Some 22 mentally challenged children are staying under inhuman conditions at makeshift hostels hurriedly prepared at Ratidzo Zimcare Center in Masvingo.
The children were last week transferred from the Roman
Catholic Church run – Alfred Walter Hostels and shoved into a classroom block
turned into a hostel in disregard of an instruction from the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Tumisang Thabelo
to stay the move until buildings properly designed for the purpose are
constructed.
Parents who visited their children at Ratidzo this week
shed tears and took them back to Alfred Walter Hostels.
Sources told The Mirror that Zimcare was in a hurry to
establish a boarding school in order to get boarding grants from Government.
The current arrangement is that Alfred Walter Hostels provide boarding
facilities for the children while Ratidzo is responsible for education. The
children therefore stay at Alfred Walter and go to Ratidzo School.
Social Welfare Director for Disability Affairs, Dr
Christine Peta expressed disgust at the opening of boarding facilities at
Ratidzo without following the Permanent Secretary’s letter and said inspectors
would be sent to the school today.
Alfred Walter gets 63% of the Government grant for welfare
while Ratidzo gets 37% for providing education. Ratidzo will get 100% of the
grant if it starts a boarding school. Ratidzo head, Everjoice Runesu held a
meeting with parents two weeks ago and told them that she was going to withdraw
BEAM fees for anyone who did not move their children from the Catholic church’s
hostels.
Ironically the classroom blocks at Ratidzo were built by
the Catholics and handed over to Zimcare.
There are allegations that Ratidzo looted $4m grants which
were supposed to be forwarded to Alfred Walter Hostels in 2021 and the matter
is still to be settled.
A Mirror crew that visited Nyaradzo Zimcare yesterday was
shocked to discover that mentally challenged boys and girls are sharing one
hostel.
“During the visit, a mentally challenged girl stripped
naked in front of a boy who was doing laundry and there was no supervision of
the children at the classroom block turned hostel,” said Philip Dube a
cameraman with The Mirror.
The children are bathed in buckets that are used for
mopping floors, some of the blankets used by the children were taken from a
fowl run, said a source. The toilet facilities are not for a boarding facility
but for a block of classrooms and therefore inappropriate for children who mess
themselves from time to time.
There is no dining room and kitchen facilities at Ratidzo.
When The Mirror got there in the evening the children were eating sadza with
matemba that neither had soup nor cooking oil. There are no recreational
facilities at the school and there are no boreholes in light of frequent water
cuts. There is no electricity backup in the school.
A sizeable number of the children are epileptic and a medic
must be at the school 24 hours but there is none at Ratidzo.
The caregivers looking after the children were just picked
from the surrounding suburb and they have no special training.
Equally shocking is that the Acting Provincial Education
Director, Shylatte Mhike says permission was granted for a boarding facility
when in fact the Permanent Secretary’s letter to Zimcare which is in the hands
of The Mirror says the opposite.
While the letter which is dated September 21, 2021 accepts
Zimcare’s application to start a boarding facility, it says that this can only
happen after the organisation has constructed new buildings designed for the
purpose. The design of the buildings is to obtained from the Ministry in
accordance with Circular P. 73 of 1991, added the letter.
The letter further says that such buildings will be
inspected stage by stage by the Ministry until they are completed and then
enrolment of boarders will only start when the boarding facilities have been
inspected and commissioned.
Runesu said she was given permission by Thabelo to start
the abording but declined to share the contents of her letter with The Mirror.
“Authority has been granted for the establishment and
construction of boarding facilities…The Responsible Authority, Zimcare Trust
Head office should obtain approved designs from the Ministry of Education.
Please be advised that the provision of staff accommodation should be
prioritised.
“Enrolment of boarders should only take place when the
boarding facilities have been inspected and commissioned,” reads the letter
which is in the hands of The Mirror.
The Mirror also visited Alfred Walter hostels and realised
that the two institutions are worlds apart. Alfred Walter is complete with
separate boys and girls hostel, large dining rooms with television sets, eight
blankets for each child in case they don’t dry after washing, spacious toilets
and bathing rooms, wardrobes for each child, qualified nurse, a huge staff
complement, gardens with fruits and vegetables.
The hostels, toilets and dining rooms are spotlessly clean.
The children are provided with clothes and there is a
skills training in agriculture and other productive sectors.
Alfred Walter Hostels administrator Sr Maria Murwira
expressed grave concern at the living conditions of children at Ratidzo.
Children cried for her each time she visited the place. Alfred Walter has 54
children and these can rise to 150.
“These are children with special needs and they need
specially trained people to look after their welfare. The conditions at Ratidzo
are despicable. You can’t simply turn a classroom block into a hostel without
redoing the building. Our mission should be about the children and not money,”
said Sr Maria.
There is no recreational space, water tanks and a power
backup for the children.
A parent who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the
head was forcing them to remove children from Alfred Walter Hostels.
“The head called us
for a meeting and told us that the school was going to accommodate our children
but the conditions there are horrible. She threatened to remove our children
from Government BEAM and the school if we did not comply,” said the parent.
Masvingo Mirror
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