The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has launched an investigation into Alexandra Park Primary School in Harare following allegations of nepotism, abuse of office, and financial mismanagement involving the deputy headmistress, Mai Kundishora, and the complicit headmaster, Mr. Kwari.
Kundishora, is being been accused of making irregular staff appointments of two general hand staff members, Ella Samanga and Nyembesi Matsengauswa, who were initially hired as general hands but were irregularly promoted to higher-paying positions reserved for boarding schools, despite Alexandra Park Primary being a day school.
Samanga and Matsengauswa, have been wrongful employment since 2018 and 2009, respectively, and their contracts remain irregular, and their promotion to positions of Housekeeper and Assistant Housekeeper.
The controversy deepens with the revelation that Alexandra Primary School, a day school with no boarding facilities, inexplicably employs Samanga and Matsengauswa, positions of Housekeeper and Assistant Housekeeper, roles exclusively designated for government boarding schools.
Despite this incongruity, Samanga and Matsengauswa not only retain these redundant positions but have become the highest-paid support staff at the institution, outpacing the salaries of the bus driver and caretaker.
The irregularities surfaced after the chairperson of the School Development Committee (SDC) flagged discrepancies in the duo’s employment documents according to inside sources.
According to an inside source who preferred anonymity, the SDC chairperson refused to endorse Samanga and Matsengauswa’s purported promotions, recognizing that the documents were not formal contracts but offer letters misleadingly framed as contracts to legitimize their elevated roles.