Controversial Primary Education Minister, Lazarus Dokora, has caused another uproar following his banning of Christian activites in schools, this time stretching his hands to snatch away private money paid into schools by parents.
Dokora has passed a ministerial directive to give him access to school levy cash so he can take a slice of it “for ZANU PF uses”, as parents charge saying Dokora is going to use the money to prop up his party.
Schools which have been struggling financially, are now saddled with an extra burden to offload their last remaining cash reserves to government-the first time such a thing has happened since independence in 1980.
“This is another ploy to just steal our money, the Minister must stop this”, a parent of two pupils at Girls High school, said.
Although the state media reported claiming that new signatories would be created so parents can access the bank accounts, ZimEye.com can reveal Dokora has surreptitiously hatched a plan to dip his fingers into the moneybags of every school in Zimbabwe. He has communicated his plot saying “we have been having the building fund since 1980 and we have developed a blueprint for levies which we have sent to schools requesting ideas.
“If I can get three or five percent from the building fund then I can get a pool fund for schools,” he said.
As a result, school development associations will now lose control of development levies, with Dokora’s officials being dispatched to monitor and administer the funds.
But Dokora’s Secretary, Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango, argues that the School Services Fund is key to curbing fraud and misappropriation.
Dr Utete-Masango said, “We, as the ministry, have proposed a School Services Fund that will be resident at schools, with tuition fees and levies being deposited into that single account. The account will have many signatories who include parents’ representatative bodies, school heads and other SDA officials. And once the accounts are established, there will be extensive monitoring by the relevant authorities to prevent misuse of funds.
“We will concretise this proposed system after receiving stakeholder feedback. The ministry is consulting stakeholders across provinces and a team is already dealing with the feedback. Further, we are working on various Statutory Instruments and the Education Act with the ultimate objective of aligning them with the Constitution.
“And also, the accounts will help learning institutions come up with School Development Plans designed to fulfill the funding requirements necessary to spur school development.”