THE head at Msengezi High School, George Rambanepasi, has been implicated in a vehicle service scandal after allegedly forcing the school to pay US$12 000 without going to tender as required, NewsDay has gathered.
According to information at hand, Rambanepasi had his Toyota Hilux GD-6 vehicle serviced at Toyota Zimbabwe using US$12 000 belonging to the school.
An audit carried out from March 4 to 8 this year unearthed some misdeeds on the part of the school authorities, including the school development committee (SDC).
Ironically, the finance secretary refused to sign for the payment, but the SDC chairperson, identified as Mazibanhanga, allegedly counter-signed the invoice.
This has reportedly created a rift between committee members, with suspicion that some are benefiting from the financial misconduct at the school.
The audit urged Chegutu district schools inspector Dumisani Mbofana to ask Rambanepasi to come clean on the allegations.
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According to invoices, the school made two payments, one for US$6 362,95, while the remainder was made later, making a total payment of US$12 000.
“The audit team ordered the district schools inspector Mbofana to direct Rambanepasi to explain how on earth he used such large sums of money without going through tender, as required by government that anything above US$10 000 has to go through tender, but they only made part payments resulting in the school forking out US$12 000,” a source at the school said.
“We have serious issues at the moment, especially shortage of classrooms, where children are using makeshift classes since the COVID-19 era,” another source told NewsDay.
According to SDC treasurer’s report dated January 11, 2024, school bursar Sharon Kapende was accused of wielding too much power at the school.
The report on the bursar’s misconduct, makes a litany of allegations, including failure to issue receipts to parents after payment of fees through the school’s bank account.
“It is a violation of the accounting process. She has bought school uniforms without going to tender as required. Furthermore, she approved fumigation for the school premises without going through any tender process.
“There is need for her to follow proper labour laws after she walked out of the meeting and threatened SDC committee not to dare fire her,” the report stated.
Parents expressed disquiet about developments at the school.
“Kapende bought uniforms worth US$30 000 without going to tender, but through a verbal conversation with Rambanepasi. They are allegedly inflating prices for uniforms and other commodities bought by the school,” the parents said.
Both Kapende and Rambanepasi did not respond to calls or texts messages sent to them on the matter.
Mazibanhanga said he would give details of the cases, but had not done so by the time of going to print last night.