ZIMBABWE Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) workers have
petitioned President Emmerson Mnangagwa seeking government intervention to stop
one of the directors from allegedly running down the institution.
The workers say acting deputy director Tendai Marufu’s
leadership style was jeopardising the security of public examinations.
They also claimed that Marufu, with the collusion of named
members of the Zimsec board and senior government officials, wanted to seize
total control of the exams body by pushing out those she viewed as threats.
The workers said there was chaos last week when Zimsec
failed to hire on time vehicles to transport Grade 7 examination papers and
blamed Marufu for the confusion.
“The hiring of extra vehicles to ferry the question papers
was only approved a day or two before the distribution of the examination
papers and there was no adequate time to scout around for the required vehicles
in terms of suitability,” said one of the workers’ committee representatives.
“Regional staff had to wait until it was late for the hired
trucks to arrive and some of the vehicles did not meet the user requirements.”
The workers claimed there was now bad blood between Marufu
and Zimsec acting director Lazarus Nembaware.
They claimed Marufu often boasted that she was connected to
Zimsec chairperson Eddie Mwenje.
In February, Zimsec suspended seven directors, including
the director Essau Nhandara, after the November 2017 English Paper 2
examination paper was leaked.
Zimsec ordered that the examination be re-written, but the
move was blocked by the High Court.
The workers said it was curious that Marufu, who was the
corporate secretary, was not suspended but got a promotion.
Marufu on Friday said she needed more time to respond to
the questions, but had not done so by the time of going to print yesterday.
“We are aware that there is a petition that is being
circulated by a section of staff in this context,” she said.
“I will ask that you to give us a bit more time to provide
a full response to yourselves.
“We would want to take the opportunity to give insight into
preparations for the examinations and measures taken by incumbent management to
safeguard the same.” Standard
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