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Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
St Augustine’s High School in Penhalonga lost more than US$54 000 to two staff members now on remand for fraud, but parents of pupils want more action to eliminate administrative ineptitude, negligence and absence of oversight mechanisms.
The Anglican Church’s Manicaland Diocese has since come under fire from concerned parents and stakeholders who seek an audit of all finances at the school.
Staff members Sophia Dzenga and Patience Ruzvidzo have since appeared before a Mutare magistrate court last week facing charges of defrauding the school popularly known as “KwaTsambe” of more than US$54 000.
The school’s head, Reverend Sydney Chirombe, has since written to parents notifying them of the embezzlement of funds at the institution and said no more cash payments will be allowed at the school as all payments must now be made at banks.
“Findings of a financial audit carried out between 25 April to 28 April 2023 revealed that two suspects who are employed by the school acted in common purpose to defraud the school money paid as cash at our institution through fraudulent activities. Parents and guardians will be asked to bring original receipts for Term 1 2023,” reads the letter.
But several parents who called The Herald last week said administrative inefficiencies and weak accounting system led to the loss.
Parents felt a regular reconciliation between receipts and available cash would have shown variances and swiftly helped authorities to raise a red flag on time.
It also emerged that the school has a higher fee section with upgraded boarding facilities and reportedly better food than ordinary boarding facilities yet pupils from that section attend lessons together with ordinary pupils.
The division is in the accommodation. That separation of facilities is also a point of contention among parents.
St Augustine’s is a non-government school, but largely in the mission school category rather than the private school category, but parents see the emergence of a private sub-school as something that could affect the mission status, where the Government pays salaries for the number of teachers that a Government school of the same size would employ, and with extra teachers being paid by the school.
Parents also questioned why the responsible authority was reviving the board of governors now when over the past years there had been no functional board.
The diocese has written WhatsApp messages to identified people to attend the appointment ceremony of the board to be held this Friday in Rusape and the timing has been viewed by some parents as a knee-jerk reaction to the discovery of the fraud.
They have also questioned source of funding of another private school being constructed in Rusape by the diocese.
When contacted, School Development Committee chairperson Mr Brighton Guta confirmed the fraud saying the school was waiting for the law to take its course.
“The figure that the school was prejudiced might even be higher than what has been reported because investigations are still ongoing. The fraud was done in a very complex and crafty way so much that it was not easy to detect. It was only after parents came forward saying they did not owe the school after they had been called to pay up,” said Mr Guta.
He denied allegations that his committee slept on duty and failed to make regular reconciliation saying each time they made reconciliation their books appeared to balance.
Head of Manicaland Anglican Diocese Bishop Eric Ruwona said they were going to unveil far reaching changes at the school to ensure that the church takes full charge of its schools through boards of governors.
He, however, denied that the diocese was to blame for the financial malfeasance at the school and defended the setting of a private section saying it was pilot project as the institution is set to be privatised.
“Powers of the board have been usurped by the current system and rendering them ceremonial. They have no control over anything and we are correcting that.
“Why are parents concerned about the board of governors who have no role to play in the theft of funds or protection of the same? They must worry about the fact that the school lost money under their exclusive watch. They cannot blame the board for that,” said Bishop Ruwona.
“The boarding facility you are referring to is run by the mission management committee. Calling it private is a misnomer because all our schools including St Augustine’s High School are private schools, though they are Government aided by way of salaries for teachers only.
“The standards obtaining there are what we want for all our boarding schools. This is a pilot project which will be upscale once we are satisfied with the systems. As a church we are happy and parents must emulate the standards rather than complain.”
He said the Diocese of Manicaland is constructing St Catherine Girls College in Rusape in the same manner they constructed all other schools.
“The diocese is allowed to build as many schools as it can using its own resources. Last time we used a loan from a bank, and they complained.
“They are now disappointed that the project is progressing well and enrolment has skyrocketed and pass rate at the school is always 100 percent. How does the development of a new school affect the parents at St Augustine?” said Bishop Ruwona.
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