The remaining
75 posts will be filled at the discretion of provincial heads at Wigley House
and Benjamin Burombo and this creates fertile ground for corruption, sources
have told Masvingo Mirror.
“Corruption is
now rampant in the Ministry of Education and Public Service throughout the
country. Teachers pay superiors to get promoted to positions of school heads
and they also pay hefty amounts to be appointed to schools of their choice.
Provincial
Education Directors (PEDs) appoint their relatives to good schools at the
expense of better candidates. There is no merit anymore in terms of promotion
and this is destroying the education system in this country. Teachers pay their
way up,” said a source at the Ministry of Education. The Ministry issued
Vacancy Announcement 1 of 2025 (Reference No. A/E/8 on February 17, 2025, which
instructed all PEDs across the country to urgently fill all vacant posts in
their respective provinces.
A letter signed
by Provincial Education Finance Director, Liniah Chinoda, and Public Service
Commission (PSC) Provincial Coordinator, Tayuvanarwo Makuza confirms that there
are only five people invited for interviews.
The closing
date of the applications was March 7, 2025 and interviews are supposed to take
place from April 30, 2025 to May 2, 2025. The rest of the posts will be filled
up from random interviews or from school heads seeking transfers from other
provinces.
Both Masvingo
Provincial Education Director Shylete Mhike and
the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry Moses Mhike could not be reached for comment as their
mobile phones were not reachable. Documents in the hands of The Mirror show
that there were 30 candidates who applied for the secondary school head posts
and it raises eyebrows how 25 failed to properly apply and were therefore
disqualified. A source alleged that the disqualifications were deliberate to
create a situation where Provincial heads would have room to fill up the post.
The five
invited for interviews are, Tariro Masuka of Churumba High School in Bikita,
Michael Maluluke of Odzi High School, also in Bikita, Simon Jiri of Terry Goss
High School in Chiredzi, Charity Mutendi of Mutendi High School in Masvingo,
and Becklawas Matavire of Mwenezi High School.
Makuza said the
remaining 25 candidates were disqualified either because they did not have two
years’ experience or they poorly completed Result-Based Management (RBM) forms.
“I confirm that
only five were shortlisted. The other 25 either did not meet the experience
requirement or their RBMs were badly done. So, we were left with no option but
to invite only those five,” said Makuza.
A teacher who
spoke to The Mirror on condition of anonymity blamed the PSC personnel,
accusing them of being the real problem.
“Their ratings
are dubious and inconsistent. One district uses a completely different
evaluation system from another. This speaks to sheer incompetence and rampant
corruption within the corridors of power in Masvingo,” said the teacher.
Another
candidate alleged that it was a well calculated scam to ensure that a large
number of the appointments are done at the discretion of provincial heads and
create chances of making money.
Meanwhile 138
primary school teachers were invited for interviews to fill in 81 positions of
school heads that have arisen in the province. A source said that the primary
school interviews were fully subscribed because more of them are poor with
little scope for bribes. Masvingo Mirror
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