adminThe Herald, August 8, 1990
FORMER students, parents and teachers of St Augustine’s School in Penhalonga joined current students at school to bid the principal, Father Keble Prosser farewell, at the weekend.
Fr Prosser, who has been at the school for 26 years, 16 of them as principal, will be going to Pocklington, Yorkshire in England, where he will be in charge of a parish.
In an interview, Fr Prosser said he was leaving the school because of old age. He is now 59.
“Honestly, the job is getting too much for me. I think that things will get more difficult if I stayed here longer,” he said.
Besides being priest-in-charge and principal at the mission school, the bespectacled Fr Prosser, who was affectionately known as “Muzungu” (white man) by his pupils, was also an A-level history and divinity teacher.
At the weekend, he denied reports that he was being deported from the country. He said, however, that the Ministry of Education and Culture had always frustrated his efforts.
In 1987 he won a High Court case against demotion by the ministry when he expelled 10 pupils.
The Ministry had at that time demoted and transferred him to another Anglican school in Manicaland.
When the Anglican Order of the Community of the Resurrection left St Augustine’s School in 1983, Fr Prosser decided to leave the order and stay at the school.
However, efforts were still made to make him leave, and students and parents from the nearby Muchena area demonstrated against the move.
Addressing people after a church service, Fr Prosser apologised for having “blocked” funds for the school’s development.
“My being here has prevented money coming through, and for that I apologise.”
He hoped to retain his Zimbabwean citizenship and to come back when he retires. It is also his wish to be buried at the mission cemetery.
Former headmaster Cde Michael Kariwo, who is also a former student, described him as a man who had good vision, strength and dedication.
Had it not been for him, St Augustine’s School should have been closed during the liberation war, he said.
The chairman of the school’s board of governors, Professor Gordon Chavunduka, said he led the school during the war when some leaders could have collapsed “physically and emotionally”.
“There were times when some of us were not giving you all the support you needed and also those when you were not getting support from the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland, but you never complained,” he said.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
It is always good to fight for something that you strongly believe in. Father Prosser fought to stay at St Augustine’s because he felt that he could make a difference at the school and he did achieve a lot.
Community support is essential especially in the face of adversity. Father Prosser was able to stay on at St Augustine’s because he had the support of the local community and students.
Father Prosser, who is now late, remains a legend at St Augustine’s, because of the immense contribution to the school and the country during the war of liberation. The school’s history can never be complete without mentioning Father Prosser’s contribution.
It is important to honour people’s wishes. Although Father Prosser passed on in England in 2015, his remains were repatriated to Zimbabwe in March 2016 and were interred at his beloved St Augustine’s as per his request.
Online Reporter