Dear Editor-The situation at Masvingo Polytechnic has reached another level, there is an increase in corruption at the College.

Due to COVID -19 the college staff did not manage to hold meeting to share their grievances with the Principal and virtual meetings were also not done for the staff to air out their views.

One of the lectures said they are not aware of the criteria used by the College to select the beneficiaries to receive COVID-19 allowances.

The lectures are receiving different amounts of money as COVID-19 allowance, some are receiving $700, some $200, some $6000 and other lecturer s$ 0.00, they are not aware of the formulas used to calculate the figures to be paid to those who received the money.

The Principal did not manage to respond or give a clarification to the questions raised by the staff.

All the lecturers were exposed to COVID-19 doing college work at certain times, some were registering students for examinations and others doing preparatory work to receive people to be quarantined but some are being excluded from receiving COVID-19 allowance.

One of the lectures said College facilities are being hired by different organizations for different events and the few are getting shares from the proceeds and the majority of lectures are left out.

Other staff members are not aware of the criteria used to determine who are supposed to or not supposed to have a share of the proceeds.

In November 2019 ZIMSEC hired certain facilities for the marking process and other staff members received thousands of Rtgs as their shares and the majority of lecturing staff were left out.

Recently Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) had its students sit for their examinations at Masvingo Polytechnic and the lecturers are not aware of those who benefited from the proceeds.

The principal Mr. Calisto Muzongondi is involved in squandering money with Vhete the Amin manager, Chikwadze the buyer and general hand while the lectures are languishing in poverty.

Mr Calisto is involved in slaughtering college cattle for beef committee and the beef is being sold at USD$2.50/kg to lecturers and at USD$1.50/kg to the few favored. The lectures at Masvingo Polytechnic are surviving through the money they get from students through conducting extra lessons.

Some HoDs are surviving through insisting the students to pay their fees in time and some students mentioned Majoni HoD accountant. Workshops and trainings are being held at the college but the lectures are not even provided with water.

The concerns are being shared to the responsible authorities but up to now they are not being addressed. The majority of the lecturing staff are waiting for the authority to explain on the issues happening. Only the admin department and the few lucky lectures are benefiting and the rest are suffering.
The president declared zero tolerance to corruption however, one thing that has hurt our public institutions in Zimbabwe is the politics of impunity- that one steals money and still gets away with it.

Corruption is fundamentally a problem of governance. It thrives in economies where civil servants and political elites are not adequately constrained by the law and the state is either too weak or unwilling to fully and effectively oversee the activities of its agents.

Corruption at Masvingo Polytechnic College exists for many reasons, Lack of meetings, lack of transparency and Accountability, lack of institution capacity, lack of punishments or sanctions deplorable working conditions and low salaries.

The angry lecturers and students have vowed to report the cases to Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).

The said the case should be pursued by the anti-corruption courts recently opened in Masvingo.

The responsible authority must clear the air by clarifying all the issues raised by the staff and students.

Concerned staff member