Forty pupils from Gokomere High School were on Monday whisked away to Masvingo Central Police Station and detained before being released after the intervention of human rights lawyers.
The pupils allegedly went on a rampage destroying the Dining Hall (DH) window panes and the school head Acquanos Mazhunga’s vehicle.
In a statement, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) confirmed that the pupils were released from police detention. ZLHR said:
“40 Gokomere College students who were taken from their school premises this morning have now been released following [ZLHR’s] intervention.
The [Officer-in-Charge] advised that if need be they will go after the ring leaders. The students were accused of staging a protest at school.”
While it is unclear why the students were protesting, the incident comes barely a month after pupils at Mashoko Mission High School Bikita District, went berserk and destroyed property including the head, Trynos Mbwirire’s vehicle, prompting the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to deploy the Riot Unit to the school.
The angry pupils reportedly destroyed windowpanes at the classrooms and uprooted carrots from Mbwirire’s garden.
The pupils had several grievances, among them the school’s failure to supply electricity for the past seven days and the unavailability of potable water for several weeks.