• 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

The Zimdiaspora

8 August 2012

By Eugene Majuru and Anthony Robinson

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Education Sports and Culture met several disaporans in London last night in an event held in the British capital.

Also present at the event was the deputy Ambassador, Cecil Chinenere.

Questions presented to Coltart included challenges being faced in Zimbabwean education and how the education system can be improved and the role being played by the ministry in terms of sponsorship, fund raising and how to work with people in the diaspora.

Lucia Dube, a resident in the UK expressed her appreciation to Coltart for engaging with the community during his visits to the UK.

“As far as I know you are the only minister who always comes to engage with the diaspora community. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and other ministers come but do not fully engage with community members. On my recent visit to Zimbabwe I tried to engage with government departments but the problem was knowing who is who in Zimbabwe.

“There is confusion and no one knows who is to produce the policy. I met someone in Tsvangirai’s` office and was told the issue was handed over to a senior official who is not well at the moment and is away from work. As far as engaging with government and diasporans I was wondering how best we could do it. Some ministers do not want to engage”, she said.

Grace Sinikiwe Mupfurutsa a Zimbabwean human rights activist based in Bedfordshire said she attended the event because “I believe education is one of the basic human rights, I wanted to find out what the Minister had to say”.

Mupfurutsa encouraged other Zimbabweans based in various parts of the world to start helping and supporting the education system in Zimbabwe by sponsoring school fees and uniforms to under privileged children and give them upliftment as it comes at a small cost.

Former Zimbabwe athletics coach Stanley Madiri, popularly known as “Fresh“, attended the event and fully supports Zimbabwe sports.

Asked if he saw any of the remaining three athletes in the current Olympics winning any medal he said: “from the performances I have watched there will be no medal for Zimbabwe. If Zimbabwe is looking for medals it takes a whole lot more. After having worked with athletes in Zimbabwe I know that talent is in abundance in Zimbabwe but interventions need to be put into place to aid development”

Asked if he was contributing to Zimbabwean sports he replied “I have offered my services to coach the Zimbabwean athletes on several occasions but did not get favourable response from the athletics association in Harare”

Madiri is currently attending a coaching conference being held in London. “I invited several national athletics coaches from Zimbabwe to attend the conference”.

Achievements of Madiri include coaching Christina Ohurugu, 400m athlete representing team GB in current Olympics. He is also behind British 200m champion Desiree Henrys and Jodie Williams, world junior champion who won gold in the 100m and silver in the 200m in Canada 2011.

The Chronicle

By Jonah Nyoni

7 August 2012

Education stands at the centre of all development.

As a result, the improvement of education leads to upgrading of individuals, families and national economies. The attainment of universal primary education is so key to human development that the UN decided to include it in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Former South African President Nelson Mandela once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” The notion that education is the pillar of human development can never be overemphasised.

It is in this context that the situation at satellite, farm or rural schools must be considered. These schools are operational and serving an immense purpose in the community, but more needs to be done to equip them. The needs could be infrastructural, technical or personnel.

For example, there is Chinego Secondary School in Binga, which was established this year. There is a need for boreholes and building of proper classrooms since the pupils learn in huts. There are others like Tabalwa Primary School, Manyanda Secondary School and Mabula Primary School. These schools are playing  an important role and should be taken care of.

Even in some older schools, children sit on concrete floors during lessons, this after having walked long distances to get to school. More to that, some children have to share only a single textbook, if ever there is any. Some schools in Binga have no trained teachers at all yet in other areas, particularly in urban centres, the situation is better.

This urban-rural dichotomy must be a thing of old but has been perpetuated to the disadvantage of the rural child, especially in Binga. This has documented effects on the education of pupils and in the furtherance of their tertiary education.

A recent article in Sunday News read:

“Thousands of schoolchildren in Matabeleland North Province are denied their basic right to education as they lack the provision of proper classrooms, water, sanitation and electricity.”

In the same story it was noted that there are only 26 schools in Matabeleland North offering Advanced Level education and critical subjects like mathematics and science. This is a drawback for most students, especially if they are to seek places in tertiary institutions like universities, colleges and polytechnics.

Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, made crucial remarks at a classroom commissioning ceremony in Lupane East in Somgolo Primary School a few weeks ago.  He said:

“This is a perpetuation of a negative cycle because children are not getting the quality education they deserve because there are few schools that teach these critical subjects. This is why children have a problem in gaining admission to universities as they lack mathematics and science. This is a poor negative cycle resulting in few science and mathematics teachers and only a few students will also pass them.”

Writing about education in rural South Africa, Michael Gardiner notes a situation synonymous with what we have in rural Zimbabwe.

He says: “Many people and their schools, particularly but not only in rural areas, struggle with real difficulties such as the lack of classrooms, poor access to services such as water and electricity, no landline telephones and hence no Internet, very few public or school libraries and the like. Many of these problems are linked to socio-economic factors, such as poverty and unemployment, and they also have a direct influence on the quality of education that is available to children.”

This researcher noted 10 essential needs that should be met if these rural schools are to achieve better success:
l Clean running water
l Electricity
l Libraries and books
l Laboratories
l Computer laboratories
l Ablution facilities
l Office equipment
l Sports facilities
l Proper infrastructural development
l Skilled personnel

As noted above, strenuous strides should be made to ensure that there is a special focus on these shortcomings. In addition, proper housing, provision of transport, and perhaps other motivational incentives need to be provided to attract and retain trained teachers in satellite rural schools.

There is still a mountain to climb for some schools in Binga to be in conformity with these standards.

However, collaborative and concerted effort can bring about better results. Government and other institutions should work towards the attainment of better learning standards.