Joburg fake covid-negative certificates

Photo: Unsplash

Joburg man BUSTED for selling R500 ‘fake COVID-negative certificates’

This is as low as it gets. A healthcare professional, working for the City of Joburg, has been arrested for selling on ‘fake COVID-negative certificates’.

Joburg fake covid-negative certificates

Photo: Unsplash

A 28-year-old health worker representing the City of Joburg will appear in court on Monday, after he was exposed for selling ‘fake COVID-negative certificates’. The paperwork, a requirement for international travellers to prove they are not infected with the virus, was being sold for R500 per person.

Fake COVID-negative certificates cause outrage

The shocking disregard of public health is likely to come with severe punishment for the guilty party, who was arrested on Sunday night. What is more, it’s understood that the Parkhurst Clinic employee did not act alone, and more suspects are likely to be arrested in the days to come.

Joburg Mayor furious with corrupt worker

The COVID crook was captured following a week-long sting operation, conducted by law enforcement authorities in Joburg. This entire scheme was a relatively simple process, and all people had to do was submit some personal details and a contact phone number. Customers then received a text from a local lab, confirming they are negative.

This in turn generates a certificate that proves your health status, and the Parkhurst perp ends up R500 better off each time. The sheer selfishness of this plot has left city officials raging, and Mayor Jolidee Matongo let fly at those involved – he was furious with the fact that such a forgery could end up spreading the virus further and causing more fatalities.

“We don’t need such people in our system. Imagine if someone contracts COVID while they have a certificate that says they are negative. That person will infect many others, and some will even succumb to death. We hope law enforcement officials send him to jail for a very long time, we need to make an example of him.”