Construction materials availed for the upgrade of Maboleni High School in Lower Gweru into a boarding facility decades ago, are now unusable, while some have disappeared under unclear circumstances.
Foundations for dormitories and some buildings have remained white elephants years after the government approved boarding status for the school.
Angry parents who spoke to ZBC News said enough building material to upgrade the school was donated to the institution back then, but some of the material has since vanished, while cement and tiles are now unusable.
Some parents in the School Development Association seemed to suggest that the Public Works Department is in-charge of the mess at the school, a notion which the department’s Provincial Director, Engineer Abishton Paradza dismissed, saying his section had nothing to do with building materials at the school as theirs is just to inspect.
“We have heard about it and necessary steps are being taken as we speak. Otherwise, as far as we are concerned, we are not the ones who took the material to that school. It might be a department in the Ministry of Education. Public Works, however, is responsible for standards and inspections of government buildings. We were not aware of the existence of that material at that school, otherwise it could have been put to good use,” he said.
The Maboleni High School case is one of the many cases in which the government projects stalled while millions have been lost previously due to maladministration, issues which the second republic has vowed to deal with to ensure they is progress in the country.
