By Judith Nyuke
A disgruntled parent has written a letter of complaint to the Zimbabwe Support Unit Secondary School accusing a teacher named Brian Muza of allegedly abusing a Form 1 student following an undisclosed offence.
Through her lawyers, the guardian of the victim alleges that the incident in question took place on 10 March 2025 while the victim was at school.
She further alleges that Mr. Muza’s administration of corporal punishment on the minor child was unlawful and characterized it as inhumane.
“Whilst he was at school, a teacher in your employ, one Brian Muza, excessively assaulted the child using an unknown object.
“It is not the purpose of this letter to investigate into the circumstances which led to the assault of the child.
“The present letter only addresses the conduct of your teacher, which is in our view cruel, inhumane, and degrading against the minor child. Your Mr Brian Muza had no authority to beat or administer corporal punishment on the child,” she said.
According to the letter dated 12 March, the minor child was taken to hospital to get medical attention as he could not sit properly.
“For the record at the time of writing this complaint, the minor child can not sit properly as he developed blisters on his buttocks.
“These blisters testify to the excessiveness of the beatings. The child was taken for treatment to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospital. A medical affidavit was produced,” read part of the letter.
As a remedy for the alleged incident, the parent demands that the authorities hold the teacher fully accountable under the law. Furthermore, the parent has threatened to escalate the complaint if no action is taken.
“We require the authorities to take the necessary steps against this behaviour. In our view, the steps include that the teacher concerned faces the full wrath of the law. We want the teacher arrested and face the law for his conduct.
“May we be advised of your position on this request in the next 48 hours. If, as the authorities you are not taking action, we shall take it upon ourselves to escalate the matter,” she said.
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The school has not yet responded to the complaint. Zimbabwe currently prohibits corporal punishment after it was outlawed by the Constitutional Court, which ruled it unconstitutional.
