Windhoek
Khorixas mayor Trypohasa Moloto yesterday pleaded guilty to charges of forgery and uttering in the town’s magistrate’s court after it was discovered that she faked her qualifications.
Moloto pleaded to the charges before magistrate Ruben Mutuku and prosecutor Charly Iyambo.
Moloto spent Tuesday night in the police cells in Fransfontein after it was found that she had forged her qualifications to land a job at the Ministry of Education.
She was given bail of N$2 000 and is due to return to court for her second appearance next Monday.
The 32-year-old was arrested on Tuesday after it emerged that she allegedly forged her qualifications to land a job of administration officer for adult education at the ministry’s offices in Khorixas.
Sources privy to the case informed this publication after yesterday’s court appearance that Moloto forged her sister’s Grade 12 certificate and inserted her own details.
UDF vice-president Dudu Murorua yesterday told New Era that the party would wait until the case was finalised before deciding what to do with the beleaguered mayor.
Murorua yesterday said he did not know about the case. “I only read about it online in one of the newspapers.”
“By law a person is only guilty once found guilty by a court of law. As a party we cannot react now; we will be doing the party an injustice as well as the mayor,” he said.
Moloto’s qualification scandal comes less than three months before political parties battle it out for the regional council and local authority elections slated for November this year.
Moloto served as deputy mayor until she was elected as mayor of the town in 2012.
Khorixas has been a stronghold for the UDF over the years, with the party trouncing Swapo and the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) during the 2010 local authority elections for Khorixas.
UDF has four seats on the seven-seat council.
New Era could not establish whether Moloto will continue serving as mayor or whether she has been relieved of her duties until the case is finalised.
The party yesterday played down fears that Moloto’s arrest would have a negative impact on its looming election campaign for the upcoming elections.
Many fear that the scandal might dampen the party’s poll campaign seeing that other parties might use it as a campaign tool to discredit the UDF.