Despite
Government promising free education when Mnangagwa took power in 2017, Better
Schools Programme Zimbabwe (BSPZ) has taken over the cost of running all
district and provincial offices for years now with treasury disbursing
completely nothing, Masvingo Mirror has gathered.
In Masvingo,
the Provincial Education Director and her officers face eviction from Wigley
House after Government failed to pay rentals of US$5 million to the Mining
Industry Pension Fund (MIPF). The rent has remained unpaid for the last 16
years from 2009.
This is despite
that Education got the highest vote from treasury in 2025 of US$1,7 billion.
An eviction
order granted by Justice David Mangota in 2022 awaits execution. Last year it
was almost executed but the Ministry negotiated a payment plan which has not
been put into effect up to now.
Efforts to get
a comment from Education Permanent Secretary, Moses Mhike who does not answer
his phone were futile. The Minister of Education, Torerai Moyo also doesn’t
answer his phone.
Ministry of
Education spokesperson said BSPZ is critical for community-driven development,
adding that every cent is being used for the benefit of the child. He also said
that the Ministry recently bought 22 cars to be used at districts throughout
the country. Zimbabwe has 57 districts.
MIPF
spokesperson Moses Chireedzere said there are negotiations going on and asked
Masvingo Mirror to put the article on hold. Sources said MIPF must be concerned
about the prejudice its members suffer as a result of this non-payment.
Former Minister
of Finance, Tendai Biti said the ministry of education gets billions of dollars
every year and what happens are three things. He went to say that firstly there
is a big gap between appropriation in Parliament and the budget disbursements.
He added that disbursements come in drips and drops and disbursements are never
made by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Mthuli Ncube.
“Secondly there
is corruption and abuse of funds in these ministries and for that confirmation,
you need to read the audit reports. The audit reports have been very critical
to the ministry of Higher Education and have been very critical to the ministry
of Primary and Secondary Education.
“The third
thing which is general is that the public utility services have collapsed in
particular health and education. Education and health systems are now in
intensive care unity. The State is now outsourcing to parents and patients.
“So,
individuals, normal citizens who are underpaid and the majority of them who are
unemployed are now having to sponsor the obligations of what the government
should be doing. The bottom line is that Zanu PF has failed and Zanu PF must go
like yesterday. The chaos in our education system, the chaos in our health
system have proved that they have failed beyond any reasonable doubt,” said
Biti.
Sources said
that the Ministry is so broke that its operations are now all funded by Better
Schools Programm Zimbabwe (BSPZ). However, better BSPZ was established to
support tuition; resourcing activities directly relating to the learning but it
(BSPZ) has now replaced Government in running administration costs at district
and provincial offices.
BSPZ gets its
money from parents who are levied US$2 per child per term.
The collapse of
Zimbabwe’s education system is further evidenced by its indebtedness. It has
not paid Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) since 2022 despite statements
by Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare July Moyo to the
contrary and children are dropping from schools in their hundreds. This is a
clear sign that the promise of free education is a pipe dream as Government
fails to pay fees even for 5% pupils who are disadvantaged.
BSPZ has built
offices now used by all district offices. Before the advent of BSPZ, Government
rented offices for its departments. BSPZ also buys vehicles for the district
officers, fuel, and pays water bills for the offices.
All workshops
by school heads, teachers and provincial officers are financed by BSPZ with no
cent coming from Government. All allowances for such workshops are paid by BSPZ
with no cent coming from Government.
Districts and
provinces have long stopped making allowance claims from the Ministry because
such claims have never been paid, said sources.
One parent, a
former high ranking education officer who declined to be named said the most
worrying issue is that BSPZ has become an abused cash cow for school heads,
DSIs and provincial officers who get hefty allowances each time they hold
meetings or travel.
“BSPZ is not
benefitting the child as is its objective. It is benefitting senior education
officials who get hefty allowances each time they travel. The BSPZ purposes is
tuition which is to carry out mid-career training programmes, courses and
workshops for teachers in various fields including science who in turn directly
impart that knowledge to children in class,” said the retired educationist.
Biti said one
of the problems is that the Ministry of Finance does not disburse money
appropriated in Parliament and when it does, the money goes in drips and drops.
He also said
that audit reports have pinpointed corruption in the both the Ministry of
Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Higher Education.
“Thirdly you
must know that the public utility services have collapsed in particular health
and education. Education and health systems are now in intensive care unity.
The State is now outsourcing to parents and patients,” said Biti.
As concerns
BEAM, Public Service Minister Moyo claimed in 2024 that ZWL$16 billion had been
paid to schools and ironically the last time that such assistance was received
was in the first term of 2022.
A parent and an
opposition activist, John Mupanduki, who expressed shock at how parents a
funding the ministry’s luxury lifestyle and spending said contributions to BSPZ
must stopped with immediate effect.
0 comments:
Post a Comment