News / Local
Seven school heads charged with theft
22 Apr 2016 at 07:27hrs | Views
THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has charged and began disciplinary proceedings against seven school heads implicated in the theft of levies following Government sanctioned audits that unearthed the embezzlement of millions of dollars at various institutions.
Manica Post reported that Manicaland Provincial Education Director, Edward Shumba, said a total of seven school heads had been charged over the disappearance of various amounts which range from $375 to $12 779.
He said the audits were still on and more suspects were being implicated.
Some of those implicated have since been dragged to the criminal courts over the same cases.
"Hearings began this month and some will be held next month. Due to professional reasons I am not going to disclose the names of those charged and their respective schools. After completing the hearings we are going to submit the record of the hearings to the Permanent Secretary who will have the final determination.
"In some instances, some of the suspects might be asked to pay back the missing amounts, some will discharged from service or get demoted. It depends on the outcome of the hearing and the gravity of the matter," he said.
Shumba said the bulk of the 1 266 schools in the province need to be audited and the exercise is far from over.
"These audits are continuing. Some of them are routine ones, some of them are being conducted as a result of complaints and some of them have been necessitated by anonymous tip-offs. So it is difficult to give an exact time framework as to when we will visit every school in the province. What I can assure you is that every dollar must be accounted for," he said and added:
"Parents must not hesitate to blow the whistle when they suspect foul play. They must report and this makes our work easier. In most cases, the reports that we receive from parents appear to be true and we end up unearthing gross malpractices at those reported institutions."
Shumba said in 2014 and 2015, the ministry trained all school heads on the basics and fundamentals of good financial management in a bid to equip them with the right technical knowhow to run their schools.
"We have two types of criminals. There are those who commit crimes by failing innocently to execute their duties well and end up messing up things and there are those who deliberately choose to execute their duties unprofessionally and involve themselves in organised crime. By according our school heads the requisite financial and management skills we want to do away with a situation whereby those implicated place the blame on the ministry for giving them duties they are not trained to do," he said.
A report issued by the ministry last month showed that more than $1,2 billion in development levies was circulating in Government and mission schools and a chunk of it is being abused by heads and bursars.
School development association officials were also implicated.
Some school authorities have been duplicating receipt books as cover to lay their hands on development funds.
The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora, has since said Government was considering removing cash control from SDAs.
"We know for a fact that more than $1,2 billion is collected through levies, and if only half of that was used to develop the schools we will be talking of something else.
"Some schools are overstaffed and these employees earn far more than teachers and heads on civil service salaries. This has become a conduit for corruption.
"There is a disconnection between the levies collected and their use. Most of these schools' levy collection systems are robust, but when it comes to use, (it's a different story altogether). What the auditors observed was shocking. It's clear the situation cannot remain like that."
Zimbabwe Schools Development Associations secretary-general, Everisto Jongwe, said it was "an open secret" that some school heads were corrupt.
"It is not a secret that levies are abused. Audits have shown that heads and bursars are implicated. In some cases, we have received reports of headmasters who call for the dissolution of committees that question the way they would have used money, or if they refuse to cooperate with them".
In 2015, Government commissioned an audit into schools' operations following indications of fraud and abuse of funds.
Manica Post reported that Manicaland Provincial Education Director, Edward Shumba, said a total of seven school heads had been charged over the disappearance of various amounts which range from $375 to $12 779.
He said the audits were still on and more suspects were being implicated.
Some of those implicated have since been dragged to the criminal courts over the same cases.
"Hearings began this month and some will be held next month. Due to professional reasons I am not going to disclose the names of those charged and their respective schools. After completing the hearings we are going to submit the record of the hearings to the Permanent Secretary who will have the final determination.
"In some instances, some of the suspects might be asked to pay back the missing amounts, some will discharged from service or get demoted. It depends on the outcome of the hearing and the gravity of the matter," he said.
Shumba said the bulk of the 1 266 schools in the province need to be audited and the exercise is far from over.
"These audits are continuing. Some of them are routine ones, some of them are being conducted as a result of complaints and some of them have been necessitated by anonymous tip-offs. So it is difficult to give an exact time framework as to when we will visit every school in the province. What I can assure you is that every dollar must be accounted for," he said and added:
"Parents must not hesitate to blow the whistle when they suspect foul play. They must report and this makes our work easier. In most cases, the reports that we receive from parents appear to be true and we end up unearthing gross malpractices at those reported institutions."
Shumba said in 2014 and 2015, the ministry trained all school heads on the basics and fundamentals of good financial management in a bid to equip them with the right technical knowhow to run their schools.
A report issued by the ministry last month showed that more than $1,2 billion in development levies was circulating in Government and mission schools and a chunk of it is being abused by heads and bursars.
School development association officials were also implicated.
Some school authorities have been duplicating receipt books as cover to lay their hands on development funds.
The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora, has since said Government was considering removing cash control from SDAs.
"We know for a fact that more than $1,2 billion is collected through levies, and if only half of that was used to develop the schools we will be talking of something else.
"Some schools are overstaffed and these employees earn far more than teachers and heads on civil service salaries. This has become a conduit for corruption.
"There is a disconnection between the levies collected and their use. Most of these schools' levy collection systems are robust, but when it comes to use, (it's a different story altogether). What the auditors observed was shocking. It's clear the situation cannot remain like that."
Zimbabwe Schools Development Associations secretary-general, Everisto Jongwe, said it was "an open secret" that some school heads were corrupt.
"It is not a secret that levies are abused. Audits have shown that heads and bursars are implicated. In some cases, we have received reports of headmasters who call for the dissolution of committees that question the way they would have used money, or if they refuse to cooperate with them".
In 2015, Government commissioned an audit into schools' operations following indications of fraud and abuse of funds.
Source - Manica Post
