12 schools oper­at­ing illeg­ally

THE Bulawayo City Coun­cil has intens­i­fied its enforce­ment blitz against unre­gistered insti­tu­tions, des­cend­ing on illegal pre-schools, private schools and busi­nesses across the city and issu­ing intim­a­tions over a wide range of viol­a­tions.

Accord­ing to the latest coun­cil report, most of the affected insti­tu­tions are in Nku­lu­mane and other sprout­ing sub­urbs and were oper­at­ing without the required approvals and health clear­ances, rais­ing con­cerns over the safety and well-being of chil­dren.

A total of 12 schools have been red flagged in the city, a major­ity of which are pre-schools.

Three of the schools —Tree­top Learn­ing Centre in North End, My Little Pony and Friends Pre-school in Sauer­stown and Early Child­hood Centre also in Sauer­stown were dis­covered to be oper­at­ing illeg­ally, without any paper­work grant­ing them the right to oper­ate.

The report noted that Vant­age Pre-School in Nku­lu­mane was “oper­at­ing without a devel­op­ment per­mit and coun­cil approved plans and no food hand­ler’s med­ical cer­ti­fic­ate.”

Sim­il­arly, Com­munity Little Hope Pre-School was cited for “oper­at­ing without a devel­op­ment per­mit and coun­cil approved plans and no food hand­ler’s med­ical cer­ti­fic­ate,” while St Ern­erly Pre-School and Res­cue Pre-School were flagged for the same viol­a­tions. Coun­cil also iden­ti­fied health com­pli­ance gaps at Ruby Rose Pre-School, where “the food hand­ler was not med­ic­ally examined.”

Fur­ther breaches were recor­ded at Cre­at­ive Minds Pre-School, Joy­ful Nurs­ery and Day Care, and Chil­dren First Pre-School, all of which were repor­ted to be “oper­at­ing without a devel­op­ment per­mit and coun­cil approved plans and no food hand­ler’s med­ical cer­ti­fic­ate.”

In addi­tion, Her­ent­als Private School in Nku­lu­mane was also cited for “oper­at­ing without a devel­op­ment per­mit and coun­cil approved plans and no food hand­ler’s med­ical cer­ti­fic­ate.”

However, accord­ing to the coun­cil report, the enforce­ment exer­cise went bey­ond schools, tar­get­ing a wide range of busi­nesses and informal oper­at­ors across the city.

The report states that Mujamela Sandis Gro­cer­ies Stand 301/385 BF was “oper­at­ing a shop without a valid shop licence,” while Blesspack Super­mar­ket in Mahatshula was cited for poor house­keep­ing.

At 34 Brit­ton Road in Pad­don­hurst, author­it­ies flagged illegal cook­ing activ­it­ies, while Value Gas at Pad­don­hurst Shop­ping Centre, Glow Home and Beauty Shop, Leafy­land Invest­ments, Lin­ens and Liv­ing, and Ascot Hard­ware, all loc­ated at Ascot Shop­ping Centre, were cited for trad­ing without valid shop licences.

Cheese and Wine Shop at Ascot Shop­ping Centre was found to be “trad­ing without a liquor licence and shop licence,” while Rumtage Enter­prises was cited for “selling goods out­side shop licence classes.”

At Zim­cam­pus along River­side, Cuppa La Var was oper­at­ing without a tea room regis­tra­tion cer­ti­fic­ate, while Super­mom Hearty Meals was found trad­ing without a res­taur­ant regis­tra­tion cer­ti­fic­ate.