Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Walter Nyamukondiwa
31 October 2009
Harare — Chinhoyi High School pupil, Moreblessing Musiiwa (16), was struck with a cricket bat once on the head and thrown into the swimming pool to make it appear he had drowned, it has emerged.
A blood-stained cricket bat hidden at Chinhoyi High School swimming pool pump house has since been recovered.
School sports director Joseph Mpala (42) and caretaker Lameck Katungunde (23) have been arrested and yesterday appeared before Chinhoyi magistrate Mr Ngoni Nduna facing murder charges.
Mr Nduna remanded the two in custody to November 13 and advised them to apply for bail at the High Court.
The State has built its case on the accounts of witnesses who saw the two chasing Musiiwa at the back of the storeroom armed with a cricket bat. Mpala allegedly went to the pool on October 22 at around 5pm and found 30 students swimming in the pool.
He allegedly ordered them out of the pool to inspect to see if they had the proper swimming gear.
Mpala, the State says, told about 13 students without the required attire to stand aside before caning them with an electric cord.
Musiiwa ran away to the back of the building adjacent to the pool with Mpala and Katungunde in hot pursuit.
They caught up with him and Mpala allegedly struck him once on the head with a bat while Katungunde held him.
Musiiwa fell unconscious and the two tried in vain to resuscitate him and realised he was dead.
They kept the body hidden in the pump house and about two days later they allegedly threw him in the pool to conceal the murder and pass it off as a drowning.
Mpala allegedly conveniently found the body floating in the pool on October 24.
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when i first heard of this, i could not believe it; who would? especially if u are a former student like myself. seeing it in the papers, eish! makes me worried. am glad we pulled my sister out of that school now.
Parents place their children in the hands of teachers in trust that teachers will help build the future of the kids.However if there is a problem with a child there are steps to be taken than this fatal one.This is disappointing to all zimbabwean nationals around the globe. In my view, I thick tougher laws should be put in place to prevent the occurence of tragedies like this one.A life is lost which could have been avoided.Further investigations must be carried out to also highlight how this school is being run and also schools in the whole country and disciplinery measures must be revisited.
This story is really disturbing, I've been wondering if the local authories are doing something about this matter. I personally think action should be taken before this gets out of hand.