Daramombe

Daramonmbe, also known as Christ the King Daramombe, is an Anglican mission school in the province of Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe, located at the eastern end of the Daramombe Hills, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Chivhu and 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) from the Chivhu–Murambinda Highway (Murambinda). A boarding school, it also serves day scholars from surrounding villages.

History and operations

Mujuru era

The school, which was destroyed by the liberation struggle in the 1970s, was brought to modern standards by the former headmaster Simon Mujuru. When Mujuru joined the school, it had a pass rate of about 30 percent and it was raised to 99.6 percent during his time. In 1994, under the Mujuru era, the school was electrified and science labs were established among other major developments. In 2000, the A level was introduced. The school has been known to qualify in top-twenty schools in both A level and O Level. Daramombe was the first public school to introduce computer studies in Zimbabwe in 1995. Students sat for both University of Cambridge International Examinations and Pitman exams in their final year of ordinary level. In December 2006, Mujuru left his post as the headmaster and was later promoted to the District Head for Chikomba District (DEO) around mid 2007. Since Mujuru's departure, there have been six headmasters in between 2007 and 2011 which saw the school's standards deteriorate to an all-time low. The Anglican Diocese of Masvingo accused Mujuru of frustrating headmasters recommended to him by the Diocese to portray the Church as failing to run the institution in order to influence government to take over the school.

Property dispute

In 2011, Anglican Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, who left the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) to form his own Anglican Church in Zimbabwe in 2007, took over the Daramombe Mission through a 2009 Supreme Court of Zimbabwe judgment. With the help of the deputy sheriff, Kunonga's camp evicted the mission’s clergy, teachers and nurses manning the institution's clinic. Those evicted where replaced by Kunonga's faithfuls from within the mission and also outsiders. Within days after taking over the mission, Kunonga appointed his new high school head, primary school head, priest in charge and head nurse.

In November 2012, Kunonga ultimately lost the dispute between him and the CPCA Bishop Chad Gandiya at the Supreme Court. The high court threw out five separate appeals by Kunonga's Church of the Province of Zimbabwe leaving the court to determine the outstanding two decisive matters in his battle for control of Anglican church property. With this decision, the mission was surrendered back to the CPCA.

Location

The school is surrounded by many villages which include Badza, Chafa, Maisiri, Manjengwa, Mudavanhu and Muchenje. The Daramombe mountain range stretches from the Hokonya area down to Gokomere. Alongside this range runs the Mwerahari River that joins the Save River in the districts in the Manicaland Province.

The nearest service centre (growth point) is Nharira which consists of many supermarkets, a post office, a filling station, several drinking places and is served by reliable bus services network, as well as several minibus operators. An airstrip capable of landing small aircraft is also present.

Notable alumni

The school's alumni include Gideon Gono, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

See also

References

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