By Staff Reporter
CHEGUTU – One of Zimbabwe’s leading private schools is fighting for survival as Chinese-owned Shuntai Holdings continues building a lime and cement plant just 497 metres from Bryden Country School’s boundary — in open defiance of a High Court order.
Parents, teachers and education leaders have warned that the project poses a direct threat to the health and safety of pupils, accusing authorities of enabling corporate impunity.
In a circular to parents, Bryden’s Board of Governors laid out how Shuntai disclosed its plans in February.
Despite objections from the school and the wider community, construction has pressed ahead unlawfully.
“We found there was no supporting documentation for Shuntai to operate in this Zone earmarked for Education,” the letter reads, noting that Springs of Grace, the Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School and University also fall within the affected area.
The school says Shuntai’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was riddled with flaws and ignored glaring health risks, yet the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) still granted the company a certificate in April.
Bryden was forced to take the regulator to court.
When ordered by the High Court to release the basis for its decision, EMA produced the same contested report, raising questions about regulatory capture and negligence.
Conditions at Bryden have since deteriorated, with parents citing choking dust, noxious fumes, deafening blasting and constant heavy machinery.
On July 25, a High Court judge personally visited the site and later ruled Shuntai was in contempt of the stop-work order.
But construction has brazenly continued.
Former education minister David Coltart blasted the developments, calling the saga “simply outrageous.”
“How can we allow one of our finest schools to be threatened in this manner by a Chinese company which will rape our resources, expend them all, shift their profits to China and then move back to China to enjoy them — all while one of our finest educational institutions is destroyed?” Coltart said.
“This must stop. We need firm Government action to end this thuggery.”
Bryden’s board has urged parents to close ranks behind the school, warning that unless authorities act, an elite Zimbabwean institution — and generations of learners — will be sacrificed to corporate greed.
