GARIKAI MAFIRAKUREVA

MASVINGO – The Church of Christ has dropped Samuel Mahwehwe and appointed Maxwell Mukotami as the new Education Secretary for its 29 schools dotted around the country.
This follows a move by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Permanent Secretary Moses Mhike to return the schools from a group of individuals that had allegedly grabbed them from the church.
Church of Christ immediate past president Reverend Edwin Magwidi confirmed the development to The Mirror.
Mukotami also confirmed to The Mirror, his appointment.
“Yes, I can confirm that we have appointed Mukotami as our education secretary and all the correspondences from the Ministry of education will be going through him. We had a meeting with the Provincial Education Director (PED) Shylatte Mhike and we have finalised everything.
“We are in the process of setting up our offices in Chiredzi. We have chosen Chiredzi because most of our schools are concentrated in Masvingo. We will also have satellite offices in other provinces including Midlands and Mashonaland East, but our main office will be in Chiredzi,” said Magwidi.
The individuals discarded by the Ministry ran the schools from 2016. Mhike’s letter seen by The Mirror states that the Ministry only recognizes the Church of Christ as the Responsible Authority (RA) of the schools and not individuals.
Mukotami promised to improve the standards and the welfare of the schools that had plummeted.
“My mandate as the education secretary is to bring back sanity into the schools and turn back the schools to their glory days of academic and sporting excellence attracting and retaining skilled staff. I also want to inculcate and promote good asset management in the schools and foster schools-community relations,” said Mukotami.
Mukotami who is the current regional chairperson for Church of Christ Masvingo is also a sugarcane farmer in Chiredzi, former school head and a holds Masters in Business Administration from National University of Science and Technology (NUST). He is currently studying towards a PHD in Business Administration.
Church of Christ RA has 28 mission schools including Dadaya, Mashoko, Dewure, Masvingo Christian, Chiredzi Christian and others with an enrolment of over 21 000 students.