ZIMBABWE Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) workers have petitioned President Emmerson Mnangagwa seeking government intervention to stop one of the directors from allegedly running down the institution. BY OBEY MANAYITI
The workers say acting deputy director Tendai Marufu’s leadership style was jeopardising the security of public examinations.
They also claimed that Marufu, with the collusion of named members of the Zimsec board and senior government officials, wanted to seize total control of the exams body by pushing out those she viewed as threats.
The workers said there was chaos last week when Zimsec failed to hire on time vehicles to transport Grade 7 examination papers and blamed Marufu for the confusion.
“The hiring of extra vehicles to ferry the question papers was only approved a day or two before the distribution of the examination papers and there was no adequate time to scout around for the required vehicles in terms of suitability,” said one of the workers’ committee representatives.
“Regional staff had to wait until it was late for the hired trucks to arrive and some of the vehicles did not meet the user requirements.”
The workers claimed there was now bad blood between Marufu and Zimsec acting director Lazarus Nembaware.
They claimed Marufu often boasted that she was connected to Zimsec chairperson Eddie Mwenje.
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In February, Zimsec suspended seven directors, including the director Essau Nhandara, after the November 2017 English Paper 2 examination paper was leaked. Zimsec ordered that the examination be re-written, but the move was blocked by the High Court.
The workers said it was curious that Marufu, who was the corporate secretary, was not suspended but got a promotion.
Marufu on Friday said she needed more time to respond to the questions, but had not done so by the time of going to print yesterday.
“We are aware that there is a petition that is being circulated by a section of staff in this context,” she said.
“I will ask that you to give us a bit more time to provide a full response to yourselves.
“We would want to take the opportunity to give insight into preparations for the examinations and measures taken by incumbent management to safeguard the same.”
