MASVINGO – Zimbabwean traditional leader Chief Murinye has drawn national condemnation after blocking a public road leading to Riverton Academy Extension in Masvingo and threatening to throw snakes onto the school grounds, effectively preventing pupils returning from the holidays from accessing the boarding school.
Chief Murinye claimed that the school’s owner, businessman Philemon Mutangiri, had failed to obtain his permission to establish the institution in the area. He blatantly told parents that the children would not be safe at school, threatening that he would unleash snakes into the school premises.
He further boasted that nothing would happen to him because President Emmerson Mnangagwa “knows that I’m a chief”.
The chief used his truck to barricade the road and ordered parents to take their children back home, insisting that the school would not open as scheduled on Monday.
Mutangiri dismissed the allegations, telling Masvingo Mirror that the school was built in line with all required processes. He further alleged that he had previously assisted the chief by connecting electricity to the chief’s homestead and purchasing a transformer worth about US$7,000.
Mutangiri claimed the dispute arose after the chief allegedly demanded that a contract be signed guaranteeing free education for all of his children at the school, a claim the chief has not publicly responded to.
The standoff disrupted travel plans for families, some of whom had travelled long distances to return their children to the boarding school after the holidays. The blockade was eventually lifted after the chief was contacted by the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, allowing access to be restored.
The incident has sparked wider debate about the role and authority of traditional leaders.
Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana commented on social media that chiefs are “stewards, not sovereigns,” arguing for the need to document and clarify customary norms to prevent abuse of authority. He said codifying traditions through community consensus could help safeguard communities against excesses rooted in unwritten practices.
“This may come across as controversial but it’s coming from a good place. I think we should consider having a community-driven effort to document and clarify customary norms, distinguishing timeless ethical principles from mutable practices. This creates a common reference point and subjects tradition to the constructive scrutiny of community dialogue,” Mangwana stated.
“This is not an abstract exercise. Many of the abuses and excesses visited upon communities find fertile ground in the absence of codified norms. When tradition relies solely on oral transmission and unwritten precedent, it can become vulnerable to individual whim or the selective interpretations of those who may not always act with the community’s best interest at heart. Documentation, achieved through consensus, is a safeguard—not against culture itself, but against its misuse.”
Prominent Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono also weighed in, strongly criticising the incident and alleging that some traditional leaders abuse their positions by interfering with schools and businesses. He questioned how a community leader could obstruct access to education.
“When we talk about the brokenness of our society and the failure to adhere to the rule of law, this is exactly what we are talking about. This is not propaganda. You can see it with your own eyes,” Chin’ono stated.
“He is even threatening to throw snakes into the school grounds if the children go there. In other words, he is fighting against education.
“I do not understand how a community leader, a traditional leader, a chief, can fight against education. He is telling people that he does not care what Mnangagwa thinks, because Mnangagwa, who is the President of Zimbabwe, knows that he is the chief.”
