Greendale nurse who couldn’t diagnose own foolishness

IF you have ever wondered why some of your loved ones have received questionable medical care, look no further than the shocking case of Tendai Florence Muroiwa.

The 29-year-old fraudster nearly infiltrated the hallowed halls of Chitungwiza Central Hospital’s nursing school through pig-headed audacity that was mixed with a dash of impertinence.

Armed with nothing but gall, a forged Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) Ordinary Level certificate and an inflated sense of confidence, the would-be Florence Nightingale from Greendale attempted to gate-crash the nursing profession by using someone else’s exam results. Her plan went spectacularly wrong after she waltzed into Zimsec offices requesting verification of her “certificate” — a document so shoddily forged it might as well have been written in crayon.

Officials quickly discovered that not only did the candidate and centre numbers belong to someone else entirely, but the certificate was actually issued to one Keith Ndoro.

Shocking, right? But there is more!

Muroiwa was not done yet embarrassing herself. Not only had she stolen Ndoro’s identity; she had also cooked up the results on the certificate.

The forged symbols on the certificate painted a picture of a successful candidate.

However, a quick check with the original records showed that Muroiwa had not even sat the November 2015 exams at Mufakose 1 High School — the name of the educational institution appearing on the fraudulent document.

She was arrested that very day and, to her credit, wasted no time admitting guilt.

That might be the only honest thing she managed to do during the entire saga.

Appearing before magistrate Ruth Moyo, Muroiwa was sentenced to 12 months behind bars for violating Section 35 of the Zimsec Act.

Three months of that were suspended on condition of good behaviour for the next five years.

The remaining nine months were converted into 210 hours of community service at Greendale Clinic — the very place she might have imagined herself walking into as a nurse, clipboard in hand, administering injections and offering health advice. One hopes that her hours of mopping the floors at Greendale Clinic will come with a free lesson in honesty.