Man forges 'A' & 'O' Level qualification to secure a teaching post

AN EMAKHANDENI High School teacher appeared in court yesterday facing charges of forging "O" and "A" Level certificates to secure a teaching post.

Kenneth Nyere (25) pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery and was remanded in custody to today by regional magistrate Merylene Mutshina.

Allegations against Nyere are that sometime between January 2011 and October 2013, he took Simbarashe Nyandenga's "O" Level certificate and changed the name to his.

He photocopied the forged certificate and had it certified as a true copy of the original.

Nyere also made an alteration on his "A" Level results where he had obtained O and F. He allegedly made them to read C and F.

He went to Hillside Teachers' College and obtained a Diploma in Education using forged results.

After completion of the Diploma in Education, he went to the Education ministry in Bulawayo to seek employment as a secondary school teacher.

He reportedly secured a place at Emakhandeni High School.

The offence came to light when the forged certificates were referred to the Salary Services Bureau for salary processing and the anomaly was detected by the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec), which filed a police report against Nyere, leading to his arrest.

In his defence, Nyere said he did that because he had lost his original certificates.

"I did this so that I could get a place to teach since I had lost my 'O' Level certificates and I had failed my 'A' Level," said Nyere.

He also admitted that he was finding it difficult to teach as he was not a fully qualified teacher.

The State said Nyere wrote "O" Levels in June 2007 and obtained two passes in Human & Social Biology and Commerce with two Cs.