…as court date gets postponed
Rutendo Chirume
Parents of 23 Gokomere Secondary School pupils who are facing charges of inciting public violence following a violent incident that took place at the institution on November 7 2021 blamed the school head Aquanos Mazhunga for the incident as well as ruining the school reputation and standards.
Some of the disgruntled parents shared their sentiments with this publication as they submitted their children’s summon letters to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) Advocate Martin Mureri to represent the kids.
Guide Mandizha who is a parish chairperson at Gokomere Parish center said the school head is incompetent and will ruin the school’s reputation if other stakeholders fail to do something about it.
“I blame the school headmaster for all this. I have been in constant touch with Gokomere for some time now and we never had such issues until the current head. The school used to have a good reputation and was recommendable all over Zimbabwe, but now look at what is happening, even the school standards including the pass rates are down to shambles,” said Mandizha.
Another parent who spoke on condition of anonymity said the school head lacks administrative skills considering that he was transferred from Mukaro Girls College under similar circumstances.
“It looks like Mazhunga has no idea on how to run a school because when he was at Mukaro College the same maladministration happened, school children had to resort to demonstrations. It cannot be coincidence that the same is happening at Gokomere, it says a lot about him. Prior to the incident, my child told me that they were served rotten food at the dining hall but when they complained to the kitchen cooks they were told that, the headmaster is aware but has instructed us to serve it like that. The school has a lot of things which need to be addressed and I am very bitter that at 17 my child is already arraigned before courts,” said the parent.
Another parent who identified himself as Pheneas Potera blamed Gokomere head of not having learners at heart considering that he already has a pending case of corruption.
“What can we expect from someone who steals from school funds? Already it shows that he has no children’s interests at heart. Our children were preparing for exams, instead of concentrating on that they were brutalised by police and this will obviously affect their performance. We have since filed a petition to the Ministry of Education to relieve him off his duties and we will not rest until we see the end of this,” said Potera.
The 23 pupils were supposed to appear in court on February 7 at Masvingo magistrates court but the matter was postponed to April 26.
Advocate Martin Mureri confirmed the new development and said the case requires more time to prepare considering the number of pupils involved.
“I have managed to secure a new date because the case needs enough preparation time. Besides that, some of the parents were still collecting summon letters, so we would not have managed to stand in court today. There will be 23 pupils and their parents. There will be a lot of commotion that is why we opted for when we will be not be too busy at the court,” he said.
Aquanos Mazhunga, his deputy Cephas Vhurumuku, Gokomere Central Primary School (CPS) acting head Mhangarai Masakadza, acting deputy head Alex Mawaya and Priest In Charge James Magadzire have a pending case at the Anti-corruption court at Masvingo magistrates court where they are accused of allegedly stealing school funds which amounts to ZW$ 1 941 553.
The parents and guardians of children at Gokomere Schools once wrote a letter to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education petitioning immediate expulsion of the accused school administrators from office.
