The Herald

By Herald Reporter

3 May 2013

SOME schools are demanding that parents pay full fees and levies before their children are allowed to register for the November Ordinary and Advanced Level public examinations this year.

The deadline for registration is today. This comes as Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart yesterday warned schools against barring pupils from registering saying everyone who had gone through the school curriculum had a right to register as a candidate. Minister Coltart said Government would punish any school authorities who deny children the right to register.

“Every child who has gone through the required stages should be allowed to sit for the examinations,” he said.

“Reports that some are being turned away are unacceptable because there is no law in the ministry which bars pupils from paying examination fees simply because they have not paid their tuition fees.

This is a critical stage in the life of the pupil and no prospective pupil should be denied the right to register.”
He said parents in school fees arrears should work out payment plans with school authorities.

The Herald

By David Coltart

1 May 2013

I have a great deal of respect for Firdose Moonda, ESPNCricinfo’s South Africa correspondent — she knows her cricket well and has an obvious passion for the game. However, I have to take issue with one aspect of her article this evening written in the aftermath of the Zimbabwe/Bangladesh test series.

In it she says that:

“Zimbabwe’s squaring of a series does not even put them on the Test rankings. They will need to play a minimum of eight matches in a particular period to qualify. If all their tours go as planned, they will play eight Tests this year and probably take up a position below Bangladesh. That is probably where they deserve to sit.”

Aside from the fact that Zimbabwe at present has 266 ICC test ranking points to Bangladesh’s 134 (and is only not on the rankings because we have not played the requisite matches) I disagree that Zimbabwe “deserves to sit” below Bangladesh.

On the contrary I think that Zimbabwean cricketers and cricket supporters deserve much better for a variety of reasons. Firstly, Zimbabwe is in fact potentially much stronger than this in terms of players which are eligible to play and Zimbabwean coaches.

The addition of Tatenda Taibu, Sean Ervine, Craig Ervine and Gary Ballance to the squad would strengthen it massively.

This may seem pie in the sky but I use the word “eligible” specifically – all are qualified to play for Zimbabwe.
In other words in different circumstances, in different conditions they would all play for Zimbabwe.

I am not blind to the fact that Taibu has “retired” and Ballance is hoping to play for England but I have no doubt that all would still play for Zimbabwe if the right conditions were created.

Likewise, we have such a wealth of cricketing coaching talent in the likes of Andy Flower, Davy Houghton, Duncan Fletcher and Paul Strang who are coaching leading teams elsewhere but who also love Zimbabwe with a passion and want to contribute to the game at home.

All who love the game of cricket in Zimbabwe do not deserve the climate which has made these players and coaches look elsewhere.

I have no doubt that if this wealth of talent and experience was fused with the superb budding young talents of the likes of Richmond Mutumbami Zimbabwe would become a strong cricketing nation — no longer a so called minnow.

That is our rightful place in world cricket.

Secondly, even from players who are eligible and available this was not the strongest team we can field.

Tino Mawoyo was sorely missed and the selection of a still injured Regis Chakabva over Sean Williams weakened our batting.

Williams has the highest first class average by some margin of ALL the current Zimbabwean players (43,1 – see the player averages on the cricinfo site), had a superb 2012/13 season for the Tuskers with an average of over 62 and was one of the few players who did reasonably well batting in the West Indies in his maiden Test match.
Indeed, it simply boggles the mind that he has only played one Test for Zimbabwe.

The failure to give our best batsman in the West Indies, Craig Ervine, a central contract forced him to choose club cricket in Ireland which pays considerably more than he would have got in Zimbabwe, and seriously weakened the batting line-up.

David Coltart is the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.

The Zimbabwean

By Chris Ncube

1 May 2013

James Bayanai’s commitment to empowering thousands of local young people was recognised internationally when he was selected to be part of the upcoming 2013 Young Leaders Unite Forum.

During the event, which is one of the world’s prime youth forums, young people will explore problems affecting their peers worldwide and proffer solutions.

Voices United, the international non-profit organisation, is arranging the exclusive event scheduled for Miami, United States on June 23 and 30.

The 30-year-old’s participation in the programme will enable him to enhance his leadership skills as well as give him an opportunity to work with peers from around the globe to address the global challenges facing youth.

Bayanai was selected for his role in international youth advocacy and for spearheading social projects in Zimbabwe.

“My visit will enhance social interaction and integration between local youth and their counterparts internationally,” he told The Zimbabwean.

Katie Christie, Founder and Director of Voices United, said while there were many qualified applicants for the young leaders united forum, Bayanai was chosen for his outstanding leadership potential and impressive commitment to community action.

“We are thrilled to be working with such an outstanding group of young leaders and eager for them to begin working together. We are looking forward to helping them develop their skills as leaders and connecting them to other impressive young leaders,” she said.

Voices United will cover Bayanai’s accommodation, meals, activities and transportation while local company, Oceane Collection Perfumes, has sponsored his flight to Miami.

Bayanai is in the process of building the first community library in Chirumanzu after forming the Zimbabwe Youth Development Foundation Trust in 2011 to source books from various international organisations.

ZYDFT has distributed more than 30,000 books to local rural schools. It also runs a rural scholarship, which is benefiting 25 disadvantaged children.

Bayananai’s initiatives have earned him invitations to a number of international forums where he has shared the stage with His Royal Highness, the Prince of Norway, Prince Haakon, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, local Education, Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart and prominentfootballer, Clarence Seedorf.

News Day

By Silas Nkala

29 April 2013

EDUCATION minister David Coltart has called for urgent government intervention to address what he called the marginalisation of the San community found mostly in Matabeleland South.

Coltart on Friday met Davy Ndlovu, who is the director of the Creative Arts and Education Development Association (Caeda), and other San community leaders in Bulawayo to discuss a number of grievances.

Caeda is a non-governmental organisation that advocates for the rights of San people in Zimbabwe.

“I met Ndlovu on Friday and he told me of the San people’s concerns, especially on education, and I can say they are marginalised in many issues,” Coltart told NewsDay.

“I agreed to visit them in their community to hear and see their problems.”

The minister said he was happy that the new constitution recognised all languages in Zimbabwe and this would in future ensure that Koisan language would be taught at schools.

“After meeting them (community leaders), I understood their concerns and would be visiting the area soon,” he said.

“It is a marginalised community and we will have to assist them with policy implementation to address their problems on education.”

The community leaders told Coltart that they wanted their language — Tshwao — to be included in the school curriculum among other minority languages.

One of the community leaders, Miziyabo Tshuma, said they also wanted the government to assist them to send their children to school.

“We are not able to send our children to school because most of us are not working and did not attain any education,” he said.

“We ask the government to come to our rescue and help send our children to school.”

On Wednesday, the delegation met Water Resources Management and Development minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo to inform him about the water problems affecting their villages in Tsholotsho.

New Zimbabwe

By Brian Paradza

26 April 2013

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai should be ashamed of the 18 percent pass rate recorded in the November 2012 Ordinary Level schools exams, Mavambo Kusile leader Simba Makoni has said.

Makoni said the two leaders’ silence on the crisis in the country’s schools was illustrative of their contempt for the education sector and a lack of interest in the future of the country.

Results from last year’s O’Level exams showed that 81,6 percent of the 172,698 students who sat for the examinations failed to pass at least five subjects with grade C or better.

Only 31,767 of that number were successful, translating to a pass rate of 18,4 percent.

Said Makoni: “I went to school in Rhodesia, and from that time up to about 1992, the competition at O level was not on how many did well; it was based on how many passed with a first classgrades because all the classes passed.

“The competition among St Augustine, St Ignatius, Kutama, Goromonzi High and Fletcher High was not on how many students passed five subjects; it was how many passed twelve subjects with grades A and B.

“Today we discuss how many scrap through with five Ordinary levels. And we still claim we have the best education in Africa at 18 percent pass rate!

The former finance minister said the Zimbabwe’s education sector has continued to slide backwards over the years with South Africa and other African countries scoring better results over the years.

“I was in South Africa recently. You know matrix examinations have always been a disaster, but they are a disaster at 36 percent not at 18 percent and that does not touch the hearts of our so-called leaders.

“How many of you wrote anything from Robert Mugabe about the 18 percent pass rate? Zero, How many of you wrote anything from Prime Minister Tsvangirai about the 18 percent pass rate? Zero. They are not worried about that, yet this is our future”, said Makoni.

Education Minister David Coltart blamed the disappointing results on the “extreme crisis in education experienced between approximately 2005 and 2009”.

“I’m afraid that this was inevitable. There’s been so much chaos in Zimbabwe’s education system in the last decade that it was inevitable that children’s education would be affected in this way,” Coltart said in February.

“If you don’t have teachers, if you don’t have textbooks, ultimately literacy and numeracy proficiency drops, and that is eventually reflected in examination results.”

He however added that the only positive development was that more and more children were sitting examinations after a decade-long economic crisis devastated the education sector and led to massive drop-outs and teacher flight.

 

The Herald

By Herald Reporter

24 April 2013

Government is struggling to pay examiners who marked last year’s public examinations with the markers still to get 60 percent of their allowances. Financial constraints within the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council have resulted in its failure to pay Grade Seven, Ordinary and Advanced Level markers. These are ordinarily supposed to be paid seven days after the end of marking.

The examiners were only given between 40 and 45 percent of their allowances in January and are yet to be given the remainder four months after marking ended.

Zimsec director Mr Esau Nhandara yesterday said Government had not released the US$1,5 million Grade Seven grant to the examination body, resulting in its failure to pay thousands of examiners who participated in the marking.

Zimsec does not charge pupils fees for Grade Seven examinations. Government meets the costs.

However, Treasury has not released funds, creating cash-flow problems and forcing Zimsec to divert “reserved money” for the examinations to take place. Mr Nhandara said they received US$550 000 from Treasury last week but would pay the examiners after getting the full grant.

“All in all we need a figure of about US$2,1 million to pay all the markers from Grade Seven to A Level, but we are expecting a total of US$1,5 million from Treasury,” he said. The markers were supposed to be paid between 90 cents and US$1,20 per script marked.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart yesterday said he would inquire from the Finance Ministry when the money would be paid.

“Who wants to work for nothing? We have been used and abused and now the June examinations are about to be written without us getting last year’s allowances,” a marker said.

“I do not think many people will dedicate themselves to that exercise because at the end of the day you get nothing.”

The marking of the examinations was delayed, as the examination body was waiting for Treasury to release the money to pay the markers. The marking only commenced after Cabinet ordered Zimsec to use its own resources. Over the years markers and the examination body have clashed over delays in paying them the allowances.

News Day

By Phillip Chidavaenzi

22 April 2013

EDUCATION Minister David Coltart yesterday hailed the restoration of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe following the re-dedication of St John the Baptist Cathedral in Mutare two weeks ago after the deposition of the renegade bishop Elson Madhodha Jakazi.

The rededication service, which was held on April 6, was led by the Bishop of the Diocese of Manicaland and Dean of the Province of Central Africa, Reverend Julius Makoni and the Archbishop of the Province, the Most Reverend Albert Chama.

“For all the terrible things that still happen in Zimbabwe it is important for us to recall some of the ways the good Lord has answered our prayers. In my mind one of the most heartwarming answers to prayer this year has been the restoration of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe,” Coltart wrote on his Facebook page.

He said the turn of events confirmed God’s faith after a hard trial that “has refined and strengthened” the Anglican Church in the country.

Over 3 000 Anglican faithfuls marched from the city centre to St John the Baptist Cathedral to witness its re-dedication.

The rededication was a consecration rite through which the parishioners sought to cleanse the cathedral after years of alleged defilement.

Jakazi withdrew from the Anglican Church’s province of Central Africa in 2007 and, with the assistance of the police, removed church members who had remained loyal to Bishop Chad Gandiya. Jakazi forcibly took over the church’s schools, hospitals, clinics and orphanages in the province.

The development set the stage for a bruising court battle that was eventually won by Reverend Julius Makoni.

The Independent

By Benjamin Chitate

19 April 2013

This opinion piece is prompted by Pedzisai Ruhanya’s article in the Zimbabwe Independent last week headlined “Tsvangirai-Ncube pact game-changer” in which he urges forces opposed to President Robert Mugabe to form a coalition in the next general elections.

The fact that politicians and analysts continue to wish for a united front against Zanu PF in the coming elections proves that unity of purpose is a noble idea.

However, the unity being called for remains wishful thinking for as long as MDC leader Welshman Ncube is not interested in such an arrangement.

The best way is to leave it to the people to decide, even though analysts and commentators should be allowed to continue wishing and hoping.

My humble opinion though, is that it is Ncube who is the stumbling block to any efforts to unite the two parties. Some years back, before Arthur Mutambara was dethroned, Ncube and the late Gibson Sibanda addressed a rally at which the two took turns to tell the people that the 2008 mistake of supporting Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn leader Simba Makoni’s presidential bid will never be repeated because the people of Matabeleland will have their own candidate standing in the elections.

That seems to have stuck into Ncube’s head, even though he knows any unification talks or negotiations around a united front will suggest MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai as the candidate.

All Ncube wants to prove therefore is that a Ndebele candidate can win enough votes to spoil the chances for Tsvangirai and retain Mugabe in power.

In Ncube’s heart and mind, he doesn’t mind Mugabe ruling for life, and hopes that by the time Mugabe dies, his party will have grown enough to take over.

The argument by the MDC led by Ncube today for refusing to engage in a coalition with anybody is that their 2011 congress resolved that the party will field its own candidate in elections which were then expected to take place in 2011 as if the so-called resolutions were cast in stone.

A closer analysis of the same resolutions will show that Ncube had been singing the same tune well before the congress.

I had a discussion with a few colleagues from the “MDC-Green” — a discussion which was balanced and they did not want to blame anyone, but the ego and selfishness displayed by leaders from both parties. To use one of the colleagues’ words: “Our problem (me and you) is that we are victims of our leaders’ selfishness and egos. Imagine how strong the MDC would be if we were still a single force. It’s so sad. But mark my words, one day we will get there and one day we will be a united force and this country will be better.”

One of them blamed it all on Ncube whom he accused of being rigid. I completely agreed with this opinion from within the rank and file of MDC-Green because Ncube himself had told me several times in e-mails or Facebook exchanges that his party will not move from its congress resolution to field its own presidential candidate.

The last time Ncube shared his position on a possible coalition with me was on  January 3 this year when he said in a Facebook message to me: “This year I have absolutely no intention of participating in any debate to do with coalitions.”

This is evidence of the difficulties in the practicalities of forming a pact which Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, David Coltart and Tendai Biti alluded to in the past — Ncube is just not interested, even though some in his own party are.

On his part, Tsvangirai has publicly said he is willing to engage with other pro-democracy forces which are willing to work together to defeat Mugabe, and the same position has been stated by the MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora and several other officials.

But the Ncube camp’s resistance is based on the fact that the MDC-T changed positions after an initial agreement between the negotiators on the allocation of seats to be contested in the 2008 elections, a position that I find childish.

Childish because that decision to review the allocation of seats was made by the MDC-T national executive and national council, whose mandate was to give the final approval of things that had been agreed in negotiations. So, did the then MDC-Mutambara (MDC-M) expect the MDC-T national executive and council to just rubber stamp the agreement without giving an opinion?

And the 2008 elections proved the MDC-T right because the results proved the fact that the negotiators had been more generous to the smaller of the two MDC parties.

Had the MDC-M accepted the MDC-T position, more of their officials, including Mutambara and Ncube themselves, would have been elected into parliament, and probably some of the 8% votes that Makoni got could have been in the united MDC’s favour.

True, Tsvangirai may have won an outright victory in 2008 if the parties were united, but that was not to be because of ill-informed decisions by the MDC-M, in which Ncube as the secretary-general was a major player.

Now it is up to those in MDC-Green who really believe in a united front against Zanu PF to do what their consciences tell them to. The problem seems to be that some of them fear Ncube for his education.

Ncube’s stance exposes him as an unreasonable and unforgiving man.

As said by one MDC-T official in a recent exchange, if Ncube had facts to prove that the MDC-T was insincere in the 2008 negotiations those are the facts he could have brought to the negotiating table, but he knows very well that the MDC-T’s review of allocation of seats was vindicated by the election results themselves.

So the easiest thing for him to do is to blame MDC-T and Tsvangirai for the 2008 failure to form a pact.

Ncube himself knows very well that Zimbabwe is better off without Mugabe, and that Tsvangirai is the only person at the moment with the greatest chance of beating Mugabe in an election, having done so in 2008, but he cannot stand the idea of helping him (Tsvangirai) to the throne.

The biggest mistake Ncube and those within his party encouraging him not to entertain hopes of a coalition is that they are failing to read the mood of the people calling for a coalition and think these calls are coming from people who think Ncube’s support base is growing.

One of Ncube’s aides wrote: “The panic around the whole country as well as in the diaspora around this quest for reunification tells us there is something that we are doing right and the MDC-T people are afraid that their horse will lose this election again.”

My conclusion is that because of his personal hate for Tsvangirai, Ncube has cleverly played around the ignorance among his fellow colleagues in the party to promote his personal agenda as evidenced by his mobilisation of people to support a congress resolution he wanted and then treating the same resolution as if it is cast in concrete.

Chitate writes from New Zealand.

News Day

By News Day Reporter

18 April 2013

WASHINGTON – Zimbabwean Sports minister David Coltart has condemned the bombing of a sports event in the United States of America and offered profound condolences to the people of Boston, following the twin bombing on Monday at the Boston Marathon.

Report by VOA

The bombing left three people dead and at least 140 injured, including children.An eight year-old boy who was at the event to watch his father race is among those killed in the explosions.

“We condemn unreservedly those responsible for this dastardly act. Every bombing is horrific but the bombing of a sporting event is particularly callous. People participate in and watch sporting events to go beyond and above politics and all the other issues which cause so much division of the world; and so the targeting of a sporting event in this manner is particularly grotesque,” Coltart said in a statement.

The explosions detonated in quick succession near the Boston Marathon finish line transforming “a scene of athletic celebration into bloody chaos,” the Boston Globe reported.

The blast took place after the elite marathoners had completed the race, but scores of others were still running.
23-year-old Ethiopia native Lelisa Desisa Benti was the men’s winner of the 117th Boston Marathon, with 32-year-old Kenyan Rita Jeptoo winning the women’s
division.

No suspects have yet been arrested although United States President Barack Obama, who stopped short of calling the incident a terrorist attack, vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“We still do not know who did this or why. And people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. But, make no mistake; we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this, we will find out why they did this,” said Obama. “Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice.”

Ironically the race had started with a minute of silence for the 26 Sandy Hook massacre victims who were gunned down last year at an elementary school by a teenager in Newtown, Connecticut. Some of the victims’ families had also taken part in the marathon.