adminLuthando Mapepa
THE United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (UCCZ) is up in arms with the administrators at Mt Selinda High, accusing them of sponsoring student protests that rocked the school last week following the confiscation of a newly acquired school truck which the church argues was improperly purchased.
Apart from remaining adamant and vowing not to release the brand new D4D Toyota Hilux, UCCZ has pointed an accusing finger at the school head, Reverend Watson Bundwa and other two senior teachers for masterminding the demonstrations that rocked the church offices.
Though the head was not at the school when the disturbances occurred, his detractors regard his no-show as an attempt to distance himself from the disturbances that he knew of.
The church has since instituted a board of inquiry to investigate the protests and the role played by the administrators. However, the situation at the school has normalised.
UCCZ vice-president Reverend Godknows Dhundu said their decision to impound the truck was purely administrative and had nothing to do with students’ welfare. Rev Dhundu said the church would not surrender the truck to the school and had ceased recognising Rev Bundwa as the school head. UCCZ is the Mt Selinda responsible authority or owners.
“As owners of the school we made a decision to take the vehicle away for safekeeping as we no longer recognise him as the school head. It is with our rights to allocate, withdraw or move resources. This makes our action to withdraw the vehicle above board.
“This is an administrative issue, which the students should not involve themselves in. They cannot be involved in the day-to-day running of the school. The school has enough vehicles to use and there is no need for anyone to cry foul.
“We have engaged the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to intervene in the saga between the church and the head. We have made it clear that the vehicle will only be released on condition that a new head is assigned to the school,” Rev Dhundu.
Rev Dhundu said the blame lies squarely at the doorstep of the administration for allowing students to demonstrate against the church.
“Can you imagine that those students used a Mazda T35 truck belonging to the school to travel from Mt Selinda to Chipinge to demonstrate? Is this not a sign that this demo was masterminded and executed with the blessings of the school authority? We have been in existence for over a century and we cannot be moved by such kind of things. We are urging parents to remain calm since the situation is under control,” said Rev Dhundu.
Efforts to get comment from District Education Officer Mrs Chiedza Beta were fruitless as her mobile phone was not reachable. Rev Bundwa was sacked late last year by the UCCZ highest decision body, the Synod, after being accused of a plethora of allegations, among them abusing school funds and insubordination.
He was later reinstated early this year by the parent ministry.
Efforts to get a comment from Rev Bundwa were fruitless at the time of going to press as his mobile number was not reachable.
Online Reporter