POLICE have launched a manhunt for suspects who administered poison in a fish pond killing all the fish at Tshabili Secondary School in Beitbridge.
School authorities recovered a plastic bag with suspected poisonous leaves used to kill the fish.
Beitbridge Rural District Council chief executive officer Peter Moyo said the act was disheartening.
“This is disturbing to say the least,” said Moyo.
“This project has been mitigatiting in terms of protein supply at the school. The proceeds from the fish sales helped to run the learning institution. Children benefited from harvests when they were given some small allocations and sales in the community answered relish problems. This is disappointing and we hope the culprit is accounted for.
“This pond came as a package from one of our partners, World Vision who built this secondary school which reduced distances children were travelling to access secondary education. In a village set up like this, projects need to be guarded jealously, they are a life.”
The fish pond was built in 2019 together with two classroom blocks and two teachers' cottages after World Vision responded to the lack of secondary schools in the area.
The school now has an enrolment of 400, mostly from poor backgrounds and were supported immensely by fish sales.
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“Villagers from Tshaswingo south, Madaula, Lukange and Lukumbwe have been affected by this sad development. The enrollment itself in a sparsely populated area shows the impact this school has. Feeding improved attendance and the projects supported this,” said a Primary and Secondary ministry official.
“The school was able to stop Grade 7 dropouts from jumping the border into SA. This is a drawback,” added the official.
The school is not new to controversy after some female teachers abandoned the school last year complaining of sexual abuse by goblins.
All the female teachers have since been transferred.
