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Victory for Zimbabwean education
Association of Trust Schools
February 04, 2005

A great day and victory for Zimbabwean education was achieved with the confirmation of the final court order sought by members of the Association of Trust Schools in September 2004 (H.C 3286/04 ref case no H.C 1628/04) in response to the closures of schools and arrests of Heads and Chairpersons in May 2004 as a result of an alleged violation of the Education Act through the increase of fees beyond a prescribed amount without the approval of the Secretary for Education.

A High Court judge, Justice Chiweshe, sitting in Bulawayo on January 14 2005 confirmed the order sought by the applicants which was unopposed and declared that:

"1.1 In respect of the Applicants there is not in existence a prescribed amount of fees as provided for in section 21 of the Education Act (Chapter 25:04) relating to any increase in fees or levies.

1.2 Section 4 of the Education (Control of fees and levies, Government and Non-Government Schools) Regulations, 2003, Statutory Instrument 28A of 2003 is null and void and of no force or effect, or alternatively remained of force and effect until the end of 3rd school term in 2003."

In light of the above, the Judge ordered that:

"2.1 First Respondent (Minister of Education) and Second Respondent (Secretary for Education), are hereby restrained from closing down or ordering or threatening the closure of Non-Government Schools or Schools run by Applicants by reason of any perceived or alleged contravention of either Section 21 of the Education Act or Section 4 of Statutory Instrument 28A of 2003."

The essence of this order is to confirm what everyone else except the Ministry of Education knew, that the actions of the Ministry of Education, and the Police on the instructions of the Ministry, to close Private Schools and arrest Heads and Chairpersons were illegal. It also follows that all pending cases before the courts in respect of the May 2004 fee issue are dead rubbers. In this respect, I have no doubt in my mind that our new Attorney General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele who has made an unequivocal statement on the need for everyone to respect the Law, will ensure that the relevant instructions are given to various Provincial Prosecutors to avoid the continued unnecessary harassment of our members and the waste of our limited state resources. In addition, the order also means that the only legal school fees in existence in January and May 2004 were those set by the Responsible Authorities of the respective schools. If someone had taken time to read and understand the empowering Statutory Instrument, 28A of 2003, then this sad chapter in our country's Education history could have been avoided and hopefully will never be repeated.

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