MRP leaders meet four Mlamuli secondary parents arrested over demo

On Sunday officials from Mthwakazi Republic Party visited four Mlamuli Secondary school parents who were arrested following their protest for the removal of a Shona speaking headmistress from the school.

The party spokesperson Mbonisi Gumbo said MRP President Mqondisi Moyo, Secretary General Hloniphani Ncube, National secretary for Security Sitsha, Bulawayo Provincial spokesperson Ackim Gasela,National Youth Secretary General Kandaba Msizi Luphahla, Mat North Provincial chairman, Ncube, Nkanyiso Ngulube, Mthombeni, Women's league Moyo and Mkhwananzi and members of Bulawayo Province visited Lupane district also meet the Four accused Heroes and refunded them their bail, because they want them to know that they were doing National service and must be taken care of by all of the people of Mthwakazi.

"We also gave groceries to our four Mthwakazi heroes who were arrested two weeks back at Mlamuli secondary school;" he said.

The villagers have since been granted bail pending trial.



There were also conflicting reports the embattled headmistress of Mlamuli Secondary School, one Ms Bonyongwe had finally decided to leave the school after villagers have continued to pile on the pressure on her to pack and go.

Villagers accuse the head, among some non-Ndebele speaking educators deployed in local schools, of stifling the teaching of the language.

Parents with children attending Mlamuli Secondary School have been trying to force Bonyongwe out of the school since last year without any success.

Primary and Secondary Education ministry officials in the district have been accused of protecting Bonyongwe.

According to secessionist Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) spokesperson Mpiyezwe Zwelethu Mconywa, there were indications that the headmistress had actually thrown in the towel after parents threatened to withdraw their children from the school.

Mnconywa said his party believed the deployment of non-Ndebele speaking teachers in Matabeleland North was an attempt to ensure that locals missed out on education opportunities.

"More and more teaching posts are being taken up by Shona college graduates and appointments of Shona school heads has already been won," he claimed.

"Students/pupils in all schools in that part of the country will, in the not too distant future be mostly Shona.

"We must not forget what Nathan Shamuyarira once observed in the 1979 Grand Plan ‘The only way to weaken the Ndebele is to deprive him of an education'."

"Ndebeles are not welcome in Lupane and the few that are there remain frustrated, no promotion while Shonas come and go and most of the time they are deployed just to get a good curriculum vitae before they are deployed to Bulawayo at the expense of locals.

"As MRP we support the resolution taken by the Lupane community to suspend school lessons until the government removes Bonyongwe at Mlamuli Secondary School and we are keen to see whether the government through the Ministry of Education will continue protecting Bonyonge at the expense of the parents and their children who are not benefitting positively on the presence of her at this school."

Several chiefs from Matabeleland have in the past complained about the deployment of non-Ndebele teachers in the region saying it retarded the growth of the education sector.

Some of the outspoken chiefs on the matter are Chief Mabhikwa of Lupane and Chief Ndiweni of Matobo.