Teacher forges O'Level certificate, fails Maths question in court

A 37-year-old Zvishavane teacher who forged her O level results and turned her Mathematics symbol from a U to a B had her certificate cancelled but maintained her diploma.

Sorofina Munemo who used the same forged certificate to get a place at a teacher training college and graduated last year pleaded not guilty when she appeared before Magistrate Peter Madiba.

Munemo failed in court to solve a Maths question.

According to  Masvingo Mirror, Munemo had a mixture of luck and misfortunes at the court as the Magistrate cancelled her O Level certificate but spared her teaching diploma which he said was obtained competently.

Madiba had a question for Munemo to prove or disprove that she indeed passed her Maths. She asked Munemo to put 9/27 to the lowest terms to which she did not have a clue despite being given all the time she needed to solve the problem.

That satisfied the Magistrate beyond doubt that Munemo forged her results and he fined her $500.

The Magistrate gave her an option to either do community service or pay fine and she opted for the fine. However, Munemo failed to pay the fine resulting in her being sent to prison.

The crime was discovered after Munemo had graduated from college and was about to be employed in Zvishavane as a teacher when the district education officer suspected that the O Level certificate was forged.

Munemo said in her defense that the certificate was offered to her by the Ministry and she did not know why they had to give her a fake document.

However, passing his sentence Madiba said that forgery is a serious offence and it was unfortunate that she was caught before she could earn any money as a teacher.

He immediately cancelled the O Level certificate so she will be a diploma holder without Mathematics