren Park 1 Primary School commencing November 19 last year.
In passing sentence, Matambanashe considered that Makombe was a female first offender.
