Forty teachers have been sentenced for having registered in the perimeter of the municipality of Morrumbala despite living outside. The teachers were on the Frelimo priority lists given to the census brigades.

The court also convicted three brigade supervisors of improperly registering teachers. In Mopeia, a citizen was convicted of registering in Morrumbala.

The judge of the Morrumbala District Court, Soraia Ibrahimo, sentenced all those involved to between three and five months in prison.

The sentences were converted into fines of three and five minimum wages. Those sentenced to pay the three minimum wages (27,000 meticais) are the teachers and a citizen from the district of Mopeia.

The three supervisors will have to pay five minimum wages to which will be added another 10% (around 50,000 meticais). The supervisors are accused of facilitating the lists of prioritized citizens and receiving voters who are not residents of the municipal area.

The convicts expressed regret and concern about the deadline set (10 days) for paying the fines imposed by the sentence.

One of the convicts is a level 4 teacher (DN 4) who earns less than 10,000 MT. After the sentence, he questioned where he would get 27,000 meticais to pay the court if he earned a salary of less than 1/3 of what he must pay the court.

In addition to the fact that the fines are much higher than their salaries, the teachers in question are already in debt to the banks, but will have to find a way to pay them back. All the indications are that they will file an appeal, which has suspensive effects on the sentence. The judge explained that the defendants could appeal by proving that they are residents of the town. (CIP Text)