News Day

By Everson Mushava

3 March 2013

The government has launched investigations into reports that 100 pupils at Mavhudzi High School in Nyazura, Manicaland Province, were allegedly subjected to HIV tests without the consent of their parents.

Teachers at the school also complained about “massive corruption and nepotism” at the school, which they blamed on the headmaster Elliot Chimbade.

A senior teacher, Nesu Musa, allegedly presided over the tests during the third term in 2011 and the objective remains unknown.

Yesterday she refused to comment on the matter, saying it was being dealt with by the regional education office.

The scandal was exposed in a seven-page petition dated September 12, 2012 signed by teachers and addressed to the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture officials in Nyazura.

Manicaland provincial education officers, only identified as Mushayabasa and Muusha, yesterday refused to comment on the matter, referring all questions to provincial education director Andrew Chigumira.

Efforts to contact Chigumira were fruitless as his office telephone was not being answered.

Muusha was head of the investigation team which also included Mushayabasa that was dispatched to the school in October last year after the petition was handed to the provincial education office.

Education minister David Coltart said he had not seen the petition, but promised that the ministry would investigate the matter.

“Parents should be consulted before pupils are sent for HIV tests,” Coltart said. “The ministry will investigate the matter.”
Chimbade admitted a petition was written, but downplayed it saying the ministry had already resolved the matter.

“The issue had been resolved by the ministry, all is well at the school,” he said.

But sources said although the petition sparked an investigation by the ministry, its findings had not been made public.

On Thursday the probe team from the provincial office visited the school to brief senior staff on their findings and recommendations regarding the petition.

“After the district received the petition, a team of investigators led by education officers from Mutare was dispatched,” said a source.

“After that another team from the regional office led by Muusha was dispatched. This team carried out interviews with teachers and other staff. Auditors were also brought in.”

According to one of the pupils who spoke to NewsDay on condition of anonymity, they were told that the nurses who carried out the tests were from a government hospital.

“We were told the nurses who took the blood were from a government hospital in Rusape,” said the pupil.

“We were told that all of us were found HIV negative.”

A meeting of teachers early last year was allegedly told one of the pupils had been found to be positive. Teachers reportedly demanded answers from Chimbade on whether the pupil who was found to be positive had been informed.

The teachers also accused Chimbade of filling vacant positions at the school with his relatives.

The Sunday Mail

By Fatima Bulla

3 March 2013

The Zimbabwe Boxing Board of Control yesterday held their inaugural meeting clearly highlighting their awareness of the daunting task lying ahead to lift the sport out of the doldrums.

Paul Nenjerama, chairing a new eight member board, said the main challenge was to lay down structures that will set the ball rolling as they seek to breathe in some oxygen into the game that had been suffocated by administrative boobs fraudulent medical reports. “Before this meeting I managed to meet with the (sports) minister (David Coltart) and highlighted our concern on the need for resources to be poured in our coffers.

“As such we have been directed to the director general of the Sports and Recreation Commission, Charles Nhemachena with whom we will discuss these issues. This will also enable us to establish a secretariat to run our day to day business. We need a solid foundation to be able to remain for generations to come even after our three years in office have lapsed,” Nenjerama said.

 Nenjerama said there is need for a database of promoters, managers, boxers, referees and medical staff to be drawn to ensure professional administration of the sport.

“We have also discussed the need to have an all stakeholders meeting and this Wednesday we will meet for further consultations on that. On our agenda we also looked at the need for a secretariat which will run the day to day business,” Nenjerama said.

The board has to build a somehow battered image with other boxing countries like Namibia and South Africa where some Zimbabwean boxers were sent without proper medical examination and had to be expelled just before matches.

The new board whose term ends on January 31 2016, includes former prominent boxer Alexander Kwangwari and promoters Lorraine Muringi and Ed Hammond.

Other members of the board are former SRC board member Tsitsi Muzuva, former national team doctor Farai Muchena, media practitioner Gilbert Munetsi and Charles Dzimba, the former general manager of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone VI.

Sunday News 

By Vusumuzi Dube

3 March 2013

Government has recruited over 22 000 unqualified temporary teachers in a bid to solve the critical shortage of teachers in the country, a situation that is impacting negatively on the overall performance within the education sector.

This comes in the backdrop of a very low pass rate recorded in the last years Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) Ordinary and Advanced Level pass rate.

In an interview with Sunday News on Friday, Education, Sports, and Culture Minister, Senator David Coltart, said the number of unqualified teachers in the system was a cause for concern especially considering that teacher training institutions were failing to meet the demand for teachers in the country.

He said well teacher training institutions were releasing an average of 6000 teachers the problem was that over 75 percent of these did not make into the industry as they immediately left the country in pursuit of greener pastures. “The number of unqualified temporary teachers in the country is very worrying, right now we have over 22 000 unqualified teachers within the system, the most affected areas being in the rural areas where most of the qualified teachers shun teaching in these areas but opt for urban centers.”

“I must admit that we are battling to get qualified personnel for us to at least offer quality services in our schools but this is frustrating by the fact that while 6000 teachers graduate at our teacher training schools over 75 pecent of these do not even make it to the schools,” said Minister Coltart.

The Minister said one of the few ways to address this problem was to train the unqualified temporary teachers themselves to ensure that they at least know the basics of educations and further ensure that students were not let down by the unqualified personnel.

He said the most affected areas were in Maths and Science subjects.

News Day

1 March 2013

THE newly appointed Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) board met with Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister Senator David Coltart yesterday where it was presented with its mandate for the three years that it will be in office.

Six principal policy objectives and goals for the incoming board were identified, chief among them, the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone VI Youth Games which Zimbabwe will host next year. The other objectives include the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) Hockey World Series; an action plan for 2016 Olympics and Paralympics improvement of administration of national sports associations and government policy on strategic sports and the integration of sport to Zimbabwe’s education curriculum. In a statement yesterday, Coltart said the SRC board’s immediate task was to appoint the games’ local organising committee and the games’ chief executive officer as soon as possible.

The Herald

1 March 2013

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart has come under fire from teachers for barring them from participating in the referendum set for March 16. Teachers yesterday described Minister Coltart as arrogant and insensitive to the plight of the restive educators.

Minister Coltart said teachers should not participate in the referendum as polling officers because that would disturb the learning process as the educators would leave classes for some days.

He argued that Government should look for manpower from other civil service departments adding that his ministry would present its request to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission soon.

The referendum will be held on a Saturday and teachers usually constitute the bulk of civil servants that are used as polling officers during voting processes.

Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive Mr Sifiso Ndlovu said participating in national events was a privilege for civil servants as they were paid extra allowances.

He said teachers would participate in the referendum to augment their low income. “Minister Coltart should not make such a sweeping statement because that extra dollar that comes our way from participating in that process counts,” he said.

“No one, including Coltart, should take away that privilege and moreover these should be personal decisions that have got nothing to do with the administrator.

“For him to bar us sounds unfair and most people might have enrolled or have indicated that they will take part in the process and no one should refuse them that opportunity.”

The lowest paid teacher is getting US$296 in a country the poverty datum line is over US$600.
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe chief executive Mr Manuel Nyawo said Minister Coltart wanted teachers to continue suffering.
“He should be pushing to ensure we get a decent salaries instead of being insensitive,” he said.

“His message is that teachers should continue suffering and he is missing a point because teachers should not remain in those classes on empty stomachs.”

Minister Coltart said the week the referendum would never improve the country’s pass rates, which dropped significantly this year.
“What we need is food on the table and this will be the time to get something on the referendum,” he said.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Mr Raymond Majongwe said teachers should be allowed to make independence decisions.

“This is a national event and although he is making his suggestions as an administrator he should know that teachers are an important group when it comes to such events,” Mr  Majongwe said.

The Herald

By Takudzwa Chitsiga

1 March 2013

THREE World Boxing Union-sanctioned matches pitting Zimbabweans against two Zambians and a Ghanaian have now been confirmed.
The fights will take place on June 29 in Harare, the WBU confirmed. Monalisa

Sibanda will take on WBU female world welterweight champion, Gift Amanua Ankrah of Ghana, while the other match will be a WBU junior lightweight world title fight between Felix Venganayi of Zimbabwe and Tom Chisanga of Zambia.

The third match will be a WBU light heavyweight world title showdown between Zimbabwe’s Wesley Mcdade and Sam Chisanga of Zambia.
Preparations for the bouts are gathering momentum as the Deltaforce Sports Trust, who manage the three local boxers, met with the new boxing board chairman, Paul Nenjerama, yesterday to discuss several issues.

David Musonda, Delta Force Sports Trust chairman, said they wanted to know when the Zimbabwe National Boxing Control Board could license them to allow the boxers to take part in the events.

“We are looking forward to hosting a big event but our problem is that there are no boxers and promoters licences yet,” said Musonda.
“The new chairman is still awaiting for a hand-over from the former board, which was led by Richard Hondo, so we sought audience with him and we are happy with the response we got from him. The chairman took our concerns into consideration and he knows that it is a great privilege to host such a high-profile event and we can not let the opportunity slip away. For us to host the event, we need clearance from the Zimbabwe National Boxing Control Board.”

Musonda also feels boxing should be considered when the funds allocated to sport are given out by the Government. “The ministry should ensure that we have a budget reserved for boxing so that the new board can have somewhere to start from. There was no secretariat for the past 31 years and we look forward to having some improvements for the sport from the new board,” said Musonda. Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart appointed the new boxing board in January.

News Day

By Nduduzo Tshuma

28 February 

POLICE have to effectively deal with allegations of tribalism leveled against their officers or risk losing the “little” credibility the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)  still has, according to analysts.

The comments made yesterday followed reports that Bulawayo Central MP Dorcas Sibanda had filed a complaint with police bosses over the alleged tribal abuse of her employee at a bottle store in Ntabazinduna by three police officers based in Mbembesi.

The three police officers reportedly visited the bottle store for drinks and accused the bar lady of only playing Ndebele music.

The officers allegedly went on to hurl unprintable insults at the bar lady, saying she was not educated.

Advocacy group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) last December also accused a group of police officers from Bulawayo of forcing them to speak in Shona.

The police officers allegedly told the women that “all Ndebeles were killed during Gukurahundi”.

Analysts warned that the complaints were potentially damaging and could spark hostilities against the ZRP.

“If the police do not do anything to the satisfaction of the people, it means that the people will lose the little confidence and credibility that they are left with,” said Dumisani Nkomo, a political analyst. “If the situation is not handled properly, people will take matters in their own hands.”

Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association co-ordinator Rodrick Fayayo said the issue had always been a burning one to residents.

“The residents no longer have confidence in the system. That is why we are advocating for all languages to be accorded the status of official languages in the new constitution,” he said. “This is a ticking time bomb where people will end up taking matters into their own hands.”

Another political analyst, Effie Ncube, echoed similar sentiments, saying failure by the police to deal with such issues on time would result in the people losing trust in the ZRP.

“The issue reflects that we have a big problem in the political leadership,” he said.

“They have been silent on these contestations around tribal issues. An example is that of a Zanu PF legislator who demanded that (Education minister) David Coltart speaks in Shona (in Parliament). The leadership should be able to live beyond tribal contestations.”

The Zimbabwean

By Mxolisi Ncube

28 February 2013

David Coltart, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, recently spelt out the six-point 2013 mandate of the recently appointed Sports and  Recreation Board.

The principal policy objectives and goals of the Board include organising Zone VI Youth Games, the Hockey World Series of February 2014, mapping an action plan for 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, coming up with new sport regulations and the tightening of discipline and improvement of administration of NSAs.

It is also tasked with mapping government policy on strategic sports and the integration of Sport to Zimbabwe’s Education curriculum

Zimbabwe will host the Zone VI Youth Games in December 2014 and the immediate task of the board is to appoint an Organising Committee and a CEO and make the decision on whether Bulawayo or Harare should be the host city.

“I am dissatisfied with the comparative analysis and costings done in this regard to date and urgent further work needs to be done,” said Coltart, who is also the Senator for Bulawayo South.

“Once the host city has been chosen, the various venues will need to be refurbished and it is imperative that this work be commenced in 2013 and completed well before the start of the games. It goes without saying that this is the greatest sporting event Zimbabwe has hosted since the All Africa Games in 1995 and it is imperative that it be well organised.”

Zimbabwe will also host one of the Hockey World Series Tournament in February 2014, subject to its preparedness to rehabilitate Harare’s Magamba Hockey Stadium in Harare.

The Minister of Finance has since confirmed that Government would provide the funds.

The SRC was also tasked with urgently developing a strategic plan in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee with regards to the Olympics, which should include the early identification of potential medal winners and the mobilisation of support for them and their respective associations.

The Board needs to be more proactive in enforcing a higher standard of administration and financial accountability in all National Sports Associations.

“Whilst Government is committed to respecting the right of all Zimbabweans to promote and develop all sporting disciplines, Government itself needs to be more strategic in identifying and supporting those sporting disciplines which Zimbabwe has a comparative advantage in, and which can assist in creating jobs and generating wealth,” added Senator Coltart.

“We increasingly need to recognise that ‘sport is business’ and strategically direct Government and Corporate sector support for certain sports. Accordingly the SRC needs to advise Government on say 10 key sporting disciplines which we need to focus on it particular. Tied to this is the development of a strategic plan to invest in these disciplines with a view to contributing to Zimbabwe’s GDP.”

Implementation of the recommendations made by the Nziramasanga Commission regarding the development of a more vocationally-oriented curriculum was also identified key component of sports development.

“Closely tied to this is the need to recognise that sport needs to be part of a vocationally oriented curriculum. Key, strategically targeted, sports must be taught in schools not on the periphery but as an integral and fundamental part of the curriculum. In this regard the SRC needs to take an active part in the review and reform of the curriculum.”

New Zimbabwe

28 February 2013

TEACHERS’ unions have slammed Education Minister David Coltart’s move to block them from working in next month’s referendum saying their members should be allowed to make extra cash since the government refuses to pay them a living wage.

Zimbabwe holds a constitutional referendum on March 16 and teachers, who make up the bulk of the state’s estimated 230,000 employees, have traditionally worked as polling officers during national votes.

But Coltart was quoted by the Herald Wednesday saying he would seek to block teachers from taking part in the referendum arguing this would disrupt learning around the country.

On Thursday the minister, however, said the publication misrepresented the ministry’s position over the issue.

“At no time did either I or any member of my staff state that there would be a total ban on teachers participating in the referendum. What we have said is that there should be minimal disruption of the education sector and to that extent qualified teachers should only be used as a last resort to ensure that as many of them as possible remain as long as possible at their posts in their classrooms,” the minister said in a statement.

“We cannot afford the remainder of the term being disrupted with thousands of qualified teachers leaving their posts to be trained. The recently released O Level results are a reminder that the education sector remains in crisis and children’s education remains under threat. Accordingly it is in our national interest not to disturb their education any more as far as possible.”

Still, teachers’ unions said the ministry should have consulted them first and insisted that their members could not be stopped from taking part in national events.

“The minister should not stop teachers from participating in a national event as that would create a feeling of exclusion,” said Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) chief executive officer, Sifiso Ndlovu.

 “To say the referendum would disrupt the learning process is a flimsy excuse because we have always participated in national events and teachers have made contingency measures for the time lost.

“What the minister says is not plausible at all. Some educators want to take part in this exercise to get some pennies. This is a once off opportunity for teachers to make extra cash especially in this difficult economic situation.”

Statement by David Coltart

28 February 2013

Regrettably the Herald has distorted the Ministry of Education’s policy  and what I said regarding deployment of teachers during the referendum by publishing a wholly misleading headline today. At no time did either I or any member of my staff state that there would be a total ban on teachers participating in the Referendum. What we have said is that there should be minimal dispruption of the education sector and to that extent qualified teachers should only be used as a last resort to ensure that as many of them as possible remain as long as possible at their posts in their classrooms.

In a letter released by Permanent Secretary Mrs Constance Chigwamba on the 25th February 2013 our policy position is stated clearly and I quote:

“MOESAC will only be able to release members for the referendum to meet the requirements of ZEC at provincial and District levels. It is important that Education service delivery is not compromised and as such a staggered approach to the release of education personnel should be adopted to minimise impact on teaching and learning. In this regard releases should start with non teaching staff ending with teaching staff for the voting process. In the interest of service delivery the Ministry should be operational during the period under consideration. This implies that there should be minimal disruption to lessons.”

We cannot afford the remainder of the term being disrupted with thousands of qualified teachers leaving their posts to be trained. The recently released O level results are a reminder that the education sector remains in crisis and children’s education remains under threat. Accordingly it is in our national interest not to disturb their education any more as far as possible.

We recognise that it may be inevitable that some teachers will have to utilised but our plea is that civil servants be drawn from other Ministries first, that we utilise non teaching staff from MOSEAC second, that we utilise unqualified teaching staff third, and that we only draw down on qualified teaching staff as a last resort.

I hope that the Herald will set the record straight.

Senator David Coltart
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture
28th February 2013