Tichaona Chiminya Mharadze
19 March 2017, MASVINGO – Squabbles at Victoria Primary School are far from over as the newly elected School Development Committee (SDC) was dissolved barely three days after assuming office and the school head has since called for an extra-ordinary Annual General Meeting (AGM) to elect a new committee.
The dissolved committee was elected following heated arguments with parents accusing the school head, Lameck Mashuro and the previous committee for mismanaging school resources.
When contacted for comment, Mashuro professed ignorance over the matter saying he does not talk to TellZim News.
“I don’t want to hear anything about that issue; in fact I don’t want to talk to TellZim News,” said Mashuro before he dropping the call.
Mashuro and the previous committee stand were being of coming up with too many projects which reportedly forced the school to apply for a bank loan. Parents have also objected to the purchase of a new luxurious vehicle for the head.
Former SDC chairperson, Pascal Mudzikisi, however, rubbished the claims and said everything the committee did was above board.
“I am a professional and everything that I do is always above board. It’s politics at hand here; Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) members have taken over control of the school and some individuals want to use the committee to launch their 2018 election campaign,” said Mudzikisi.
Tichaona Chiminya Mharadze who was part of the dissolved committee, said he feels that there is violation of the regulations governing SDC and the School Development Association (SDA) in the country.
“I feel there is gross violation of the statutory instrument that governs SDCs and SDAs in the country because nowhere is it indicated that parents of children with fees arrears are not qualified. The ministry is also not supposed to preside over the elections according to the statutory instrument but the District Schools Inspector (DSI) did that instead of the recommended ward councillor. I think they are not acting according to the laws and regulations,” said Chiminya.
“There are people who think because I am an MDC-T official then I am here to represent the interests of MDC-T. I’m only representing my children as a parent. I have a lot of platforms to play my political games and not at the school. I have no interests to contest in Masvingo Urban but in Masvingo West,” Chiminya added.
The extra-ordinary AGM was supposed to be held yesterday evening (Wednesday) and this publication could not get the names of the new committee by the time of going to print.
Parents however said that they were going to make sure that they will put people who will promote the interest of all stakeholders.local
