The Herald

By Collin Matiza

13 August 2012

A hero comes along. . . Cuthbert Nyasango runs in the London Olympic Games marathon where he distinguished himself with a top 10 finish yesterday

Magical.

Absolutely magical!

This is exactly what two top Zimbabwean long-distance runners, Cuthbert Nyasango and Wirimai Juwawo, produced when they brilliantly fought their way to finish in the Top 20 of the tough men’s marathon event during the last day of the 2012 London Olympic Games here yesterday.

The first Zimbabwean home in this race was Nyasango, who surprised all and sundry here by finishing a credible seventh, in a personal best time of 2 hours 12 minutes 08 seconds.

Nyasango wrote himself a piece of history yesterday as he became the first Zimbabwean road runner, male or female, to finish way inside the Top 10 in the history of the Olympics.

He even put into the shade Tendai Chimusasa’s outstanding performance at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, where he finished ninth in the men’s marathon event.

And not to be outdone by Nyasango yesterday, was his fellow countryman Juwawo who also performed extremely well to finish in 15th place in 2 hours 14 minutes 09 seconds.

This was the Zvishavane-based athlete’s season’s best.

And both Zimbabwean runners could not contain themselves after racing themselves into international recognition by finishing in the Top 20 in yesterday’s men’s marathon, which attracted a world-class and strong field of 105 runners.

Nyasango, was in fact, at loss of words after producing what is easily his best performance at the world stage in his road running career.

“I really don’t know what to say . . . I’m overwhelmed,” Nyasango said before he broke into tears of joy soon after the race.

Nyasango later composed himself and went on to say: “The race was very tough but I’m happy that I reached my goal of finishing in the Top 10.

“I’m really overwhelmed and over the moon . . . I just can’t believe that I’ve achieved this.”

His compatriot Juwawo was equally happy although he said he was also aiming to finish in the Top 10 but his hopes of achieving this were hampered by some leg problems he faced towards the end of the race.

“Yeah, the race was fine but very tough. We raced under some very tough conditions and from the 40km mark, just two kilometres away from home, my calfs tightened up and I couldn’t run well for about 1,5km.

“I was struggling a bit and I think about four runners just went past me at this stage but I soldiered on and managed to reach home.

“But I’m happy that I finished in the Top 20 although my wish was to finish among the Top 10 but it’s fine to finish in the Top 20,” Juwawo said.

And there was joy all over in Team Zimbabwe’s camp after this race as the brilliant performances of Nyasango and Juwawo brought some relief in the team which failed to medal during the 16-day 2012 London Olympic Games.

Nyasango and Juwawo were met at the finish line by the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart, the Team Zimbabwe’s chef de mission at the London Games Busi Chindove, Press Attache Imelda Shoko and medic Nick Munyonga.

Even the former Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive, Robert Musauki, who is now the Technical Director of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, was there to give Nyasango and Juwawo a pat on the back.

“I think this is a historic achievement for our country. We’ve never had an athlete who finished well inside in the Top 10 in a marathon event at the Olympics and Cuthbert Nyasango has done it.

“In fact, both guys did extremely well and I’m really happy for them . . . they’ve done us proud,” Chindove said.

Coltart was equally overjoyed.

“This is really something else. These guys have managed to finish in the Top 20 and this is good for us because this means that at these Games we have two sixth place finishes in swimming and then this Top 20 finish in the men’s marathon.

“This is really good for sport in Zimbabwe . . . I’m extremely happy for both of them,” Coltart said before he went to congratulate Nyasango and Juwawo for their brilliant performance yesterday.

Mutsauki weighed in and said: “Speaking in my personal capacity as a Zimbabwean, I think this is an impressive performance by both runners because this race was raced under very tough conditions.

“Their brilliant performance confirms the potential that we (Zimbabwe) have in road running.

“It’s also an indication that they prepared well for this event and their decision to train at home, preparing for this tough race, has paid some dividends.”

The gold medal in yesterday’s men’s marathon at the London 2012 Olympic Games went to Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich who romped home in 2:08:01. Stephen Kiprotich shot to the front with six kilometres remaining to win the 42.2km event comfortably. It was his country’s first medal of the Games and came in the final event of the athletics programme.

Twice world gold medalist Abel Kirui of Kenya was second in 2:08:27, coming home ahead of his fellow countryman and 2012 London Marathon champion Wilson Kipsang, who clocked 2:09:37.

In yesterday’s race, Kipsang made an early break, splitting the field and passing through the halfway stage in 63 minutes and 15 seconds. He was gradually reeled in and joined by Kiprotich and and Kirui by the 30km point in a three-man race for gold.

Stephen Kiprotich was just a happy man after bagging a gold medal for his country.

“I can say I am very happy to win a medal for my country. I love my people. Uganda are very happy because we haven’t won a medal in marathon races (before).

On the race itself, he said: “The pace was too fast and I knew I could not ruan away from them so I just had to keep up with them (the Kenyan runners, Wilson Kipsang and Abel Kirui). I tried to settle and then I had to break away because I wanted to win this medal.”

The race, past some of London’s most notable landmarks, started and finished in The Mall near Buckingham Palace and it comprised one short and three longer circuits through the heart of the British capital.

ZimEye

By Audrey Charowa

12 August 2012   

The Zimbabwe Olympic team received a formal send off at Zimbabwe House in Westminster, London.

The event, held last week Friday, was organised by the Zimbabwe Diaspora Olympic Support Network (ZDOSN) in conjunction with Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) and the Zimbabwe Embassy.

Ambassador Gabriel Machinga thanked ZDOSN and the diaspora community for the phenomenal support for Zimbabwe’s Olympic team. He encouraged members of the diaspora to share ideas and use network contacts to spot and support sporting talent. He noted that there were challenges in creating this atmosphere of sporting excellence. Corporations could sponsor sporting academies. Deputy Ambassador Cecil Chinhendere expressed pride in Zimbabwe’s athletes for qualifying for the Olympics.

The Minister for Sport and Culture, David Coltart indicated that he was humbled by the support on twitter Zimbabweans have given to our Athletes. He said “Now is the time to look to the future. Zimbabwe is capable of so much more. Whatever time I have left as minister I will continue to support our Athletes, because Ministers come and go.” Minister Coltart implored Zimbabweans to unite. He acknowledged that in the last 15years Zimbabwe had been divided due to certain policies. “We need to build in our diversity. If we do this we’ll produce strong sportsmen & women.” He closed by mentioning that Kirsty Coventry was standing for election in the International Olympic Committee. This was received with thunderous applause.

ZDOSN spokes-person Glorianne Frances, commended the ZOC and ZDOSN and the throng of volunteers who worked for no pay to fundraise. Tendai Nyakudya of ZDOSN thanked members of the media, the athletes and the Ambassador for their support. ZDOSN presented a cheque for £3000 that had been raised from Boxer Derek Chisora, Dr Sylvester Nyatsuro, Knox Chitiyo, Moneygram, Econet Wireless and Zimbabwean supporters. The athletes will each be given £200 and the rest would go to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee.

Anna Muguni, CEO of ZOC thanked Embassy Staff, Minister & Mrs Coltart, ZDOSN, Zimbabwe’s Olympic Athletes, Management and Trainers. Mrs Busi Chindove the Chef de Mission expressed great admiration for the Olympians. She thanked everyone who recognised and supported the athletes.

Among others, attendees were Ambassador Gabriel Machinga, Education Sport & Culture Minister David Coltart, Mrs Coltart, Deputy Ambassador Cecil Chinhendere, Zimbabwe Olympians, Chef de Mission Busi Chindove who was in charge of Zim Olympians, CEO of ZOC Anna Muguni, Glorianne Francis, Stanford Biti, Tawanda Chiwira, Tendai Nkakudya, Marshall Gore – Director of International Affairs at AAOE, Maxwell Gomera Deputy Director of UNEP, Felicia Munjaidi of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority & Zimbabwe Diaspora Olympic Support Network.

Glorianne Frances closed by pledging support for Zimbabwe’s Paralympians. Ambassador Machinga invited all attendees to Club Sanganai the social club open to all Zimbabweans.

• Good luck for Chris Felgate running in the #Olympic triathlon tomorrow. Zimbabwe is right behind you Chris and we will be there alongside #
• I am very disappointed by the negative reporting of our Olympic campaign by Collin Matiza of the Herald. Have not seen him at a single event #
• I question why we pay a vast amount of money for a journalist to come to London for him to spend his time inappropriately trashing team Zim #
• The editorial in the Sunday News yesterday was also outrageous – I question what ZimPapers is up to. Are they acting in best Zim interests? #
• When I look at the superb performances of all our athletes and administrators I think they deserve better than this. #
• Zimpapers have ignored amazing talent of our young rowers, Kirsty's heroic and stunning swims and Sharon's courage – all have done Zim proud #
• I have been to every event that Zimbabwe athletes have performed in but have yet to see Herald journalist Collin Matiza at one. Where is he? #
• Congratulations to Chris Felgate in the Olympic Triathlon today – he came 52nd; for our little country and its limited resources 52 is great #
• Speaking tonight on role of diaspora in Zim education 6pm at Royal Overseas League, Overseas House, Park Place, Off St James Street, Mayfair #
• Spoke at a lunch 7/8 hosted by Editor of the DailyTelegraph, attended by Peter Oborne, Julian Glover (British PM's speech writer) and others #
• Spoke about fragile state of GPA, Constitutional issues and need for UK to support the flawed but only viable process of reform in #Zim #
• British Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham also in attendance and spoke as well. Very useful occasion and thanks to Peter Oborne for help #
• In evening attended Proms at Royal Albert Hall hosted by Petroc Trelawny who although treated so badly by Immig still helping Zim Music Acad #
• Zimbabwe's #Olympic campaign is not over yet – Wirimai Juwawo and Cutbert Nyasango in the Marathon on Sunday. Let's all get behind them #
• Hearty congratulations to Botswana's Nijel Amos for doing Botswana and Southern Africa proud by getting silver in the 800 meter final. #
• Also I am delighted with Caster Semenya for winning the 800 meter semi final in 1:57:67. After all she has been through – great performance #
• Hearty, hearty congratulations to Tyrone and Kirsty on your engagement today. The entire Coltart family is ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED. God bless. #
• Five Firsts: Henry Olonga http://t.co/8QWv2Yxm via @espncricinfo A bit of wisdom from another Zimbabwean sporting hero #
• "Coltart offiside" – pathetic editorial from the Herald seeking to introduce race to my critique of their O coverage – http://t.co/mb4hRoXi #
• Irony of Herald ed is that my primary concern was their failure to relate the great sacrifices made by athletes especially Sharon Tavengwa #
• The introduction of race often a convenient diversion for those who have been found wanting. Pull up your socks The Herald; time for truth #
• Makorokoto, Congratulations, Amhlope @KirstyCoventry for being elected today to the International Olympic Athletes Commission. Great for Zim #
• Pleased with #Zimbabwe cricket u19 opening match in #ICC under 19 World Cup – convincing win against PNG. Well done lads – now beat the rest #
• Okay, after all the excitement tonight of Mo, Caster and Usain it is time for us #Zimbabweans to focus on Wirimai and Cutbert in Marathon #
• #Zimbabwe #039;s Wirimai Juwawo and Cutbert Nyasango will be flying the flag in the Marathon tomorrow at 12 noon Zim time. Go lads, do it for Zim #
• RT @PalmerUNIsport: Two athletes elected to the IOC Athletes Commission were "breaking rules by campaigning too hard" http://t.co/EKsl8y1E #
• In eclectic company last night at the Olympics – David Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Princess Anne, Boris Johnson, Raila Odinga, D Beckham #

The Herald

11 August 2012

We take exception to utterances made by Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart who chose to gloss over the failure of Team Zimbabwe to win a medal at the ongoing Olympics in London, and instead attacked The Herald for pointing out the flaws in the team.

Minister Coltart spent the better part of last week using Facebook and Twitter to attack us, through our Sports Editor Collin Matiza, for our factual but unflattering coverage of Team Zimbabwe’s exploits in London.

So vicious were his diatribes that they ended up dividing respondents on racial lines with his mainly white friends siding with him, and black Zimbabweans subscribed to his Facebook page fighting from our corner.

Many, understandably, wondered whether the Minister had been miffed by the attack on the white Zimbabwean athletes, and queried why he was not similarly disposed when we write unflatteringly about the Warriors whom he has never travelled with on their numerous safaris.

Minister Coltart brought that scrutiny on himself, and we urge him to show equal concern regardless of whether the sport in question is the so-called minority or majority sport.

Be that as it may, as the media we are not obliged to report things as the minister sees them but as we see them.

It is a fact that the only time we get to hear about the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee is in the year preceding Olympics and during the games themselves yet any nation worth its salt knows that the most critical stage of the games is the intervening four-year period between games.

This is the time that should be used to identify, train and invest in athletes.

The games proper are nothing more than the time to showcase the preparations and celebrate the talent discovered and nurtured.

Instead of training his eyes on The Herald and its perceived omissions or commissions, the Honourable Minister should do his work by supervising those at ZOC to ensure that they get off their laurels.

Kirsty Coventry did us proud in Athens and Beijing. It was too much to expect her to defy age to recapture that spectacular form. She has run her lap for us. And we should all be proud that our country produced such a phenomenal athlete who flew our flag high over two Olympic meets.

Similarly in Beijing, long jumper, Ngonidzashe Makusha, put up a fine performance during which he was denied a medal by a mere centimetre in the final. It was quite regrettable that he was injured in the countdown to the London.

It is important to note that both Makusha and Kirsty were helped, to a large extent, by the training facilities and expertise they received during their lengthy stints in the United States. Their success had nothing to do with ZOC.

The bottom line is we are not doing enough for the Olympics. We did not have a master plan after Beijing which is why we are in fact regressing.

From the 13 athletes we had in Beijing, we could only manage to send seven to London this year as most aspirants dismally failed to make the Olympic grade.

At this rate we may even fail to send anyone to Rio de Janeiro 2016. And this is what should preoccupy Minister Coltart not whether our Sports Editor sees Team Zimbabwe as ugly ducklings or beautiful swans.

He should be guided accordingly.

The Sunday News

By Phineas Mukwazo

11 August 2012

THE forgettable showing by the Zimbabwe Olympic team at the games in London should be a cause for concern for all.

The nation is finally paying the prize for riding on the success of both past and current success such as swimmer Kirsty Coventry and the Black brothers as reality dawns on our sponsorless pathetic sporting scene.

The Zimbabwean sporting culture is so rotten to the bone marrow with the chief contributor to the status quo being the Government.

Perhaps, now that Vice-President Joice Mujuru has lamented the shambolic state of sport in Zimbabwe that has seen the country send the smallest team ever to represent the country at the Olympics will go a long way in changing attitudes.

Sadly, is there any reason to hope, more so as over the years we have seen a Government That had chosen to take the back stage while sport was dying in the country?

While we are still in deep mourning there is every reason for retrospection.

Recently sports minister David Coltart came face to face with reality at the Olympic Games following the failure by medal hopeful Coventry to make any headway in London.

He should be CONGRATULATED because his comments on the performance of Kirsty were an admission of guilty and it epitomises the death of the jewel called “sport” in this country.

Coltart said Coventry had done surprisingly well (sic), overcoming incredible odds that included lack of financial support and injuries to reach the finals of the London Olympic Games.

This was after Zimbabwe’s swimming sensation’s disappointing show on a Tuesday in which she finished sixth in the final of the 200m individual medley — a few days after finishing seventh in the 100m backstroke.

Coventry won medals in both events in 2004 in Athens and Beijing’s 2008 games.

Coltart said Coventry’s spirited performance, in the face of so many challenges, epitomised the grit and determination of Zimbabwean sports competitors.

“I don’t think Zimbabweans really appreciate the obstacles that Kirsty has had to overcome. We always assume that gold medals are easy to come by, but the fact is after the Beijing Games she effectively retired and she didn’t swim for over a year.

“And when she came back into the sport she didn’t have the environment of her old university and her old coach,” Coltart was evidently at pain to justify why “Ma Siziba” was not performing according to expectations. The minister went on to say at one point, the swimmer dislocated her knee and was infected with pneumonia.

Getting gold in the Olympics is one way of getting sponsors, but Coltart said this has not been the case for Coventry.

“She has not had a lot of financial support and has been very isolated and only raced two competitive races prior to the London Olympics. So, when you compare that build-up to all her competitors, you will see that what she has achieved is absolutely remarkable”.

Alongside Coventry, triathlete Chris Felgate, Rowers Jamie Fraser McKenzie and Micheen Thorncroft, the marathon trio of Cuthbert Nyasango, Wirimayi Zhuwao and Sharon Tawengwa represented the country. They all didn’t make any headway.

Apart from the medals Coventry won in 2004 and 2008, Zimbabwe scooped gold in the Moscow games after its admission into international sport in 1980, following years in the wilderness due to sanctions imposed on the Ian Smith regime.

Coltart went on to advise the Government (which he is part of) to come up with a strategy to identify and nurture talent to lead the country’s athletes to greater heights, including making sport development a financial priority and integrating sports into the school curriculum.

Well-said Coltart, but paying lip service to such noble ideals, is at variance with action and that won’t rescue the sports from the current quagmire. The taste of the pudding is in the eating, Minister Coltart!

Has anyone questioned why there were so many “Chefs” accompanying the athletes to London?

The “gravy  train” (no pun intended) included seven athletes, 14 OFFICIALS and FOUR dignitaries.

Perhaps, that is beside the point, but it is rather weird for officials to outnumber the real people we expect to win medals for  the country?

To Coltart, as the responsible minister for sports, the time is nigh for us to produce the likes of the Golden girls of 1980 and another Kirsty in the pool?

Tennis was once a thriving discipline during the time of the Black siblings, Byron, Wayne, and Cara.

Our tennis saw us having the world on our feet buoyed by resounding victories over superpowers such as England and Australia.

Byron formed the core of the Zimbabwean Davis Cup team with his brother Wayne.

Byron went on to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open and Wimbledon. His highest career singles ranking then was World No. 22, which he achieved in June 1996.

An accomplished doubles player, Byron became World No. 1 in doubles in February 1994. He won the 1994 French Open partnering Jonathan Stark. Byron was a doubles finalist in three other majors, the 1994 and 2001 Australian Open and 1996 Wimbledon.

Those were the days.

But, since the retirement of the Black brothers from Davis Cup tennis, the Zimbabwe team has fallen from the dizzy heights of the World Group to the less glamorous Euro/Africa Zone groups.

Our hearts bleed more profusely for the stagnation of our once revered sports of cricket, boxing, athletics, bowls, soccer, and others.

That was the reason why way back in 2006 we advocated for the creation of a ministry solely for the sporting sector, which we needed yesterday and not tomorrow.

After being afforded the opportunity to travel to the Olympics, we call upon those influential among the dignitaries who travelled to London to seriously lobby Government for the inception of the eagerly awaited youth development policy across all sports codes.

WE have done that in the past, unfortunately our pleas have been largely ignored, not for lack of merit but sheer expediency from the officialdom.

To the athletes, it does not matter how deep you fall; what matters is how high you bounce back.

The South African

10 August 2012

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, addressed Zimbabweans in London on how they can help improve sport and education back home.

Senator David Coltart, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, gave a keynote address at a gathering of disaporans at the Royal Over-seas League in London on Tuesday night.

Coltart spoke about the state of education in Zimbabwe and his vision of the role the Zimbabwean diaspora can play to reform this sector. This was followed by a panel discussion and a networking session.

The Senator highlighted the problems that have decimated Zimbabwe’s education, indicating that lack of priority in this sector from the inclusive government had undermined reform efforts including lack of critical support from the international community. He said his ministry created an Education Transitional Fund administered with the support of UNICEF which has assisted in providing essential textbooks to primary school children and has also been produced in seven ethnic languages. The Minister highlighted critical shortage of teachers and need for infrastructure rehabilitation to bring capacity and skills that are competitive globally.

Zimbabwe sent only seven athletes to this year’s Olympics. Coltart, who has been in London during the Olympics, said he had learnt lessons here on how successful countries are supporting and developing talented sportspeople, such as through Lottery funding.

He said his ministry was focused on supporting disadvantaged children to access quality education linked to sports.

He wants Diasporans who have acquired advanced educational skills abroad to impart their knowledge and ideas and called on them to assist in creating a professionals and skills database to tap into for best practice sharing of ideas.

The Minister set up conditions for two UK-based committees to be set up, one for sports and one for education, It was suggested that the existing committee set up to gather Olympics support could be extended to include sports in general.

The conditions Coltart set were that the committees should be nonpartisan, representative, inclusive and registered entities in the UK.

Members of the Diaspora who are interested in joining the committee and becoming trustees should email Josh at jmchigwangwa@hotmail.com or call him on 078 9710 5884.

Another public meeting will be held to formalise the committee.

The Zimbabwe Independent

10 August 2012

The abysmal showing by the Zimbabwe Olympic team at the games in London should be a cause for concern for all.

That teams as obscure as Kazakhstan, with six gold medals and a bronze under its belt so far, can amass so much silverware and yet Zimbabwe has failed to get a single one is disconcerting at best.

As a nation we have been riding on the coattails of swimmer Kirsty Coventry’s success and now that she is in the twilight of her prolific career, the reality of our pathetic sporting situation is finally dawning.

Coventry has done the nation proud over the years but she cannot single-handedly churn out the medals forever.

Apart from the commendable one-man crusade by Sports Minister David Coltart to revive Zimbabwe’s sporting culture, government does little to nothing to promote sports. Instead, the Zanu PF side of government has threatened to “indigenise” the few remaining decent schools in tandem with their expropriation policy.

Vice-President Joice Mujuru recently lamented the shambolic state of sport which has seen Zimbabwe dispatch the smallest team ever to represent the country at the games. Sadly nothing is likely to be done by government to reverse the trend as populism takes centre stage ahead of common sense.

Bemused fan,
Harare.

The ZimDiaspora

By Eugene Majuru

10 August 2012

The Zimbabwe Diaspora Olympic support Network (ZDOSN) presented a cheque to the Zimbabwe Olympic team at an event held in London at the Zimbabwean Embassy this evening August 10. A £3000 cheque was handed over to Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) Vice President and chef de Mission Busi Chindove. Each athlete will receive £200 and the rest will go to Zimbabwe Olympic Committee for sports development.

The event was attended by Zimbabwean athletes who expressed their joy at getting the opportunity to represent Zimbabwe. Also present was Senator David Coltart Zimbabwean Minister of Education Sports and Culture, HE Ambassador Gabriel Machinga, HE Deputy Ambassador Cecil Chinenere.

The two Ambassadors attended the event as guests for the (ZDOSN) who they supported by allowing them to use the venue to carry out the presentation ceremony.

MC Gloriene Francis (ZDOSN) thanked the embassy as well as boxer Dereck Chisora, Dr Sylvester Nyatsuro, Knox Chitiyo, Econet and money gram for the money they donated.

Rollers club of Enfield was thanked for donating two return tickets to Zimbabwe via Ethiopian Airways due to be raffled this Sunday August 12 at Rollers.

Other members of the corporate world thanked were Africa Sun, Meikles Hotel and Bumi Hills.

Speaking at the event, Senator Coltart expressed his joy “at seeing the passion Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have for sports”

“We understand that £3000 may not be much but it came from the heart. I was glad to see the commitment from our athletes, Sharon Tavengwa was devastated about being unable to finish the race, she felt she had let everyone down by pulling out of the race” he added.

Tavengwa was not present at the event.

The two marathon and one triathlon athletes were said to be preparing for their races due this Sunday August 12 at 11am.

Zimbabweans have been encouraged to continue supporting the athletes and to give them a great welcome when they return to Harare on August 13.

The Chronicle

By Joshua Nyapimbi

8 August 2012

This article was motivated by the just-ended high schools drama competition jointly organised by Plan and Intwasa Festival.

I would like to use this competition as my entry point to explore and challenge us all engaged with rights-based arts education in schools or simply arts education.

I need to put a disclaimer from the onset that I am well-meaning in my critique of arts education initiatives currently being provided in our schools by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture on one hand and non-governmental organisations and arts practitioners and arts organisations on the other hand. My concerns and recommendations herein are primarily from the perspective of an arts advocate and practitioner on arts education as well as a parent who desires the best for all children in respect of arts education. Through conversations I can safely say many others share the same concerns and recommended corrective measures.

To begin with, it is important to acknowledge that at the international level we have the Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education, which was a major outcome of Unesco’s Second World Conference on Arts Education held in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, on 25-28 May 2010. As a product of Unesco’s Second World Conference on Arts Education, the Seoul Agenda is intended to build on the Unesco Road Map for Arts Education that was a major outcome of the first world conference held in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2006. The road map offered an important theoretical and practical framework that provided guidance for advancing the qualitative development and growth of arts education.

The Seoul Agenda calls upon Unesco member states, civil society, professional organisations and communities to recognise its governing goals, to employ the proposed strategies, and to implement the action items in a concerted effort to realise the full potential of high quality arts education to positively renew educational systems, to achieve crucial social and cultural objectives, and ultimately to benefit children, youth and lifelong learners of all ages.

The Seoul Agenda has three main goals, namely: to ensure that arts education is accessible as a fundamental and sustainable component of a high quality renewal of education; to assure that arts education activities and programmes are of a high quality in conception and delivery; and to apply arts education principles and practices to contribute to resolving the social and cultural challenges facing today’s world.

It is my submission that the Plan-Intwasa Festival High Schools Drama competition largely addresses or resonates with goal three above. Of the competition segments held at Mpopoma, Gifford and Townsend High schools, which I managed to attend, there were a mix of performances that were provocative, some touching and others downright off the mark to carry a tag of a play!

What made some good and others poor, one may ask? A combination of factors I would say, and chief among them were: lack of basic script-writing and directing skills among some drama teachers; bad role modelling — sub-standard drama touring schools — there seems to be a dearth of quality professional drama regularly touring schools. It is critical for children and teachers alike with potential and keen interest on drama production and presentation to have regular exposure to mainstream quality drama for role modelling and exposure to good practices.

Further, most schools lack proper performance spaces with basic equipment for professional presentation of the performing arts. Can Mpopoma and Eveline High schools, which are arguably some of the trend-setters in quality arts education, particularly in the areas of the performing arts, justify the lack of professional performance spaces or school halls if you wish, that have basic if not top-drawer stage lighting, curtains and amplifying equipment? Surely it cannot be funding but lack of appreciation of the role of arts in education.

Further, it is worrisome that there are no effective controls in place to prevent inexperienced or sub-standard arts trainers from contaminating the legacy that pioneering arts organisations such as Amakhosi and Black Umfolosi painstakingly helped to build with meagre resources during the past three decades.

The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) is culpable in this area as they have been granting permits to unqualified or inexperienced artists to conduct arts education in schools. It is not fair in my view to expect schools to play this role as they have neither capacity nor resources to effectively play this role or better still does it not make business sense for the Department of Arts and Culture to recruit and support arts education monitors through the NACZ? Or is this not a sign of self-regulation overdue? In simple and practical terms self-regulation around arts education could mean initially starting with a code that we all sign to and register, or database of credible practitioners and organisations in the area of arts education in schools and their particular areas of specialisation. The legal and health professions offer excellent examples of going about self-regulation.

Are the current efforts by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture an effort to domesticate the Seoul Agenda on arts education in schools? If yes, this begs further questions as to how the country strategy on the Seoul Agenda was developed because there is no known public process regarding this. Most of the teachers that I spoke to during the Plan-Intwasa Festival High School Drama Competition do not know about the Seoul Agenda on arts education!

It could be argued that the responsible minister, David Coltart, is not keen or does not have an appreciation of arts and culture or is not the right person to be thrust with providing national leadership on arts and culture. For example, the cultural policy is taking forever to complete, suffice to say with all the funding that the Department of Arts and Culture received from Treasury under the 2012 national budget, how could the department still take a begging bowl to Unesco and Culture Fund! What legacy are we creating where the Department of Arts and Culture, the NACZ and the creative civil society compete for meagre arts funding available!

For meaningful arts education in schools, the provision and generation of relevant literature is critical. This therefore begs some pertinent questions to the department on whether any arts books were part of the books distributed to schools recently under the Unicef funding?

Further, Raisedon Baya’s Anthology of Plays Tomorrow’s People is now a set book for schools. Is the ministry going to publish the plays and distribute them nationally? We are aware that the British Council is in discussion with the Ministry of Education on the promotion of Shakespeare’s plays in schools. While we value and subscribe to the 2005 Unesco Convention on the promotion and protection of cultural diversity, we take exception to Shakespeare’s or other foreign plays or other artistic work taking precedence over indigenous art and artists, particularly in the education and modelling of children, the majority, if not all, do not derive any cultural significance from Shakespeare’s plays or any foreign plays for that matter, but Stephen Chifunyise’s, Cont Mhlanga’s or Raisedon Baya’s, just to mention but three published local playwrights.

Further, how many or which artistic groups or artists are part of the official Zimbabwean delegation to the ongoing Olympics in Britain?

Now turning to NGOs such as Plan supporting rights-based arts education in school. While we value the contribution of the funding to rights-based arts education, we challenge the NGOs to adhere to fair and reasonable balance between content and form or aesthetics of producing and presenting drama. It is the rule of thumb that in order for one to produce good drama they need a script written by a competent or experienced person, the script needs to be equally directed by a competent or experienced person who in turn needs trained and talented performers to bring the story to bear.

Suffice to say writers, directors and actors collectively create for the audience. It is therefore against the norm and standard practice to disregard these imperatives. Though NGOs never seem to get it that it makes for genuine and meaningful child-centred development if the role of NGOs such as Plan is to provide funding for training in drama for example because when children have the skills and know-how of expressing themselves through drama, practically all thematic issues fall in place without compromising on the aesthetics of drama, and NGOs for their lack of either understanding or appreciation of drama aesthetics insisting on thematic dogma or propaganda which often kills creativity and the drama itself.

One does not need to mention several times not even once for an audience to know that a play is about the girl child or Aids! This simply reduces well-meaning initiatives to seemingly acts of public relations or marketing by the culpable NGOs. In all honesty and fairness what is the point of getting children to perform plays to none audience of competition adjudicators, NGO officials and fellow competitors and more so perform plays that they neither created nor directed themselves but a mere figment of teachers and NGO officials!

How does a peer school drama competition (peer in that basically the children were or often perform to fellow student competitors) engender the rights of the girl child or any other rights for that matter! Working with children around abuse and rights violations requires a holistic psychosocial support approach because often the majority of the children have suffered some form of abuse from either parents or teachers themselves. How do children tell stories of abuse by teachers when the teachers write and direct the plays?

I would conclude with a quote from Bjorn Maes: “Culture is the song, not the instrument; and we’re all in this symphony together. Culture must be regarded in its full potential scope and quality. Reducing it to a handy tool for development is grossly disregarding both culture and development. Blindly instrumentalising arts disciplines to pass development messages like bitter pills to be swallowed, is cutting both short.”

It is about time the arts in general or arts education in particular should in fact not be left to the whims and insecurities of international donor agencies or NGOs for support. We have published plays addressing the very issues that NGOs are preoccupied with. Why not adapt these and not only promote visibility and consumption of locally written and published plays but also allow schools to work with professionally produced scripts and equally importantly contribute towards economically viable livelihoods for our writers?

Imagine if the Department of Arts and Culture would pay Baya market rates for the next three years or so for his plays! He could turn into a potential investor of one or more distressed publishing houses!

The Over-Seas League, London

8 August 2012

Senator David Coltart’s question and answer session with members of the Zimbabwe diaspora in London:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh5EVxRvdVQ