Moses Madyira
CHIKOMBA—Makumimavi Primary School was a hive of activity on Tuesday last week as villagers had a rare opportunity to watch Integrity Icon documentaries centered on Godknows Dembure, a teacher at the school courtesy of Accountability Lab.
The documentary which is titled Godknows Dembure—Integrity Icon Zimbabwe also features Chief Chivese and Ndodana Ndlovhu.
Earlier this year Dembure was voted Integrity Icon for Exemplary Service and Ethical Leadership in the Public Sector category beating many other contestants to land the coveted award as a recognition of the incredible work he has done with his Chess Club, Queens of Chivhu which has so far participated in some prestigious local and international tournaments.
The club competed in the 2019 African Schools Individual Chess Championship in Namibia and one of the girls, Grace Zvarebwa missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in her age group. The club also won the Zimbabwe national championship in 2018 but could not attend the Africa tournament in Egypt due to financial constraints.
Speaking during the screening of the documentary, Accountability Lab officer Sam Takawira said the Lab is determined to push civil servants to work hard in their line of duties. He also said the Lab’s team works with the winners in different ways to support their efforts to push for greater integrity within various government departments.
“Accountability Lab is determined to push civil servants to work extremely hard when conducting their duties through naming and faming civil servants who work with integrity.
“The Lab’s team works with the winners in different ways to support their efforts to push for greater integrity within various government departments,” said Takawira.
Speaking during the event, Dembure who first learned about Chess at college said he created Chivhu Chess Club with the main objective to uplift young girls in the community, improve their critical thinking as well as keep them away from societal vices.
He also expressed gratitude to Accountability Lab for allowing him to speak to the community, colleagues, superiors, and youth as it encourages office bearers to work with integrity.
“I created Chivhu Chess Club with the main objective to uplifting young girls in the community, improve their critical thinking as well as keep them away from early marriages.
“I would like to express my gratitude to Accountability Lab for allowing me to speak to the community, colleagues, superiors, and other office bearers to work with integrity in discharging their duties,” said Dembure.
Makumimavi Primary School School Development Committee chairlady, Fungai Mutamiri said the screening of the documentaries was a blessing to the school and community at large as everyone was challenged to work with integrity.
Ndlovhu, who featured in the documentary said the work Godknows Dembure did was incredible, especially considering he has done it with girls from rural areas where no one expects good things to come from those areas. Chess is considered an elite sport but Dembure defied the odds by grooming rural girls into elite chess players.
Other documentaries which were screened centered on Evermore Chakwira who was a headmaster at Chinyika Primary School now principal at Maranatha Group of Schools and Tariro Zitsenga, a nurse aide at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
The Integrity Icon Campaign is a global citizen-driven campaign to find, support and celebrate honest government officials. In the last seven years, Accountability Lab has run the campaign in several countries including South Africa, the United States of America, Nigeria, and Liberia.
