adminMORE than 100 school teachers working for schools under Mashava Mine and occupying company houses are facing a bleak Christmas after they were evicted from the houses, amid allegations that the now defunct mine authorities were paving way for Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) staff.
When our reporter visited the mine on Thursday afternoon the Deputy Sheriff was removing the property of the affected teachers from company houses before locking the houses, armed with a court order which reflected that the affected teachers were owing the company several thousands of dollars in unpaid rentals since the advent of the multi-currency system. Individuals had arrears ranging between $18 and $700. An official from the Deputy Sheriff’s office was ordering the tenants to take their properties outside despite the incessant rains with those with transport and alternative accommodation transferring their property. However, most had nowhere to go and decided to put their properties in garages pondering their next move.
Spokesperson for the affected teachers, Mr Notewell Ruzengwe, told Sunday News on Thursday that all Government employees, largely teachers staying in company houses, were affected by the evictions and they have been reduced to squatters thereby belittling them as professionals.
He said their property was being forcibly removed from the houses by the Deputy Sheriff under the instructions of the courts after Shabanie and Mashaba Mines Limited (SMM) was granted the right to evict them.
Mr Ruzengwe said most of them had been staying in company houses for the past 30 years with some being widows of former mine workers.
“Legally we lost the case against the company and we are told to vacate their premises today. We were given notices to vacate their houses but we had appealed but our application of appeal was overturned following the company’s court application to be granted leave pending appeal, hence seeing the officials from the Deputy Sheriff taking out our property. We did an interdict through our lawyer Mr Charles Ndlovu of Ndlovu and Hwacha Legal Practitioners opposing leave but there is no reprieve.
“We do not have anywhere to go as we speak and we have taken our case with the Deputy Minister of Mines Cde Fred Moyo who has promised to look into our plight,” said Mr Ruzengwe.
Mr Ruzengwe said he suspected that the company wanted to give the houses to GZU staff whose organisation has been “dangling a carrot” promising to pay more than what government tenants used to pay.
“SMM Properties and Amenities, in charge of Mashava Mine houses is not being honest because they are claiming that teachers are failing to pay rentals to the tune of $300 per month yet it is not true. If you are looking at the arrears, in total we owe the company $18 per individual and you cannot tell us that we are failing to pay that amount – there is more to it than meets the eye. They are evicting us under the guise of failure to pay rentals but unconfirmed reports are that GZU staff which has a campus already wants to occupy the premises because they are offering to pay more money than us,” he said.
“Some of us have been staying in the company houses for 34 years without any problem. We were given houses by the mine and this scenario will compromise teachers’ services to the pupils because the morale is low now. We have been reduced to squatters and there are no stands to purchase so that we can build our own houses.”
He said all residential areas were affected and the first batch of 38 primary school teachers were being evicted while about 100 secondary school teachers were served with seven days’ eviction notices. Schools in Mashava Mine comprise Temeria Primary and High School, King Mine Primary, Gaths Mine Primary, Mashava Primary and Bere High School, among others.
A teacher at King Mine Primary School, Mrs Prisca Nyoni, said she had occupied the house since 1989 and her husband worked for the company before he passed away in 2002 but was being evicted despite helping the company in the promotion of education.
“We are treated as people with no value yet we are professionals. The children that we teach have been laughing at us being treated like squatters, the company should afford us some form of respect. We are not refusing to pay, that is not true, it is only that they want to give the houses to GZU staff. We do not object to the existence of GZU here but our appeal is for the company that we served for many years providing education to children some of whom have become artisans for the same company to treat us with dignity. It is the company that gave teachers houses to stay and all along we were paying rentals and rates,” said Mrs Nyoni. Contacted for comment, SMM properties and amenities official, Mr Francis Muguti, declined comment saying the issue was being handled by the courts but referred this reporter to a Mr Nyagura who also declined comment.
“I think you are talking to a wrong person. I am the director of SMM but not in a position to entertain the press at the moment although I am aware of the obtaining situation,” said Mr Nyagura who would not give his first name.
Online Reporter