WHY COURT BLOCKED EXAM RE-SIT

The High Court yesterday said Zimsec bigwigs must carry the cane for the November 2017 Ordinary Level English Paper 2 public examination fia...

The High Court yesterday said Zimsec bigwigs must carry the cane for the November 2017 Ordinary Level English Paper 2 public examination fiasco.

Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo — sitting with Justice Priscilla Munangati-Manongwa — re-emphasised that the real culprits in the whole debacle were officials from the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec).

“No action to date has been taken against such officials,” said Justice Matanda-Moyo.

“It is the court’s view that failure to take action against officials responsible for leakages is responsible for the discrediting of the education standards in Zimbabwe.

“The Government is urged to take interest in ensuring that the credibility of our educational standards are safeguarded by investing in the examination system. “This is the only way that the integrity of our examination can be restored.”

Justice Priscilla Munangati-Manongwa concurred. During the hearing on Tuesday, the judges called for an overhaul of Zimsec systems and said “heads must roll” over the bungling of public examinations.

Ms Chingasiyeni Govhati, who was one of the two applicants in the case, welcomed the ruling.

“I am pleased with the ruling handed down by the two honourable judges,” she said.
“It has shown that our High Court is indeed the upper guardian of children’s interests, taking into account the best interest principle in our Constitution.

“Like what the judges said, why punishing the children when the officials at Zimsec had not done their job properly. Just like what our lawyer said, that the official were sleeping on duty.”

Ms Govhati and Mr Victor Mukomeka — represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) in collaboration with Justice for Children Trust (JCT) — brought the application to nullify the re-write of the November 2017 Ordinary Level English Language Paper 2. Herald