By Beverly Bizeki
The just ended Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Victoria Primary School and election of a new committee despite marred with clashes between the administration team and School Development Committee has attracted negativity within the education sector with analysts saying the meeting was not procedural.
Speaking to TellZim News, Progressive Teacher’s Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Dr Takavafira Zhou said the previous committee was right to ask for an extension of the AGM date to create time for resolving pending issues and said the training mentioned was just an excuse to get things done the admin’s way.
“The appointment of a new SDC must never be the prerogative of the admin but parents. This does not mean the SDC must extend its term of office but that there was nothing wrong to extend the AGM to April more so because there were outstanding issues that need to be resolved. The training by Ministry (MoPSE) is just an alibi,” said Dr Zhou.
Dr Zhou further said the contentious supplier’s excuse of having been robbed was no justification for failing to deliver as expected, blaming the admin of taking over the roles the SDC in managing the school’s accounts.
“The theft suffered by the supplier is no excuse to fail to meet a contractual agreement. The procurement seems to have been defective, with ex officio, head and deputy playing roles they should never have played. It is the SDC that manages the accounts but the admin seems to have usurped the powers of a substantive SDC.
“There is no way a new substantive SDC can be appointed without the chair and treasurer of the previous SDC who ordinarily must chair the meeting and present reports before resolution and appointment of the new,” he said.
Former Treasurer of the committee Jonah Wakurawarerwa concurred with Dr Zhou and said the meeting was shroud and questioned why the head continued to protect the supplier.
“Indeed the meeting was not procedural. We can provide details of how we tried to postpone the meeting on the 13th and 15th after receiving communication that I as a treasurer had an exam on the 26th. We tried by all means to have this postponed. The handbook clearly states that all members must be present at an AGM and it is a must that the treasurer present financial report which is the reason why we wanted it postponed. We were going to the AGM even if the contractor had not supplied but we hoped that the gathering of the parents will rectify the challenge but we failed to attend. I communicated with the chairperson on the 11th that I had exams and tried to push for a postponement to no avail.
“The meeting was a nonevent and what worries me most is why the head is protecting the contractor and the gathering. Surprisingly, the clerk who is supposed to be the paymaster is the one who presented the financial report which is wrong,” said Wakurawarerwa.
Commenting on the matter, Masvingo District Schools Inspector Ishmael Chigaba said it was only right that the meeting was conducted on the same day that had been given and argued that the same committee had set that date.
“A meeting cannot be postponed on the last minute after summoning parents and notifying them to attend the meeting on that date. The same SDC sat together and came up with the minutes and agreed on that date for the meeting which they could not attend again. They knew that the meeting had to be done on that day and the headmaster could not call off a meeting that was attended by over 400 parents,” said Chigaba.
Chigaba said Victoria Primary was one of the two outstanding schools which had not held their AGMs to elect a new committee and said this was delaying the induction process to be held by the ministry.
“The induction of SDC members is not something new to the ministry, last year we held such a training and we exchange DSIs from several districts. The induction of SDCs is done at provincial level and this was one of the schools that was lagging behind. It is only proper that members go through an induction to familiarize them with the systems. We want to avoid conflicts at schools,” he said.
On the issue of the supplier getting paid before delivery of materials, Chigaba said he had not received such a report.
“I haven’t heard about the issue of payment to a supplier before delivery of materials if there is such a case then we can always send a team of auditors from the ministry. It must be noted that a handover takeover can be done where there are some unfinished projects,” Chigaba said.
Some sources who commented on this publication’s WhatsApp platforms said there were suspicions of corruption going on at the school.
“There is also preference to a single supplier of the majority of these goods. Heard there is a classroom block that was condemned by the ministry of public works due to use of substandard bricks. It is said the block endangered the life of occupants once commissioned,” said some of the participants.
The two parties were divided over a number of issues including the incompletion of some projects under the SDC and unavailability of some members in the committee on the advised date with the admin stating that the tenure of the committee had long expired.
The school head Dr Rameck Mashuro said the AGM was not rushed saying they had agreed on the date but the committee later started giving excuses.
On the issue of undelivered materials he said they were already at the school and said it was the committee that forced the accounts clerck to pay the supplier before delivery in order to campaign for another term.
“We did not rush the AGM but we had agreed with the previous committee on the date and they only started giving excuses after we had been done with the minutes.
“There is no corruption because they are the ones who forced the accounts clerk to pay the supplier before delivery. They were doing this in order to campaign for another term because the AGM was fast approaching.
“As it is all the materials have been supplied you can come to see at the school. The challenge is that they were not prepared to leave their positions as of yet. I don’t know why they wanted to insist on remaining in the committee panodyiweiko pano paVictoria Primary? It is just voluntary work but they did not want to let go. The new committee was appointed by ministry on April 5. The previous committee was indeed troublesome as they would always roam around the school disturbing our work,” he said.
The tension was put to an end after the school conducted its AGM on March 26, 2024, which dissolved the old committee.
