SCHOOLS in Mangwe District have defied a
government directive not to engage debt collectors
to force parents to pay school fees for their
children.
Schools that include Bhulu Primary School and
Kweneng Primary School in Mphoengs Ward have
unleashed debt collectors who are attaching
property belonging to villagers.
Mangwe MP Cde Obedingwa Mguni, said some
villagers have lost their livestock to the debt
collectors.
“I met villagers and they were complaining that debt
collectors from Bhulu Primary and Kweneng Primary
have invaded their homes. Some villagers have lost
their properties and livestock in the process.
‘’To make matters worse these debt collectors have
an extra charge which they add onto the initial debt.
This is inappropriate because in the first place
villagers will be struggling to raise the initial debt,’’
said Cde Mguni.
He said villagers also complained that some of the
property that was taken belong to relatives working
outside the country.
Cde Mguni said the move was against government
policy.
Bhulu Primary School development committee
chairperson, Rachael Moyo said the debt collectors
were engaged following a general meeting that was
held last month on school fees arrears.
She said the debt collectors started moving around
homesteads last week on Monday.
“The school first held a meeting with the traditional
leadership of the community and then another
meeting was held with parents. The school
consulted these stakeholders and they agreed that
debt collectors had to be sent to owing parents,’’
said Moyo.
She said the school had resorted to engaging debt
collectors as a number of parents were not paying
fees.
Mangwe District Education Officer, Headman Mpofu
said schools were supposed to engage the Small
Claims Court in order to deal with parents over
unpaid school fees. He said remote schools,
however, found it difficult to follow this route due to
their geographic location, but advised them to
engage traditional leaders.
Recently, the Minister of Primary and Secondary
Education, Lazarus Dokora said it was illegal for
schools to engage debt collectors. He said if
schools decided to take the legal route to collect
outstanding fees they had to approach the Small
Claims Court.