Pupil withdraws case against school

Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
A GRADE 7 pupil at Whitestone Primary School who went to court to challenge her expulsion over non-payment of fees has withdrawn her case after the elite private school climbed down.

The school, through its lawyers Coghlan and Welsh Legal Practitioners, reached an out-of-court settlement which will see Zoe Zonde returning to school.

Zoe and her father Shorai Zonde, through their lawyer Dumisani Dube of Mathonsi Ncube Law Chambers, filed a notice of withdrawal at the Bulawayo High Court.

Dube said the school noted that it had erred by sending Zoe home without making verifications over her fees payment.

“The school authorities realised that they had made a mistake because school fees for the second term was paid and Zoe is now attending lessons. It was also agreed that next term Zoe will not pay school fees since she spent the better part of this term at home,” said Dube.

Zonde, in an affidavit submitted on behalf of his daughter, said it was unfair and unlawful for the school to refuse her access to classes, arguing that the girl could not suffer prejudice as a result of his debts.

Zoe was excluded from classes since the beginning of the second term because of her father’s alleged failure to pay $1,000 school fees.

“I was paying my daughter’s school fees on time and never defaulted on payments until the school introduced a card system. I have no debt owing to the school and the debt I have is to the CABS account which pays the school fees. However, the school fees for the second term was paid by myself to the school directly and not via the bank,” said Zonde.

Zoe has not been attending school since the beginning of the term and Zonde feared that his daughter was likely to fail mid-term examinations if she continued staying at home.

Zonde said he was involved in a legal battle with CABS over a debt. CABS, in July 2014, wrote to Whitestone Primary School notifying authorities to prevent children whose parents defaulted in their school card fee repayments from attending lessons until they had cleared their outstanding obligations to the bank.

Whitestone Primary School has an agreement with CABS which enables parents to pay their school fees though the bank’s school fees facility.