Chronicle Editor
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has issued a strong warning to schools and other institutions entangled in corruption, stating that they will take decisive action once evidence of wrongdoing is uncovered.
Numerous schools and their School Development Committees (SDCs) have been accused of engaging in corrupt practices, particularly in violating tender regulations when acquiring large assets such as school buses.
Additionally, some schools have been pressuring parents to purchase school supplies directly from them at inflated prices.
In an interview, Zacc chairperson Mr Micheal Reza on Friday said they will act on the rogue schools and parents’ assemblies.
“The problem that we have is that corruption is all over, headmasters and other school authorities where you find that uniforms are supposed to be bought from the school only. When you look at the person supplying the uniforms you will realise it is a relative of one of the school officials, we are looking into that,” said Mr Reza.
In a bid to educate school authorities against malpractices, that will lead to the arrest of officials, Zacc has started awareness campaigns around the country.
“We have gone on a nationwide blitz addressing schools and SDCs to say these practices should stop. We commenced this midyear going to different schools and speaking to them to ensure that they get the message that it is not okay that a headmaster says all uniforms are purchased from the schools and the person supplying those uniforms is the headmaster’s wife or a relative, it is not allowed. This is an area that we are also going to deal with,” he said.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has highlighted that some corrupt parents are taking executive roles in multiple parent assemblies manipulating systems which is illegal.
Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Torerai Moyo recently lashed out at parents who belonged to more than one School Development Committee/Association adding that parents need to operate fairly and belong to one assembly at a time as multiple memberships were causing challenges.
He said only bona fide parents with children at a particular school must be allowed to make decisions as people who join multiple SDCs despite their children not belonging to those schools are engaging in corruption and fleecing money from them.
On the issue of school uniforms, the ministry has been clear, saying schools can produce their own uniforms and other supplies as long as their prices are not inflated and are costing more than in retail shops. However, schools are going against this policy and inflating prices, forcing parents to only purchase from them.
Early last year, some students were barred from attending lessons as they had not purchased uniforms from the school that were inflated.—@NyembeziMu
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