By Lawrence Makamanzi
The Hartzell drowning that claimed two ECD learners in Penhalonga should force Zimbabwe to confront how schools protect young children from preventable danger.
What the Hartzell drowning reveals
At Hartzell Central Primary School in Penhalonga, two small school bags reportedly sat near a swimming pool.
That pool should never have remained a danger to any child.
Their owners, both Early Childhood Development learners, had gone to school on June 11, 2026, and never returned home alive.
Police later identified them as Devian Andrew Mungazi, 5, and Lovemore Tendedziso, 6.
They said the children drowned in a disused swimming pool at the United Methodist Church-run mission school.
Authorities arrested two school employees on culpable homicide charges after investigations pointed to alleged negligence.
Those arrests matter.
The courts must determine individual guilt through evidence, not grief or public anger.
But Zimbabwe must not allow the courtroom to become the only place where this tragedy ends.
The Hartzell drowning exposes a wider and more painful question.
How many schools still keep hazards that adults have learned to ignore, but children cannot survive?
Why school safety cannot depend on luck
A disused swimming pool does not become harmless because people have stopped using it.
To a child, it remains water, depth, danger and, in the worst moment, death.
If a school cannot maintain a pool safely, it must drain it, fill it, lock it away or remove it.
That decision should never depend on luck.
Young children do not process risk the way adults do.
They wander, follow friends, chase objects, explore unfamiliar spaces and trust the environment adults place them in.
That reality places a heavier duty on every school that admits ECD learners.
It is not enough for a school to say children were on campus.
The real question asks which adult knew where each child was.
It also asks which system should have sounded the alarm before the children reached the water.
School safety fails when everyone assumes someone else is watching.
It also fails when a hazard becomes part of the background.
Reports that the Hartzell pool had stayed out of use for more than 20 years should deepen public concern.
Two decades gave responsible authorities enough time to fence it, secure it, fill it or demolish it.
A hazard left unattended for that long does not represent one bad day.
It represents a culture that delays safety until tragedy gives it a deadline.
The Hartzell drowning and the gap between policy and practice
Zimbabwe already says the right things about children in law and policy.
Section 81 of the Constitution makes a child’s best interests paramount in every matter concerning the child.
Education regulations and school health policies also place duties on schools.
The problem does not begin with the absence of protective language.
It begins with the distance between protective language and daily practice.
A constitution does not lock a gate.
Policies do not fill pools.
Circulars do not conduct head counts after break time.
Only trained and accountable people can turn child rights into real protection.
That is where Zimbabwe must focus after the Hartzell drowning.
The country should avoid the easy comfort of blaming two employees and moving on.
If the accused failed in their duties, the courts must deal with that failure fairly and firmly.
But a school environment never rests on two people alone.
School heads, responsible authorities, committees, inspectors and government all form the chain of protection around a child.
When a child dies in a preventable hazard at school, every link in that chain deserves scrutiny.
Resources matter, but safety comes first
Balance matters because many Zimbabwean schools operate under pressure.
Some carry old infrastructure, limited budgets, staffing gaps and demands from struggling parents.
Those realities explain why problems exist.
They do not excuse leaving young children exposed to known hazards.
Safety should rank above paint, uniforms, ceremonies and public image.
A school that cannot afford major construction can still act.
It can use warning signs, locked gates, barriers and supervision rosters while it seeks a permanent solution.
Support staff must also become part of child protection.
Caretakers, grounds workers, guards, cleaners and maintenance teams often know the physical risks on a school campus.
They should receive basic training in safeguarding, hazard reporting, emergency response and first aid.
They should also know their duty to act when children move toward danger.
A school cannot claim to protect children when only teachers understand child protection rules.
What must change after the Hartzell drowning
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should respond with more than condolences and statements.
It should order an urgent national safety audit of schools that enroll ECD learners.
That audit should check unused pools, wells, dams, open pits and unsecured water tanks.
It should also check construction sites, unstable buildings and busy road frontage.
Inspectors should not treat the exercise as paperwork.
They should walk the grounds, test gates, check fencing, interview staff and demand proof of correction.
Schools that ignore dangerous facilities should face consequences before a child dies, not after.
Every school should also keep a written child safety plan that parents can understand.
The plan should identify restricted areas, name supervisors and explain what happens when a child goes missing.
ECD classes need tighter systems because learners are smaller and faster to lose sight of.
They also have less ability to judge danger.
Parents should ask schools about safety plans, report hazards and demand action through school development committees.
But parents cannot inspect school premises every morning.
They cannot supervise break time from home, work, the market or the family field.
Once a child enters the school gate, the institution assumes a duty no parent can perform from elsewhere.
The two children who died at Hartzell did not need another policy after their deaths.
They needed a locked gate, a filled pool, a proper barrier or an adult who reached them before the water did.
Zimbabwe should grieve them, but grief should not become the country’s final act.
The real tribute lies in making every school ask hard questions before the next bell rings.
What on these grounds can kill a child?
What have we done today to remove that danger?
The Hartzell drowning should mark the moment Zimbabwe stopped treating school safety as paperwork.
Every child deserves to come home from school alive.
Their bags should never come home without them.
