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Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
A School Development Committee (SDC) vice-chairman at Nyanyadzi Secondary School in Chimanimani District, Ronald Dziwande, has paid US$500 in an out of court settlement after sexually abusing a Form Four learner at the institution.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, which has launched investigations into the issue, has ordered an urgent meeting to either suspend or remove Dziwande from his post as SDC vice-chairman.
Manicaland Provincial Education Director, Mr Edward Shumba confirmed receiving a report of the matter and said he is waiting for a full report.
“Yes, it is true. I have been updated by the authorities in the district and I have advised them to convene an urgent meeting on the matter and see that the culprit is either suspended or removed from the post pending investigations into the matter.
“We are shocked by such levels of indiscipline among people who should be there to protect children in schools,” said Mr Shumba.
When The Weekender visited Nyanyadzi on Tuesday, parents expressed concern over their children’s security.
A neighbour to the sexually abused 17-year-old Form Four girl who chose to speak on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, narrated how the issue surfaced.
“The Form Four learner and the SDC vice-chairman are neighbours. Dziwande recently divorced about two or three women, and it appears he had settled for this Form Four child to take her in as his wife.
“The girl’s mother then discovered the affair and actually caught them pants down. She said Dziwande must marry her daughter.
“However, Dziwande did not give in to her demands and that attracted the attention of several members of the community. This is when the mother was advised that marrying off a child under the age of 18 is illegal.
“She was given US$500 as ‘damage’. Dziwande and his colleagues have promised to give the girl’s mother another US$200. She is yet to receive the money and this is why she is hostile and not assisting with investigations into the matter,” said the source.
When The Weekender tracked down the girl’s mother at a shop where she sells maize meal, she was not on site.
Efforts to get her side of the story over the phone were futile as she went ballistic and insulted this reporter.
“Leave me alone. I do not know you and you do not know me either, so leave me alone. Just leave this issue for us to solve it. It has nothing to do with you. Where were you when it started? In fact, go to hell with your investigations,” fumed the woman before hanging up.
Dziwande was not reachable for comment. In 2016, the Constitutional Court outlawed child marriages.
As a result, marrying anyone under the age of 18 is criminal.
However, child marriages remain rampant in the country.
A recently published Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) 2022 Population and Housing Census Preliminary Report revealed that 133,455 women aged 20 –24 years, representing 16.2 percent of the total, were married-off before attaining the age of 18.
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