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Zimunhu (31), of House Number 31526 Entumbane in Bulawayo was released and told to go home and the State would proceed by way of summons once they have enough facts.
His release followed discussions between Mr Dan Ndebele, the Area Public Prosecutor at the Western Commonage Magistrates’ Courts, and Zimunhu’s lawyer, Mr Matshobana Ncube, of Phulu and Ncube Legal Practitioners.
Zimunhu, who had been brought to court in handcuffs, had the handcuffs removed soon after the agreement between the parties.
He is being charged with theft as defined in Section 113 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23.
The State case is that on 12 October this year, at about 3pm, Zimunhu went to the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council Matabeleland North offices in Bulawayo where he collected the November 2012 O Level examination papers for English Language (Paper 1 and 2), nine copies each, Mathematics non-calculator version (Paper 1 and 2), nine copies, Integrated Science (Paper 1 and 2), 10 copies each and Geography (Paper 1 and 2), eight copies each, on behalf of the school.
After collecting the papers, Zimunhu allegedly did not proceed to the school where he was supposed to go but instead, he allegedly diverted the papers to an unknown destination. The allegedly stolen papers are valued at $236.
In his warned and cautioned statement, Zimunhu does not admit to the charge being laid against him. He only admits collecting the examination papers mentioned.
“Upon collection, I then hired a taxi to Entumbane where I stay. I went to Entumbane since there were no buses to go back to my school. The following day I went to Renkini Country Bus Terminus at around 8am using public transport where I boarded a Siganda-bound commuter omnibus.
“It left the terminus at around 1pm. Before leaving the conductor insisted that we remove the cardboard box containing the examination papers from the commuter omnibus to the trailer which we did and the cardboard box was placed in the trailer on top of a bed and it was also tied with a rope,” he wrote.
Zimunhu says along the way they passed through Mzilikazi Service Station and that he took time to check on the cardboard box and it was still there and intact.
He adds: “Going out of town we used the route which passes through West Park Cemetery, Sauerstown, North End and Kingsdale before connecting to Nkayi Road just near Umguza River.
“We travelled for about 20km along Nkayi Road and again I checked the cardboard box but I discovered that it was no longer there. I then ordered the driver to stop and we made a U-turn tracing back for about 5km but, we did not locate the cardboard box. I dropped off the commuter omnibus and again started tracing back all the way to Renkini Country Bus Terminus with negative results.”
He denied stealing the examination papers but says they were lost.
Zimsec has since withdrawn 13 Ordinary level examination papers after the loss of the examination papers. The timetables for the examination, however, remain unchanged and will start on 29 October as scheduled.
The withdrawn papers are English Language (Paper 1 and 2), Mathematics non- calculator version (Paper 1 and 2), Geography (Paper 1 and 2), Integrated Science (Paper 1, 2 and 3), Commerce (Paper 1 and 2) and Ndebele (Paper 1 and 2).
It cost Zimsec $996 000 to print examination question papers for the 286 343 candidates who registered for the O level examinations this year.
To replace the missing question papers for the six subjects, Zimsec needs about $850 000.
Zimsec prints and delivers the examination question papers to cluster collecting points where heads of various examination centres collect them.
Meanwhile, the national coordinator of the Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ) Enoch Paradzai was yesterday arrested for interfering with the investigations into the disappearance of the examination papers.
Paradzai reportedly interfered with police officers at West Commonage Police Station after visiting Zimunhu who was arrested at Mzilikazi Police Station on Tuesday.
PTUZ Bulawayo provincial chairperson Mr Vusumuzi Mahlangu confirmed the arrest.
“We have been reading about the lost examination papers in the newspapers and we decided to visit Mr Zimunhu, who is a member of PTUZ at the police station, with the intention of finding out the circumstances leading to the disappearance of the examinations papers,” said Mr Mahlangu.
“While we were at West Commonage Police Station, Mr Zimunhu was asked to sign some papers and Mr Paradzai told the police officers to wait for Mr Zimunhu’s lawyer before they could make him sign the papers. The police officers then arrested Mr Paradzai for interfering with their work.”
PTUZ secretary-general Mr Raymond Majongwe also confirmed Paradzai’s arrest.
He condemned Zimunhu’s arrest, saying he did not deserve it.
“If Mr Zimunhu must be arrested then he must be charged together with senior officials from the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) and the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture because we have been talking about the safety of examination papers for a long time.
“The system is just pathetic. They cannot let headmasters use public transport when they are carrying such important documents. It is not the headmaster’s fault that those examination papers went missing,” said Mr Majongwe.
He said the ministry had thousands of vehicles that could be used to transport the examination papers to the schools.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo confirmed Paradzai’s arrest and said he had no right to interfere with police officers on duty.
“I can confirm that we arrested Mr Paradzai for interfering with investigations. He is not a legal practitioner and what he did amounts to a serious offence. He had no right to interfere with police officers who were doing their work.
“Police are already dealing with the case and this serves as a warning to members of the public that we will not hesitate to deal with people who interfere with the law. Only legal practitioners are allowed to do so,” said Insp Moyo.
He said Paradzai will appear in court today.
Online Reporter