In a shocking turn of events, a 29-year-old Harare woman, Cindy Mutswatiwa, was caught red-handed (or should we say, red-inked?) for forging an academic certificate to pursue her dreams of becoming a dental surgeon in Ukraine. Because, clearly, a fake certificate is all you need to drill your way to success.

It turns out Mutswatiwa wasn’t working alone. She had a whole crew of accomplices, including a certificate creator, an education consultant, and a diplomatic courier. Together, they managed to create a fake ZIMSEC certificate that would make even the most seasoned forger proud. Who needs actual qualifications when you can just fabricate them?

Mutswatiwa was sentenced to 420 hours of community service, which is roughly the amount of time it takes to watch a dental surgery video on repeat. The court also suspended 12 months of her sentence on condition of good behavior, which we’ll assume includes not trying to forge any more certificates.

As the National Prosecuting Authority so eloquently put it, “Forgery of educational qualifications not only damages personal integrity, but it undermines the credibility of Zimbabwe’s education system.” In other words, don’t try to fake it till you make it, because eventually, you’ll get caught. And trust us, you don’t want to be known as the dental surgeon who got away with a forged certificate.

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