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The name Mudenge of late is synonymous with the ZANU PF politburo title of secretary for external affairs than that of Government Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education.
In relation to yester year situation in the higher and tertiary education the name sparks off images of a dysfunctional place lacking in motivation, drive and zeal.
The minister is conspicuous by his glaring silence in face of hullabaloo on the alarming persecution of poor students and media blitz on the continued calls for higher and tertiary education transition and revitalization. One would bet the Minister is deaf, dumb and crippled when it comes to higher and tertiary education sector as his silence and inaction has stultified other wise the good ideas he might have in addressing the unabated relentless exodus of senior academia and teaching staff, the dilapidated and inadequate learning, laboratory, administrative, accommodation, research and teaching infrastructure. If not deaf and dumb to higher and education issues then one wonders if the minister cares to read local state and independent newspapers and maybe left to conclude that either the minister is marooned and quarantined in an alien world of his own or is selectively and conveniently illiterate when it comes to tertiary and higher education sector issues where he was recycled as a cabinet minister more so for his loyalty to his appointer than on merit and capacity.
In all other ministries they are or seem to be activities and initiatives beyond the rudimentary soldiering on of the pre GNU era towards clear initiatives that are in kilter with the broader economic and democratic transition obtaining in the country. Closer home to Mudenge’s ministry Senator David Coltart, Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture is standing above his peer’s shoulders with ideas and initiatives to revitalize the education sector at the level of his ministry. On September 14th 2009, Senator Coltart launched the multi-million United States Dollar Education Transition Fund (ETF); a partnership between the government of Zimbabwe, UNICEF and UNESCO, donor governments and civil society, aimed at achieving national impact in the education sector. ETF is meant to ensure that every child in Zimbabwe has access to textbooks, as well as learning materials and stationary. It is also meant to strengthen School Development Committees, as well as respond to technical assistance needs of the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture MoESAC. In a nutshell ETF addresses part of the revitalization and recovery needs of MoESAC and such an initiative is far overdue in Mudenge’s ministry and put in striking contrast lack of activity in his ministry.
The maladroit propaganda defense rhetoric on the negative impact of western imposed sanctions has been over taken by events as there are more sign posts indicating the good will that the donor community and other stakeholders have towards the recovery of the tertiary education sector. On the 24th of April 2010 the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) convened a special Leadership Dialogue Event in Cape Town, with Vice?Chancellors from universities in Southern Africa, to identify strategies that would strengthen the higher education sector in responding to the needs of the higher education sector in Zimbabwe. The meeting was initiated by Zimbabwean Universities’ Vice?Chancellors Association chaired by Professor Lindela Ndlovu of National University of Science and Technology. Governance and planning of higher education are a national responsibility and the minister should be in the driver’s seat not a mere passenger in the vehicle of revitalization, transition and recovery of the higher and tertiary education sector in Zimbabwe.
There is a pressing need for all the three principals to the September 15, 2009 inclusive political agreement hamstrung by politicking to make collective and consolidated efforts to locate lost Minister Mudenge and rehabilitate him to rise to the immediate occasion requiring him to redouble his efforts to resolving the myriad of problems and consolidate all to stakeholders’ ideas towards recovery and revitalisation of the education sector. Finance minister Biti, a former student activist at the University of Zimbabwe in not so distant a past now seems to be aloof to the very same causes he championed as he negates the plight of the tertiary education sector in the many local and international fora he has been propelled to by virtue of being finance minister. |