Pumula residents demand probe into school fees beneficiary list 

Ward 17 residents in Pumula are demanding transparency in the payment of school fees for vulnerable children in their community.

The residents raised the matter during a recent community feedback meeting convened by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA).

The community has a number of children who have been benefiting from proceeds from the Hualin Quarry mine through a corporate social responsibility scheme.

Residents complained that there is no longer transparency in the selection criteria of children listed as beneficiaries of the scheme.

They alleged that some beneficiaries are directly linked to members of the selection committee and, in some cases, are double-dipping by receiving assistance from both the Hualin Quarry mine and the Better Education Assistance Module (BEAM).

Addressing community members, Ward 17 councillor Sikhululekile Moyo said the ward development committee was working together with the mining company and the Child Protection Committee (CPC) to select vulnerable children.

However, a CPC representative, Admire Chikomana, disputed the claim, saying the committee had not been involved in the selection of beneficiaries.

“I would like to clarify that as the CPC, although we are supposed to be working with the selection committee, we have not been directly involved,” said Chikomana.

BPRA provincial secretary for health, Thembelihle Ndlovu, said the CPC must take action to verify whether the children currently benefiting from the scheme genuinely qualify and are not receiving assistance from other programmes.

“CPC is the one that was supposed to come up with the list of names of beneficiaries but in this case that is not what happened. We now want CPC to go back to their office and say they are failing to get access to the current beneficiaries’ names so that they can assess whether they rightfully deserve the assistance,” Ndlovu said.

“We have other children who have dropped out of school who should return, but they are failing to get that opportunity because of the corruption that is going on.”

Participants at the meeting demanded that community leaders investigate the matter and name those allegedly mismanaging the system for the benefit of a select few.

“We want the people to be named so that this matter can be addressed. If it means a commission must be set up then so be it. We have to get to the bottom of this,” one participant said.

“This is corruption at its best and you cannot fight it alone as a committee. We need to make sure that everyone joins in the fight against this form of corruption. Give us those names of the people that are doing this and we will deal with it as a collective,” another participant said.