The Chronicle

By Vusumuzi Dube

26 January 2013

THE recent decline in the 2012 Advanced Level pass rate has been attributed to the examinations being difficult with reports that the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) tried to reduce the minimum examination pass mark, a move that was blocked by Government.

This comes amid revelations that Government will this year tighten monitoring mechanisms in the education sector to ensure that students perform much better.

The country’s pass rate for 2012 marginally dropped to 82,09 percent from 85,2 percent the previous year according to statistics released by Zimsec last Thursday.

The number of students who sat for A’ Level exams last year increased by 45,9 percent to 36 678 compared to 2011 where they were 25 139 candidates.

According to the figures, females performed better than their male counterparts, as they recorded a pass rate of 83,78 percent compared to the male figure of 80,83 percent.

The highest passed subject was Food Science with 96,95 percent, followed by Ndebele at 94,7 percent while the bottom two subjects were Geography with 54,27 percent and Accounting with 38,27 percent.

In an interview with Sunday News Education, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said he had personally issued an instruction to the examinations council not to decrease the minimum benchmark, as this would have a negative bearing on the country’s education sector.

“Yes, I am obviously worried on this decline but I personally gave an instruction to Zimsec not to meddle with standards because we want an honest assessment of how we performed so that we know what we have to do for the next examination period.

“Let’s not forget that we are slowly emerging from the 2005 — 2008 period where our students hardly had access to any textbooks, teachers were hardly in class and the country’s education standards were declining. However this decline must not be taken as a true reflection of the education standard as a whole,” said Minister Coltart.

He said his ministry was working round the clock to help revive the nation’s education standards, which included attracting back qualified teachers who had left the profession.

“Right now we have managed to bring back over 15 000 teachers  into the system. We will also be going ahead with our teacher retraining programme so as to help improve the overall service delivery and our students get the best possible services,” said the minister.

He said there was also a problem where they had a high number of unqualified teachers in the system thus the need for them to roll out a training programme for these teachers.

“We have come up with a new computerised education management system that will be linked to all our district offices, where we will be constantly monitoring teachers and see that they are always in the classrooms,” said Minister Coltart.

News Day

25 January 2013

EDUCATION, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart yesterday named an eight-member Zimbabwe Board of Wrestling and Boxing Control board tasked with reviving the fortunes of the sport in the country.

The board is headed by educationist, former broadcaster and Annual National Sports Awards (Ansa) judges panel chairperson Paul Nenjarama. The new board, which has a three-year term that ends on January 31 2016, includes former prominent boxer Alexander Kwangwari and boxing 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 Rangarirai Charles Dzimba, the former general manager of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone VI. The new board takes over from the previous board led by Richard Hondo that had been in charge since 1980 before it was dissolved by Coltart in November last year. In a statement, Coltart said the new board was chosen after widespread consultations with the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) and various stakeholders involved in the sport.

“The Board has been arrived at after widespread consultations with the Sports and Recreation Commission and various Stakeholders involved in Boxing. I am pleased to announce my appointment of a new Zimbabwe National Boxing and Control Board in terms of Chapter 25:02 of the Boxing and Wrestling Control Act with effect from 1st February 2013. The Board’s tenure will last until the 31st of January 2016.” The new Board members were drawn from diverse experts in the field of Boxing, particularly administrators, former boxers, boxing coaches, boxing promoters and the medical profession.

Coltart said the new board will be mandated to revive boxing and to restore Zimbabwe as one of Africa’s top boxing nations. “I am confident that this new board will be able to resuscitate boxing in Zimbabwe and to restore Zimbabwe as one of Africa’s top boxing nations,” reads the statement.

“The state of boxing in Zimbabwe has been in dire straits with no functional and substantive board for over a decade. In the recent years boxing in Zimbabwe has been characterised by sporadic local tournaments and poor performances at international levels. The boxers have become inactive; hence it is virtually impossible to rank them to promote competitiveness. The urgent mandate of this new board is, therefore, to restore Zimbabwe as a top boxing nation by ensuring the re-emergence of the likes of Langton ‘Schoolboy’ Tinago, Proud ‘Kilimanjaro’ Chinembiri and Stix McLoud who made the nation proud by clinching international titles like the Commonwealth and the African Championships. ”

The Herald

By Augustine Hwata 

25 January 2013

Could the winds of change be finally blowing in the administration of local boxing? After more than 30 years at the helm, the Richard Hondo-led boxing board has been technically knocked out from the corridors of power with a new committee headed by Paul Nenjerama, assuming office.

Nenjerama, who is also the chairman of the judges’ panel for the Annual National Sports Persons of the Year Awards, heads the nine-member committee that was unveiled yesterday.

Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, yesterday also included Lorraine Muringi in the new structure.

Muringi made history when she became the first woman in Zimbabwe to acquire a boxing promoter’s licence back in 1985.

Back then, boxing was a male-dominated sport but Muringi made inroads through her Ring Boxing Stable.

Coltart has also appointed Farai Muchena, the owner of Hunyani Boxing Promotions, respected boxing trainer Ed Hammond, and Tsitsi Muzuva to the new structures.

Alex Kwangwari, journalist Gilbert Munetsi and Rangarirai Dzimba have also been appointed to the new board.

The new board will assume office on February 1, 2013, and their tenure will end on January 31, 2016. Coltart pushed out the previous board that had Hondo, Tobaiwa Mudede and Patrick Mukondiwa as the known members.

In November last year, Coltart dissolved the previous board that had been running the show for over three decades.

“I am pleased to announce my appointment of a new Zimbabwe National Boxing Board and Control in terms of the Chapter 25:02 of the Boxing and Wrestling Control Act with effect from February 1, 2013. The board’s tenure will last until January 31st 2016,” said Coltart in a statement.

The once popular sport of boxing had nosed-dived over the years with few tournaments being held and little achievements to write home about.

“The state of boxing in Zimbabwe has been in dire straits with no functional and substantive board for over a decade.

“In recent years, boxing has been characterised by sporadic local tournaments and poor performances at international levels.

“The boxers had become inactive, hence it is virtually impossible to rank them to promote competitiveness,” said Coltart

The Minister said the mandate of the new board is to restore Zimbabwe as a top boxing nation and revive the glory days of yesteryear boxers like Langton “Schoolboy” Tinago, Proud “ Kilimanjaro” Chinembiri, Stix Macloud and Zvenyika Arifonso.

In selecting the new board, the Sports Commission made consultations with stakeholders drawn from promoters, medical field, former boxers, trainers and sports administrators.

Yesterday, Barthlowmew Dendere, who headed the ad — oc Zimbabwe Boxing Committee that gave some of their recommendations to the Sports Commission, expressed confidence that the fortunes of the sport will start to improve.

“We see the coming of a new board as a positive step and it’s important to move forward. There is no need to pick squabbles now,” said Dendere.

The Herald

By Robson Sharuko 

25 Janaury 2013

ZIMBABWE Cricket yesterday rejected the Sports Commission’s controversial directive, on the appointment of national team selectors, saying it was a violation of their constitution, in breach of

their contractual obligations and in conflict with the International Cricket Council’s Articles of Association.

The Sports Commission, acting under the orders of the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, had directed that as of next Friday, only those who have played for the national teams would qualify to hold positions on the panel of selectors.

The ZC yesterday responded by saying that neither Coltart nor the Sports Commission had the legal capacity to force the organisation to embrace the directive.

The directive torched a storm in ZC, an organisation that has battled racial divisions in the past, with convenor of selectors, Givemore Makoni, charging that it was targeted at removing him from his post because he didn’t play for the national team.

Makoni claimed it was unfair for him to be kicked out of the panel of selectors, on the basis that he never played for the national team, without taking into consideration that his path into that team was blocked by hurdles planted by a sporting discipline that was pregnant with racial barriers.

Yesterday, ZC managing director, Wilfred Mukondiwa, officially wrote to Sports Commission director general, Charles Nhemachena, advising him that it was impossible for his organisation to implement the package of measures contained in the directive.

“Zimbabwe Cricket (‘ZC’) position on the directive is the following:
The constitution of ZC is registered with the Sport and Recreation Commission in terms of Section 29 of the Sport and Recreation Commission Act (Chapter 25:15)(‘The Act’). Subsection (7) of the Section provides that the constitution or rules or amendments, as the case may be, do not come into effect until they are registered in terms of Section 29. The constitution of ZC having been duly registered is effective and binding on the ZC and all the stakeholders.

The board of the ZC has, in terms of its constitution, registered in terms of the Act, appointed a national selection committee made up of two independent selectors, one of which is a convenor. The national head coach is also a member of the committee. The captain of the national team is also involved in selection but has no voting rights.

The effect of the directive is to require ZC to amend its lawfully registered constitution so as to oblige the board to stipulate the qualifications of the convenors as required by the directive. Simply complying with the directive, without amending the constitution, will not be competent. There will be no legal basis for reversing the actions of the board lawfully and constitutionally taken unless the constitution is itself amended.

There is presently no cause for the amendment of the constitution except the directive. The Commission cannot require the ZC to act unlawfully or outside its constitution. Moreover, ZC has entered into contracts with the current independent selectors which would be summarily terminated if the directive were to be implemented. ZC has no cause to terminate the contracts of the current selectors and has not made provision for the damages claimable by them in its budget for the breach of contracts that will be induced by implementing the directive. The contracts are due to subsist for a period of 12 months.

In terms of the Act, it does not appear that the Commission can require a national association to amend its constitution in such a manner as to determine the persons who shall take particular positions. That would appear to be micromanaging the national associations, which is not consistent with the manifest tenor of the Act. The Act empowers the Commission to provide a hands-off oversight role, except in case of a disciplinary nature. With respect, therefore, it appears that the Commission has no legal capacity to require ZC to do what its directive demands. ZC’s position is based on a reading following provisions of the Act which the SRC and the Minister may be purporting to rely upon.

Section 19 of the Act is a broad statement of the objectives of the Commission. It does not prescribe any powers to enforce the objectives. The powers have to be found elsewhere in the Act. As such, the objects are to a large extent general and apply to the controlling of sport and recreational activities in the country. They set parameters within which the Commission defines policy and do not empower the Commission to do specific actions in the administration of any sport. That is left to national associations.

Section 21 of the Act, as read with the Second Schedule, gives the Commission administrative powers to carry out its functions as a corporate body and does not certainly allow the Commission to act as it seeks to do in the present instance. The power to prescribe qualifications of national selectors, or any of the office-bearers, is left to the national associations and is not a function of the Commission.

Section 23 gives the Minister the power to give written directives of a “general character” which are in the national interest. The directive of the Minister in the present matter is not of a general character and from the points raised below will be shown to be clearly not in national interest. In any event, such directives are supposed to have a financial effect on the operations of the Commission.

This is apparent from the requirement that the Commission should report the effect of the directive in its report in terms of the Audit and Exchequer Act (Chapter 23:03). It is therefore clear that the directives that the Minister may give, in terms of the Section, are administrative in character and do not have anything to do with the running of associations.

From a practical point of view, even if ZC were minded to implement the directive, there are a number of serious problems. The amendment of the constitution cannot be achieved before the 1st of February 2013 for obvious reasons relating to the notice periods required for the necessary meetings in terms of the constitution.”

Mukondiwa said there were other challenges, which were not entirely constitutional, which made it impossible to implement the Sports Commission’s directive and these were:
It is a known fact that the game of cricket, until about 2004, was largely a minority sport. Deliberate steps were taken to integrate the sport and achieve a multi-racial composition in the playing of the sport of cricket at all levels. That process is still on-going and some of the results are apparent in the upcoming crop of young players of all races who currently constitute the national team.

Because of the position described above, there are not enough persons of a multi-racial mix eligible and available to be appointed as national selectors if the directive were to be implemented.
The implementation of the directive in the present circumstances would result in the racially skewed composition of the selectors which prevailed in the period prior to the year 2004. That would be obviously turning back the hands of time to the pre-2004 era and undo the integration efforts and programmes that were beginning to bear fruit. The current pool of retired black players is still too small to provide the selectors that may be appointed in terms of the directive. The result will be obvious.

A quick review of the status of the retired black former players, who played for the national teams, proves the point made above. Below is a table profiling the 10 persons who would otherwise be eligible if the directive were to implemented. It is apparent that, from their location in the world and their current vocations, they would not be available or willing to be appointed national selectors at this point in time or in the near future.

H.K Olonga (living and working in the UK; E.Z Matambanadzo (living and working in the USA); M. Mbangwa (living and working as a cricket commentator in SA); D.T Mutendera (living and working in Zimbabwe. Employed by ZC as a development coach); B.T Watambwa (living and working in Belgium); T. Taibu (retired to church ministry); D.T Hondo (playing club cricket in UK and New Zealand); N.B Mahwire (attending university in SA); W. Mwayenga (living and working in Australia. Involved in coaching in Sydney); T.V Mufambisi (living and working in Zimbabwe. self-employed).

Some of the current national selectors are people who did not play for the national team at any stage and did not have the opportunity to do so. They have, however, been able to contribute tremendously to the development of cricket and have raised sterling cricketers such as Tatenda Taibu. It does not make sense to contend that the same people are not able to serve as convenors of selectors. Their record speaks for itself and it appears patently unjust to disqualify them on account of their previously disadvantaged status.

For comparative purposes, looking at South Africa, which is closer to home and whose circumstances at some stage were similar to us, it is worth noting that the following were appointed as national selectors in the post apartheid era when they had not played for their national team: Gerald Majola, Mustapha Khan. Morris Garda, Joubert Strydom, S. K Reddy, Anver Mall, Rushdie Majid, Haroon Lorgat, Winkie Ximba.

In view of the foregoing, ZC does not consider that it is proper for the Commission to require it to comply with the directive. Doing so would be in violations of the provisions of the ZC constitution and in breach of contractual obligations.

Further, the actions of the Commission, in that regard, would be in violation of Article 2.9(B) of the ICC Articles of Association which prohibit government interference in the management of the affairs of the member associations.”

Kubatana

25 January 2013

Kubatana interviewed Senator David Coltart  – Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture

Describe yourself in five words?

Determined, passionate, committed, patriotic, direct.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
To place my trust in the good lord.

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever done?
I tried to impeach Robert Mugabe in a parliament then dominated by Zanu PF.

What is your most treasured possession?
My family.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
The loss of my parents.

Do you have any strange hobbies?
I record rainfall in Matabeleland (which is almost non existent).

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
I am covered in moles.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Golf.

What have you got in your fridge?
Beer, wine, yoghurt, milk, cheese, butter . . . and yes chocolate!

What is your greatest fear?
Living a meaningless or purposeless life.

What have you got in your pockets right now?
My cell phone and wallet.

What is your favourite journey?
Travelling home to Bulawayo.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela.

When and where were you happiest?
At my eldest daughter’s wedding in the Matopos.

What’s your biggest vice?
Golf, although Zanu PF propagandists would say it was being a Selous Scout!

What were you like at school?
I was short and skinny. I was a team player but very much in the background.

What are you doing next?
I am going to another series of seemingly interminable meetings.

IRIN – Humanitarian News and Analysis

24 Janaury 2013

Zimbabwe’s education system, once regarded as the finest on the continent, was a casualty of the country’s economic meltdown in the 2000s, when it nearly collapsed – but lately there have been signs of recovery.

The education malaise was widely blamed on hyperinflation, which made teachers’ salaries worthless and funding for school materials and maintenance impossible.

But with economic reforms of 2009 and the establishment of a donor funding mechanism, the school system is seeing modest, gradual improvement. Still, vast challenges – from poor infrastructure to teacher shortages – remain.

A turnaround

David Coltart, the education minister, told IRIN that the country’s education crisis actually predates hyperinflation.

“Contrary to what many people think, the downward spiral began long before hyperinflation occurred. It started with the sector not getting as much as it got during the first 10 years of independence,” he said. Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.

The education system’s deterioration accelerated under the effects of hyperinflation. Then, in early 2009 the country ditched its local currency and adopted a multi-currency financial system using the US dollar, the Botswana pula and the South African rand, ending hyperinflation overnight.

By the time Coltart assumed his post in February 2009 – after the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, entered a government of national unity with President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party – the economy was beginning to turn around.

Coltart found the education system “chaotic”, with schools closed, teachers on strike and infrastructure in a state of disrepair. One of the first steps towards overhauling it was the establishment of the Education Transition Fund (ETF), a mechanism to allow donors control over their funds.

“The way the fund works is the donor community provides funding, I chair the education transition fund meetings, and UNICEF [the UN Children’s Fund] is the ultimate manager of the fund. So we reach consensus regarding how the money is to be spent, and the ministry decides what its priorities are,” Coltart explained.

Funding for the ETF varies from year to year. A variety of donors – including the European Commission and the governments of Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US – contribute to the fund, which UNICEF then administers.

In 2012, the ETF was funded to the tune of about US$12 million, and in 2013, $25 million is earmarked for it, UNICEF said in a statement.

Green shoots of recovery

Hyperinflation had prevented the publication of school textbooks. “In some schools, as many as 15 pupils shared a textbook, while in some rural schools only the teacher had a bedraggled textbook,” Coltart said.

Julia Mapondera, principal of Gwinyai Public Primary School in Mbare, a poor neighbourhood in the capital, Harare, told IRIN that erratic attendance by students and teachers, combined with the unavailability of text books, proved a toxic mix.

Prior to the crisis, students learned to read and write in their first year of school; student Kelvin Bimha, now 11, didn’t gain those skills until his fourth year, and then only with the assistance of remedial classes during the holidays.

Donor funding has since helped address the textbook shortage; the pupil-to-book ratio is now one-to-one, Coltart said. Next are plans for the distribution of non-academic books to encourage a culture of reading; $9 million is budgeted for this in 2013, with donor support through the ETF.

At the height of the crisis, in 2008 – during which food insecurity and waterborne disease were widespread, and schooling was disrupted by political violence and teacher strikes – the pass rate for the final year of primary school dropped to 52 percent. The previous year, it had been 70 percent.

In 2009, only 39 percent of those who sat for the final-year exams passed. It has since improved, with 2010 seeing a pass rate of 42 percent and 2011 a rate of 45 percent.

Still, Coltart expects the pass rate to remain low for several years and then gradually improve.

Long way to go

Principal Mapondera says lack of infrastructure continues to undermine the education system. In 2012, the number of students at Gwinyai was close to 2,000 – nearly double its intended capacity. The overcrowding has led to a practice known as “hot seating”, in which some children attend morning classes and others attend afternoon classes.

Coltart says the situation is not unique to Gwinyai. “We’ve got 8,000 schools. If you go to most of these schools, you’ll see the infrastructure is crumbling – schools not being maintained, toilets in a terrible state of disrepair. Many schools don’t have desks, don’t have blackboards.”

He said the $500,000 from the 2012 national budget for school maintenance was “less than drop in the ocean”, and his ministry would be seeking donor assistance. “We could spend a billion dollars on the education sector, and we wouldn’t address all these structural problems.”

The education budget for 2012-2013 is $750 million. More than half of this, Coltart says, goes to primary and high school teachers’ salaries, which average about $300 a month.

During the hyperinflation years, many teachers just walked off the job, as their salaries fell to the equivalent of $1 or less a month. The ministry has declared an amnesty for these teachers, and many have returned. But many others moved to other countries in search of employment and better salaries, and it has proved difficult to lure them back. It is estimated that 20,000 teachers left the country between 2007 and 2009.

There are currently about 106,000 teachers; about 30,000 more are required. However, even if the teacher target is achieved, Coltart says, there will not be enough classrooms available for them to teach in.

He says the government’s relationship with the teachers’ unions – such as the Zimbabwe Teachers Association and the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe – is improving. But threats of strikes are never far from the surface.

The education sector had been stabilized, but remains fragile. “Until we see literacy rates starting to improve, until we see grade 7 [the final year of primary school] examination results getting back to the levels they were perhaps 10 years ago, I will remain concerned about the education sector,” he said.

News Day

By Kholwani Nyathi

23 January 2013

Debate on the need for a united front against Zanu PF in the forthcoming elections has been gaining traction at different platforms in the past few months.

MDC president Welshman Ncube, MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti and MDC secretary for legal affairs David Coltart are some of the prominent politicians who have shared their views about the proposed coalition.

There are some who appear convinced that such a coalition against Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe will work only if it is led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Their argument makes sense because Tsvangirai had a good showing in the last elections where he beat Mugabe in the first round of the presidential elections.

His MDC-T also won the highest number of parliamentary seats against Zanu PF and the MDC.

These views are reportedly shared by the international donor community who are trying to coax other smaller parties to rally behind Tsvangirai.

Ncube and his party have taken the flak for insisting that they will not consider an election pact or re-unification with the MDC-T.

The MDC says it does not want to repeat the same mistake that it made on the eve of the 2008 elections where at the last minute, the MDC-T National Council rejected an election pact after lengthy and promising negotiations.

But that has not stopped some political observers from lynching Ncube and his party, with some accusing them of working in cahhots with Zanu PF.

People are entitled to their opinions, but it is wrong to behave as if other politicians owe Tsvangirai anything to be obliged to support his candidature.

The MDC-T leader has not demonstrated that he needs help from any of the opposition leaders and some of his public utterances showed some arrogance that might spoil his third attempt to unseat Mugabe.

Last week, Tsvangirai chose to fight in Mugabe’s corner rather than support Ncube in his battle to have the Zanu PF leader to respect a Sadc resolution on the Global Political Agreement (GPA) principals.

Sadc leaders at their last summit in Maputo resolved that Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara would no longer be recognised as a GPA principal because he had lost the leadership of the MDC.

Mugabe has stubbornly refused to respect the resolution and has stuck with Mutambara. Unwittingly, the MDC-T has isolated Ncube and his party by their stance. Tsvangirai has also labelled Ncube “a village politician” in the past suggesting that he is too popular to bother about an election alliance to fight Zanu PF.

However, such thinking is very short-sighted.

Previous elections have shown that there isn’t much separating Zanu PF and the MDC-T.

Although the MDC formations won most of the seats in the elections, Zanu PF won the popular vote in most provinces.

The next elections will be a different ballgame altogether for the MDC formations because the element of protest votes might not be a factor.

Zimbabwe has enjoyed relative economic stability for the past four years and voting patterns will be adjusted accordingly.

True, Zimbabweans are yearning for change, but they will not vote for Tsvangirai just for the sake of it.He has to demonstrate that he is a leader capable of uniting all Zimbabweans regardless of their political backgrounds.

If Tsvangirai cannot look beyond the petty issues that led to his fallout with Ncube and the subsequent split of the MDC, can he be trusted to reconcile with a defeated Zanu PF?

It is not too late for him to start reaching out not only to the MDC, but also Simba Makoni’s MKD and Dumiso Dabengwa’s Zapu.

The missing discourse in the way Ncube has been lynched on social media is the fact that it was Tsvangirai’s fault, not the MDC’s, that the coalition collapsed last time.

Failure to rally opposition leaders to support his candidacy will suggest that he still doesn’t understand that he needs these “smaller parties” more than they need him, judging by the margin with which he failed to secure an outright victory in March 2008.

The Chronicle

By Dosman Mangisi

21 January 2013

THE recent remarks by self-exiled MDC-T treasurer general Roy Bennett over the death of Vice-President Landa John Nkomo are insensitive and animalistic and expose the former farmer’s bitterness towards Zanu-PF.

The utterances he made over the messages of condolence mourning the late liberator, unifier, patriot and peace-maker, VP Nkomo are also disrespectful and derogatory. They are not only an insult to the departed national hero, his family and Zimbabwe, but also an unforgivable insult on the millions of comrades with whom he shared the same principles. It goes without saying that Bennett’s attack is an unprovoked political one; an attack on Zanu-PF.

What is wrong with the condolence message given by David Coltart, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Trudy Stevenson Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Senegal and the United States Embassy in Zimbabwe? What is wrong with what the American embassy said about Cde Nkomo? The answer is nothing at all; they are deserved compliments to him.

It is enlightening to quote some of Bennett’s nonsensical views on VP Nkomo.

“Every time a prominent figure in Zanu-PF dies it becomes the occasion for all sorts of nonsense and stupidity. We recall the ridiculous things that were said when Vitalis Zvinavashe died. We are now seeing the same with John Nkomo’s death. The US Embassy is reported saying: ‘Whether as a teacher, a politician, an advocate for Zimbabwe’s independence, or as a public servant, Vice-President Nkomo was a patriot who dedicated his life to Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and prosperity.’ Excuse me. We may not like to speak ill of the dead, but let’s not tell lies.”

He continued:“I’m not sure what the American agenda is, but this is total rubbish. How can anyone with any sense say that John Nkomo dedicated his life to Zimbabwe’s prosperity? Since 1980, he has sat at the heart of the heart of the beast that destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy. He has held the hand of the dictator that has obliterated our hopes and freedoms. He must now be remembered by the choices he made. He chose to oppose people than to serve them”.

Now Bennett has to answer key questions. What good has he done to the citizens of Zimbabwe? Was he not part of the heinous Rhodesian machinery that killed thousands of innocent people in Zimbabwe during the liberation war? His hands are dripping with blood of innocent citizens of this country –this violent remnant of Rhodesia who floored fellow MPs in Parliament. How much diamond did he amass from Chiadzwa, bartering sugar for diamonds in the area and spiriting it out of the country for personal benefit?

Why is he craving to be back in this land if he has lost hope for Zimbabwe? He knows that Zimbabwe is well endowed with natural resources which he hungers for not his preposterous claims that he is Zimbabwean.

If Bennett cannot see the dedication that defined VP Nkomo, fighting the liberation war he (Bennett) opposed but fortunately lost, then he cannot see anything.

Vice-President Nkomo was a teacher, politician, advocate for Zimbabwe’s independence, and a public servant. He is a known patriotic son of Zimbabwe who dedicated his life to the country’s sovereignty and prosperity. He nearly lost his life as a result of that. The revolutionary was there when Rhodesia sent a parcel which exploded on that horrific day in Zambia, killing fellow comrade Jason Moyo. A brave fighter, VP Nkomo survived that covert Rhodesian assault and more overt ones in the war of liberation.

His credentials are there for all to see. Bennett recognises them, no doubt but because he is a bitter man, he seeks to tarnish them for political reasons with no success.

I must put it that Bennett is worse than a witch who respects the dead, even offering condolences by day although he prowls in the dark to pounce on graves.

The Chronicle

21 January 2013

ACTING Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Meshack Cheda has dismissed an urgent chamber application by a Rastafarian family seeking the reinstatement of its child to a school she was expelled from on religious grounds.

Mr Patson Makhiwa, whose 13-year-old daughter was last week expelled from the Seventh Day Adventist-run Bulawayo Adventist Secondary School (BASS) for wearing dreadlocks, had sought a provisional order against the school after the expulsion.

However, Justice Cheda ruled that the provisional order could not be granted because the Applicant’s child was declared to be a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church when in fact she was a Rastafarian thereby fraudulently acquiring a place.

He said on that basis alone, the school would still be entitled to cancel the admission of the child and dismissed the application with no order as to costs.

A pastor at the Davidson Seventh Day Adventist Church allegedly filled the admission form for the girl,  where her stepmother is a member and she would go with her on a regular basis.

The church is a breakaway group from the mainstream SDA to which BASS belongs.

The Applicant had cited the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart, BASS and the school’s headmaster, a Mr N Marandure, as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively.

While the respondents’ lawyer, Ms Nomsa Ncube, of Lazarus and Sarif Legal Practitioners submitted that the girl’s admission was based on misinformation, the applicant through his legal representatives, Mr Jonathan Tsvangirai, of Dube-Tachiona and Tsvangirai Legal Practitioners maintained that there was nothing fraudulent because the girl’s stepmother was a regular member of the breakaway SDA church while the father was not aware of the admission form, which was only availed to him in court.

The applicant’s lawyer is now considering making an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, as they feel the court erred in upholding the school’s decision of segregating the girl on the basis of religion.

It is the applicant’s contention that the SDA-run school is segregatory and would have even not offered the girl a place had she said she was Rastafarian on the admission form.

This comes after the school’s argument that it offered the girl a place because she said she was SDA.

The girl has been wearing dreadlocks since she was three years old and finished Grade Seven last year at Hillside Primary School where she attained seven units.

She applied for a Form One place at BASS and was invited for entrance tests, which she passed.

The school enrolled her but expelled her from the school on the opening day on 8 January, as the school accused her of having dreadlocks, which it said was against its rules.

The girl has not been going to school for the past two weeks and the family said she is now traumatised.

The applicant said the school should have told the girl that she was not eligible on the day she went for the interviews because the locks were noticeable.

The applicant accuses the respondents of trying to force the girl to denounce her religion and to cut her dreadlocks, which is against her religion, as a Rastafarian.

In his founding affidavit, the applicant said he is a Rastafarian and his daughter is a Rastafarian. He said he did not know about the application form, which was filled by the pastor, who knew the girl as a regular at the church and her stepmother accompanied her to the school.

The girl had been going to the church for sometime in the company of the stepmother, who the applicant said was trying to blend with her by going with her to church.

The applicant said he was not shown any copy of the school’s rules.

The grounds on which the application was made are that the minor child has been barred from entering the school premises and from attending classes until she complies with the “illegal” demand made by the 2nd and 3rd respondents to cut her dreads, which is contrary to her beliefs, as a Rastafarian.

The applicant further said it would not be in the interests of the minor child to be denied education, which is an inherent right of any child of her age and barring her from school is in violation of Section 19 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

He said soon after the child was accepted as a pupil, he paid fees in full and the school authorities saw the girl with dreadlocks, which she had not cut since birth.

The applicant said he had previously communicated with the school’s deputy head, who told him that the child would not be discriminated on the grounds of her religion.

He said he believed the deputy head’s words, as the girl was offered a place and her money accepted.