Chief Murinye come again: Parents stranded and breathe fire as Riverton Academy pulls a US$1700 shocker!

MASVINGO — Parents at Riverton Academy Extension are facing another financial shock after the private school raised its termly fees to US$1,700, leaving some children at home and forcing other families to consider moving them to different schools.

The increase, introduced at the start of the third term, has pushed the charge up by US$450 from the US$1,250 paid during the first and second terms of 2026. It represents a 36 per cent rise in a single term and comes after the school had already increased its fees from US$1,000 at the beginning of the year.

For parents with more than one child at the school, the latest demand has created an even heavier burden. A family with two pupils must find an additional US$900 for the third-term increase alone. Parents say the sudden adjustment has made it impossible for some learners to return to class, while others are preparing to transfer their children elsewhere.

“This is an ambush and we think that the owner of the school is acting without empathy and consideration of the economic situation in the country. Parents genuinely cannot afford such a steep rise and the reality is that some children are not going to school while many others are going to be transferred therefore disturbing the students,” said one parent.

The parents’ anger is focused not only on the size of the increase, but also on the way it was introduced. Members of the Riverton Academy Extension Parents Ad-Hoc Committee say there was no meeting at which families were consulted, and that the school has not produced documents showing that the new fees received the required approval.

“The parents’ principal concern is that the school has not provided satisfactory evidence demonstrating that the latest fee increase received the requisite regulatory approval,” said committee member Terence Makonese.

Makonese said parents were also questioning why the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education had not issued a clear directive on the approved amount. He said some learners remained at home while families waited for an official position on the dispute.

“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is still to issue a directive as to what the approved fee is. The school is still demanding US$1,700. We, as parents, are questioning why the ministry is delaying making a definitive formal statement concerning the dispute. Schools have been open since Monday and learners are still at home pending the official position of the ministry,” he said.

The committee has referred to Section 21 of the Education Act and says the fee changes should have gone through the required process involving the National Competitiveness Commission and the education ministry. Parents are seeking proof that both increases made in 2026 were authorised. They say the first rise took the fee from US$1,000 to US$1,250, before the latest adjustment lifted it to US$1,700.

School director Philimon Mutangiri defended the decision, saying the institution was a private school and that its fees reflected the cost of maintaining its standards. He said the ministry had advised parents to approach the school and agree on payment plans.

“This is a private school and there is no regulation on the fees that we charge because we know the expenses we incur to meet our standards. Those who are complaining have not yet come to us. The Ministry advised us to tell parents to come up with payment plans. Ninety-five percent of our learners are at school and learning is in progress,” said Mutangiri.

He acknowledged that some pupils had not returned since the beginning of the term. The conflicting accounts have left parents demanding a formal explanation and the ministry facing pressure to settle the matter quickly.

The latest dispute has revived an earlier warning by Chief Murinye, whose birth name is Ephias Munodawafa. The traditional leader had questioned whether families in the surrounding communities would ever be able to afford the school. His concerns were raised as Riverton Academy expanded into the Murinye communal area, where the institution was presented as an investment intended to provide quality education in a rural setting.

Riverton Academy Murinye opened at the beginning of 2026 in Machingura Village, about 65 kilometres south-east of Masvingo City, with an initial enrolment of 180 pupils. The proprietor also operates the established Riverton Academy at Riverton Farm in Bikita and Riverton Westview on the western outskirts of Masvingo.

The Murinye campus soon became the centre of a bitter dispute over land, paperwork and the school’s relationship with local residents. Chief Murinye said the institution had been built on communal grazing land and that the required procedures had not been completed. In January, he blocked the road to the school with his vehicle as parents tried to take their children to the campus, leaving families stranded until police intervened.

“In the first instance, there is no Riverton Academy Extension (Murinye) because it has not been established in terms of the laws of the country.

“The due process was not followed. All I know is that an application was made to council and that application has not yet been completed.

“I am not anti-development, but what is fundamental is that anybody who wants to invest should do so within the ambits of the law. You cannot just come and allocate yourself a piece of land in the grazing lands like what Mr Mutangiri has done and develop it for personal aggrandisement at the expense of poor villagers,” said Chief Murinye.

He also said the school did not have a licence from the education ministry and accused Mutangiri of using village heads to secure land. “There is no licence given by the Ministry of Education to authorise that school at the moment. It is an illegal school.

“I was not aware for a very long time until the school was at an advanced stage. He had bribed two of my village heads. He made them write to say, ‘we are giving you 30 hectares of land in their villages’,” he said.

Mutangiri rejected the chief’s claims and said he had bought a transformer worth about US$7,000 after being asked to connect the chief’s homestead to electricity. He also said the chief wanted the school to guarantee free enrolment for his children, a demand the institution did not accept.

The dispute was taken up by Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira. He said the province did not support illegal construction, but maintained that applications and approvals were in place. He also said the construction had begun before all the paperwork had been completed.

“We do not encourage illegal work. As a province, we follow the legal procedures of the government and the development that is encouraged by the President.”

Chadzamira added: “The paperwork is in order. The applications and the approval are there. It is just that the construction of the school has preceded the paperwork.”

The school was subsequently allowed to operate as a satellite institution while registration and other documents were being regularised. About 30 local children were reported to be benefiting from flexible payment arrangements described as part of the school’s community reinvestment programme.

That promise of wider access is now being tested by the fees dispute. Parents say a school built in their area cannot serve the community if its charges rise beyond the reach of ordinary households. They also say payment plans cannot replace consultation, clear approval documents and a fee structure they can plan for before the beginning of a term.

The confrontation comes amid wider pressure on Zimbabwean families. The Government has warned schools against illegal registration and enrolment charges and has said all fees must be applied for and approved through the education ministry. Officials have also insisted that children should not be turned away or denied learning because their parents have outstanding fees.

In December 2025, the ministry warned both public and private schools against demanding unapproved payments and said proper School Development Committee procedures were required for development levies. The warning followed complaints from parents who said schools were demanding money before places were confirmed.

Education Minister Torerai Moyo has since reiterated that no school head should deny a child access to learning because of unpaid fees. Yet at Riverton, parents say the combination of a steep fee rise and uncertainty over approval has already kept some pupils away from class.

For families who believed the new school would provide a private education option for middle-income households, the latest increase has changed the calculation. The question now facing them is no longer simply how to pay the next bill, but whether they can keep their children at the school at all.

The fee dispute has therefore brought Chief Murinye’s old warning back into the centre of the conversation. The school may have survived the blockade and continued teaching, but parents are now saying that affordability, like land and registration, will determine whether Riverton can truly belong in the community it was built to serve.