The ManicaPost
Lovemore Kadzura Post Correspondent
THE ownership battle of Nyafaru secondary and primary schools in Nyanga has turned ugly as two rival groups are at each other’s throats following a mysterious fire that gutted the administration block and destroyed property worth over $16 000 last week.
The administration block was burnt barely four days after another suspicious fire gutted the schools’ gum plantation. The fire destroyed all furniture, school files, stationery, uniforms, and receipts books.
The Tangwena community is up in arms with the former owners of Nyafaru schools, clinic and farm, the Nyafaru Development Company (Pvt) Limited whom they accuse of using every trick in the book to control the institution despite being elbowed out years ago by the community and political leadership.
Former Cabinet minister, Mr Didymus Mutasa, is the chairman of the company and Mr Pearson Kasu is the managing director.
Members of the Nyafaru Development Company also allege that the secondary school administrators particularly the headmaster, Mr Bernard Maoko, deliberately burnt the offices in order to avoid an impending audit which they claim would unearth financial mismanagement.
However, when The Manica Post visited the school on Tuesday, Mr Maoko denied setting the offices on fire, but laid the blame squarely on members of Nyafaru Development Company whom he accused of using unorthodox means to regain control of the institution in order to line their pockets.
Mr Maoko said the way the plantation and offices were burnt appeared well choreographed as the fires were set on ‘strategic areas’, making it difficult to put it out.
Mr Maoko further added that the first fire that burnt the plantation was only eight days after Minister for State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Cde Mandi Chimene, visited the volatile institution and handed over the land to the Tangwena community and the schools to Nyanga Rural District Council, a scenario
to Mr Maoko said some members of the company especially Mr Kasu was not comfortable with.
“There is ownership and control wrangle here as some members of Nyafaru Development Company are still interested in controlling this institution. They are not happy that school fees is no longer coming their way. Pearson Kasu who is the managing director of that company was once the farm manager and the responsible authority of the schools.
“When Nyanga Rural District Council took over as the responsible authority and the school took charge of its finances, these people were not happy because their feeding trough had been taken away. When Kasu was the farm manager it was the school that was subsidising the farm instead of vice-versa.
“Following the handover of the land to the Tangwena community and the schools to council by Cde Chimene on September 15, the plantations around the schools and clinic were simultaneously set on fire on Friday, September 23. Efforts to put out the fire were fruitless because the fire was set at multiple strategic points and burst out at roughly the same time.
“On September 27, at around midnight, the secondary school office was set on fire. A night watchman discovered the fire at around the same time and alerted staff members who went out to fight it. The fire destroyed all office furniture, school files, stationery, uniforms and some receipt books. All the destroyed property was valued at approximately $16 880 and the school was not insured together with the destroyed property.
“It is not yet clear as to who caused the two fires, as investigations are in progress. We suspect the fires could have been caused by a few disgruntled former members of Nyafaru Development Company who did not go along with the idea of the handover of the land and schools to the community. The matter is now in the hands of police,” said Mr Maoko.
He further said the school was ready for an audit as he had nothing to hide.
He also exonerated Mr Mutasa, saying since his ouster from Government he had not interfered with the operations of the institution nor received any money.
“That is not true that I am the one who burnt the office in order to cover up for finance abuses. We have come clean in all recent audits and I am also backing the community to be the owners of the school through the council. Mr Mutasa since his removal from Government he has not been interfering with activities here, but I don’t know if these members are representing him or not,” Mr Maoko said.
Manicaland Provincial Education Director, Mr Edward Shumba, said he could not comment authoritatively on the fire incident as he was still to get a report from Nyanga District officials.
He also said the ownership wrangle was still pending at the High Court.
“I have not yet received the official position regarding the fire incident from the district office. There is a High Court case pending over the ownership of the school, so I do not have a concrete position on that,” Mr Shumba said.
In February 2014, Nyafaru Secondary School Development Committee and Nyafaru Primary School Development School took Nyafaru Development Company, the Secretary for Education and Mr Didymus Noel Edwin Mutasa to the High Court demanding that Nyafaru Development Company and Mr Mutasa stop interfering with the schools’ operations. The case is yet to be concluded.
