Radio VOP
20 July 2011
Zimbabwe’s Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart is investigating the abuse of school children that allegedly took place during political campaigns.
In a telephone interview with Radio VOP on Monday, the Minister, David Coltart said: “We are going to take up the issue with provincial directors of schools involved. The ministry’s policy on this issue is very clear: school premises should not be used for anything rather than for the purpose of learning.â€
Since the talk of elections started this year, Zanu (PF) heavy weights have been falling over each other to sponsor the so-called school soccer tournaments in their respective constituencies.
Some of the Zanu (PF) politicians who have organised these “tournaments†in recent weeks are Manicaland provincial governor, Chrishopher Mushohwe, Minister of Local government Ignatius Chombo, Information and Publicity Minister, Webster Shamu among others. Mushohwe organised a soccer tournament at Nyanyadzi secondary school in Chimanimani where participating school teams were given a soccer kit with Zanu (PF)’s logo and the governor’s portrait.
About three weeks ago, former Caps United coach, Moses Chunga who is also a former Dynamos player and coach, addressed a Zanu (PF) campaign rally organised by Chombo in Mutorashanga where the minister sponsored a football tournament.
The venue of the tournament was decorated with Zanu (PF) campaign posters including President Robert Mugabe and Chombo’s campaign posters. Recently Dynamos striker, Murape Murape also accompanied Shamu to a Zanu (PF) restructuring meeting at Dzingai Nkomo cooperative in Chegutu where he took to the podium amid wild cheers from Zanu (PF) supporters and donated soccer and netball balls to the party youths.