ZIMPLATS last week officially handed over two new classroom blocks, including
ablution facilities, whose construction it funded at Turf Primary School.
The school has an enrolment of more than 3000 learners, which meant there was
inadequate classrooms, resulting in some pupils having to learn under trees and sitting
on the ground.
The school, with 100 teachers, expanded its enrolment in order to accommodate
children within the surrounding catchment area.
The Platinum Group Metals miner handed over the two classroom blocks constructed at
a cost of about US$ 380 000 as a part of effort to decongest the classrooms at the
school.
Turf Primary School headmaster, Zezai James Kanjengo, explained how inadequate
infrastructure affected the pupils and how the school welcomes the intervention by
Zimplats.
"I would like to thank Zimplats for this development. We are a group of schools because
of the numbers of enrolment. The school was established in 1985 to cater for village 1to
6, so the numbers are increasing yearly, thereby experiencing deficit in classrooms. We
are very honoured together with the community," said Kanjengo.
One of the pupils at the school, thanked Zimplats for the new infrastructure and saying:
"We are happy because we have been removed from being under a tree to be under the
roof."
Zimplats has been upgrading the school through the construction of additional
classrooms, staff houses and ablution facilities as part of its corporate social
responsibility.
Zimplats CEO, Alex Mhembere, who was represented by Head Corporate Affairs, Busi
Chindove, said they are ready to support the community so that there is improved
livelihood.
“The first pillar, education and skills development is an important catalyst to
development. By creating conditions that are conducive to learning, like we have done
here at Turf Primary School, we are helping students in remote parts of our country
build a foundation that is stable and solid.

"Our philosophy is that the greatest form of empowerment that one can ever benefit
from is when they free-up their minds through education, which enables them to come
up with solutions to life’s challenges," said Mhembere.
Mashonaland West Minister of State of Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Marian
Chombo, who officially handed over the two blocks to Turf Primary School commended
Zimplats for giving back to the community and challenged other companies in the
province to take a leaf from what Zimplats is doing.
“Zimplats deserves a pat on the back because they can never be any wiser choice than
the moves they are making. Hardly a year passes without Zimplats extending their
generous hand across communities within their footprint. In FY2023 alone, US $4.7
million was spent in corporate social investment programmes, up from US$3.4 m in
FY2022. Let’s applaud them for that.
"The construction of the two classroom blocks and ablution facilities by Zimplats is partly
a response to His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s call for the private
sector to take the lead in spearheading the country’s development. As Government, our
role is that of creating an enabling environment in which business thrives, while
business must make good use of the factors of production (land, labour, and capital) to
transform the country’s economy into an upper middle-income economy by the year
2030.
"The education sector is still suffering from lack of financial resources, inadequate
equipment (no libraries, textbooks, computers etc) and poor working conditions for the
teachers. Government alone, will not be able to bring these schools up to the desired
levels without the support from the private sector. This is why the Second Republic is
placing so much emphasis on public-private sector partnership, popularly known by
acronym PPs,” she said.
Last year Zimplats handed over projects that included solar power systems to provide
electricity to classrooms and teachers’ houses at Chingondo Secondary School and
Tangwena Primary and Secondary schools.