Bulawayo community actors say Zimbabwe’s schools are sliding into criminal spaces, as weak government enforcement is enabling corruption in admissions, examinations, staff recruitment, procurement, asset ownership and the monetisation of extra lessons. These concerns were raised on Thursday during a public dialogue on Community Voices on Corruption in the Delivery of Education Services, organised by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) in Bulawayo, where parents, civil society actors and policy analysts lamented how the education sector is poorly regulated by authorities. The discussion also came against the backdrop of aCITE investigation that exposed how a bus levy scandal in Bulawayo schoolshas allegedly morphed into a multi-million-dollar corruption scheme, implicating Vordim Trading, a Bulawayo-based company accused by whistle-blowers of bribing school officials, manipulating procurement systems and inflating the prices of school buses by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Speaking during the panel discussion, Jacqueline Ndlovu from the Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) said corruption in education procurement and governance was deepening inequality, particularly for women and girls. “We work in communities doing capacity strengthening so communities can demand accountability,” Ndlovu said. “We work with women to occupy leadership spaces because where you are not represented, issues will not be amplified.” She said while Matabeleland historically and “matriarchally” valued the education of the girl child, economic hardship and corruption were eroding those gains.
“You will find many girls educated, but over time, due to struggles in Zimbabwe, education inequalities are amplified, especially in rural areas,” she said. Ndlovu pointed to infrastructure projects allegedly distorted by corruption, saying communities were paying the price. “During the flood season, young children cannot cross rivers because somewhere along procurement, someone abused money meant to build a bridge,” she said.
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She also criticised inflated school construction costs, citing examples of early childhood development (ECD) blocks with sub-standard facilities. “You find schools constructing two-classroom ECD blocks with poor-standard toilets, and the cost is exaggerated to US$125 000,” she said.
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