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George Maponga in Masvingo
Knives are out for the headmaster of Victoria High School, one of the most prestigious schools here, with parents calling for his immediate investigation and ouster over a slew of allegations ranging from alleged maladministration to dereliction of duty among other charges.

Parents want the head at the state-owned school, Mr John Muzamani, to be probed accusing him of presiding over the rapid deterioration of standards at the institution. They have since petitioned the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to intervene and investigate Mr Muzamani before the situation spirals out of control.

The parents accuse Mr Muzamani of arbitrarily hiking school fees from around $500 per term to more than $1 300 without consulting them. Mr Muzamani also stands accused of single-handedly running the school with a shadowy School Development Committee that is not known by the majority of parents.

“There is barely any input from parents with regards to the running of the school and we do not even know who is in the School Development Committee and who voted for them. “Living conditions in the hostels have reached appalling levels with beds in very dilapidated state together with the showers which is an indictment on the administration of this once prestigious school,” read a letter written by the aggrieved parents.

The parents are also unhappy over failure by Mr Muzamani’s administration to complete a precast wall project that was abandoned halfway due to unknown reasons. “We now hear reports that our children are taking advantage of lax security at the school to stray out of bounds particularly during weekends when they are seen roaming around town. We call on the authorities to move in and investigate to restore the school to its yesteryear glory.”

Mr Muzamani refused to respond to the allegations and referred all the questions to the Provincial Education Director, Mr Zedious Chitiga.

“If that is what the parents in question were telling you, then you must speak to the PED (Mr Chitiga), he is best qualified to comment about that,” Mr Muzamani said curtly.

Mr Chitiga promised to investigate the allegations against Mr Muzamani.

“Headmasters come and go but the schools will always be there, so we want a situation where parents and schools authorities both sit down and plan on what is best for their institutions,” said Mr Chitiga. This is not the first time that a headmaster at a prominent school here has come under fire from parents over alleged maladministration.

In 2017 the head of Gokomere High School, Mr Stanley Mtsambiwa. was demoted and transferred from the Catholic-owned institution following pressure from disgruntled parents.