Radio VOP

March 15 2012

The Queen of England is the only international figure most likely to convince President Robert Mugabe to change his hard line policies, former US acting principal deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Bellamy was told.

According to the latest Wiki Leaks cable, the 88-year old Zimbabwe leader is known to hold in high esteem, Queen Elizabeth, despite being stripped of his Knighthood conferred on him in 1994. The Queen stripped Mugabe of his ceremonial knighthood to express Britain’s revulsion over human rights abuses.

Four years ago Mugabe told a campaign rally in Chitungwiza that he still respected the Queen and heaped the blame for the loss of his knighthood on former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

“We continue to respect the queen,” Mugabe told a crowd at the campaign rally. “It’s the demons at Downing Street that need to be exorcised.”

Suggestions that The Queen of England was the best person to persuade Mugabe to soften his political positions emerged after the US indicated it needed to send an eminent person like its former ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young to meet the former guerrilla leader. The US hoped Young would encourage Mugabe to moderate his policies, but it was suggested that the only person Mugabe was likely to listen to was The Queen of England.

This was said by the former US Charge de’ Affaires in Harare, Earl Irving in a diplomatic cable made available this week.

Irving said this surfaced during a meeting between Morgan Tsvangirai, David Coltart and Welshman Ncube with former US acting principal deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Bellamy in March 2001.

This was before the MDC’s infamous split in 2005.

The MDC leaders met Bellamy to discuss the worsening political crisis in Zimbabwe. President Mugabe and Zanu PF had just won the 2000 elections which were marred by violence and intimidation.

The MDC leaders were complaining about the violence and intimidation that was pervading the country and the former US top official asked what role Washington could play in “these trying times”.

In response Ncube suggested to Bellamy that a visit by the former US ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young to meet President Mugabe would bear fruits.

But other MDC leaders, Tsvangirai and Coltart shot Ncube’s suggestion down saying said there was no really international figure other than the Queen of England, who could influence Mugabe in any meaningful way.

The other leaders at the meeting included Morgan Tsvangirai and David Coltart.

But the problem, the leaders said, was that it was unlikely to bring the Queen to meet Mugabe to discuss the political problems facing the former British colony.

The Zimbabwean

By Mxolisi Ncube

14 March 2012

David Coltart, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, has urged Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to be actively involved in uplifting education.

The sector is still trying to recover from the economic rot that has spanned more than a decade. The resultant brain-drain created teacher shortages, while the under-funded ministry has also failed to adequately resource schools.

“I would have loved to have all of you back home to assist in reviving our education, but since some of you cannot safely return now, I will settle for the second prize of having you source and donate resources that you would send to Zimbabwe,” Coltart told participants at the Zimbabwe Diaspora Education Support Initiative recently.

“Instead of sourcing books that could cost millions to send to Zimbabwe, yet some of them might not even be relevant to our education, I would advise that you send the money home via a trust. We would then negotiate with publishers to purchase millions of books.”

The minister bemoaned the current level of education, adding that in some provinces, like Matabeleland and Manicaland, Grade 7 students were no better than Grade 2s in their level of education. He said that with adequate resources sourced, such disparities could be addressed and education levels brought back to world class levels.

He also highlighted the disparities in pass rates – which he said stood at 30 percent of rural school pupils at primary level compared to the 70 percent of their urban counterparts. The gap is better in secondary schools.

Matabeleland remains a challenge, with education provision still lagging behind, 32 years after independence.

“This is not a political statement, but Matabeleland still suffers the effects of the 1980s, when government did not build schools there, giving the excuse that there were disturbances in the area. What I have seen driving in the region, especially with secondary schools, is worse than in other provinces outside of the region and that needs to be addressed,” added Coltart.

Daniel Molokele, the ZDESI co-coordinator, said he was delighted with the meeting, particularly the high attendance.

ZDESI is a loose network of organisations and individuals based in the Diaspora, fighting to restore the education system to its world class standard.

PSnews

13 March 2012

The Government of Zimbabwe has been urged by one of its own Ministers to lift the freeze on some critical Public Service jobs to improve service delivery.

Minister for Health and Child Welfare, Henry Madzorera said the Ministry of Health was failing to employ critical staff such as doctors due to delays in getting Treasury’s approval.

“It is recommended that the freeze on the posts within the health sector be lifted, to enable recruitment, to fill in the vacant posts within the health sector,” Mr Madzorera said.

“Shortages of manpower compromises health service delivery.” He said in 2011, a program of recruiting doctors for various districts hit a snag when it came to winning Treasury’s approval.

“Most doctors found alternative employment by the time concurrence was granted by Treasury,” he said. “The doctors were in gainful employment elsewhere without the Public Service, hence the shortage.”

Minister for Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart said Treasury had not provided any money for buildings in schools either.

Mr Coltart said the non-existent funding was part of a grants program that used to go a long way in assisting schools.

“In last year’s budget we were allocated US$66 million for non salary expenditure,” Mr Coltart said.

“We received US$14.8 million.

“Accordingly; there was no money available for any building either in grants or special grants for education.

“We hope that this will not happen again this year,” he said.

The Zimbabwean

By Chris Ncube

13 March 2012

Education, Sports and Culture Minister, David Coltart, has praised ZIFA president, Cuthbert Dube, for ridding the organisation of partisan politics.

“ZIFA has for many years been run poorly and along political lines. I am happy that the current president is trying his best to clean it up,” Coltart said at the weekend.

“It is important that the organisation is run apolitically. Until that is addressed, it will be difficult to get financial backing and improve the game.”

Administrators linked to Zanu (PF) have over the years been blamed for ineptly running ZIFA. Leo Mugabe, a nephew to President Mugabe, beleaguered former Chief Executive, Henrietta Rushwaya, Rafiq Khan and Themba Mliswa, are former officials with links to Zanu (PF).

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Statement by Daniel Molokele

Johannesburg

10 March 2012 

ZDESI Hails the Consultation Meeting With the Minister of Education as a Big Success!

The Zimbabwe Diaspora Education Support Initiative (ZDESI) is so pleased to announce that it recently held a successful meeting with the Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart.

The ZDESI is a loose network of various Diaspora organisations and individuals that have an active interest in contributing to the development of education in Zimbabwe.

ZDESI’s vision is a big dream of an education system in Zimbabwe that is world class. While its mission is to seek to promote the active role of the Diaspora in supporting the progressive and sustainable development of Zimbabwe’s education system.

In this regard, the members of ZDESI are inspired and motivated by both their patriotic duty and also their appreciation and love for their beautiful motherland, Zimbabwe.

The successful meeting was held on Saturday 10^th March 2012 between 2pm and 5pm at the Gold Reef city hotel at Marshalltown in Johannesburg.

The meeting was hosted by the Global Zimbabwe Forum with the active administrative support from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Regional office and funding assistance from the Open Society Institute of Southern Africa (OSISA)

Initially, it was anticipated that a maximum of about 25 people would attend the event but eventually, the turnout ended up being bigger than expected with over 35 people in attendance.

The participants were mostly representatives from the various Zimbabwean civil society and community organisations that are actively based in South Africa. Most of the said organisations and individuals are already actively involved in fundraising for or working on various education initiatives in Zimbabwe.

Please find below the list of the resolutions of the 10^th March meeting:

Preamble

The Zimbabwe Diaspora Education Support Initiative notes that in the past decade there has been a deterioration of Zimbabwe’s once world class education system.

During this period, declining public funding for education, the political situation and the harsh socio-economic conditions all combined to have a negative impact on education.

We acknowledge the efforts by the Government in particular the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture and its development partners to revive the education sector and the significant efforts to allocate more resources to education, increase enrollment, cater for under privileged school children and improve the quality of education.

We note that despite the problems facing this sector, Zimbabwe still has the highest literacy rates in Africa and this is in part due to the efforts of the inclusive government to make education a critical part of the country’s broader reconstruction and recovery strategy

We agree that education is critical in combating inequality, eradicating and poverty, achieving gender equality, eradicating illiteracy

We acknowledge the philanthropic efforts of thousands of Zimbabweans around the world who continue to contribute to the recovery of the education sector.

We therefore as a collective resolve to do the following:

1.      To set up a Zimbabwe Diaspora Education Support Trust. The Trust shall be recognised as a public platform that shall seek to link up the key education stakeholders both in Zimbabwe and in the Diaspora community. It will facilitate donations from the Diaspora community to the education sector in Zimbabwe

2.      To encourage the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture to make available to the Diaspora Initiative, its education policy and the ministry’s priority areas in order to facilitate the involvement of the Diaspora and fundraising for some of the initiatives.

3.      To create a database of Zimbabwean education experts both in the country and in the Diaspora. Such individuals would have expertise in a variety of areas including curriculum development, e-learning, sport development, teacher training and other areas. It is further envisaged that both Government and individuals working in the education sector could tap into this database.

4.      To create a database of Diaspora organisations working in education. Such a database would be regularly updated to map which areas each organisation is working on to avoid duplicating efforts.

5.      To expand the Zimbabwe Education Consultative Forum. The forum has already been set up and has a current membership of almost one hundred subscribers. This is an interactive platform which enables Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to engage all the key stakeholders in the education sector both in Zimbabwe and in the Diaspora community and share their experiences.

The forum, it is envisaged will use radio, television, public meetings/debates, and internet based platforms like mailing lists, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, among other ways to engage on education issues.

6.      To support the setting up of various Diaspora initiatives and philanthropy projects aimed at fundraising for education and contributing to its development.

7.   To engage the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) on streamlining and simplifying the process of obtaining duty free concessions and where possible duty-free certificates for items donated towards education.

The Zimbabwean

By Zwanai Sithole

9 March 2012

The Ministry of Education, Arts, Sports and Culture will descend heavily on school teachers who encourage school children to engage in partisan political behaviour or hate speech, Education, Arts, Sports and Culture minister David Coltart has said.

Reacting to an incident in which a little grade two child was made to recite a poem live on national television insulting Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Finance minister Tendai Biti during President Robert Mugabe’s birthday gala in Chipinge over the weekend, Coltart said his ministry will investigate the incident with the view of disciplining those teachers who were given the task to get the innocent child to memorise the poem.

“This incident should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Children should be saved from being sucked into partisan politics and should instead be encouraged to respect all national leaders and national offices irrespectiveof their party loyalties. Any teacher who encourages children to engage in partisan political behaviour or hate speech should be disciplined severely” Coltart told The Zimbabwean.

The minister said his ministry was waiting to receive an official report regarding the date of the offence, the teachers involved and what is alleged to have been said before instituting investigations.

“I encourage those who witnessed this alleged comment to let me have the details. I will seek to substantiate the claim. If proved correct then it is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms” he said.

Part of the poem the girl nicknamed “Senator Samantha” was made to recite in Shona on stage, in front of cameras and on national television beamed live went like this: Tsvangirai, ndaiti musoro kukura ndikati injere, ndange ndisingazivi kuti kurwara and…..kwamuri imi mai veBuhera, Tsvangirai isora rinoda kudzurwa. (Tsvangirai is like a weed which should be removed).

The MDC has already taken the issue to JOMIC.

New Zimbabwe

7 March 2012

Female Advanced Level and Grade 7 pupils outperformed their male counterparts for the second year running in the November 2011 exams, according to the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council.

A’ Level female pupils had a national pass rate of 87.12 percent in 2011, while the boys trailed with 83.91 percent. In 2010, the girls outshined the boys 77.7 to 74.76 percent.

A results analysis by ZIMSEC showed fewer students (10,479) sat A’ Level exams last year, compared to 11,317 in 2010.

The drop in candidates was also evident in the boys, with 14,657 sitting exams in November 2011 compared to 16,462 the previous year.

At Grade 7, the girls were top again on 30.85 percent, with the boys in their shadow with a 26.90 percentage pass rate.

The trend was slightly different at O’ Level for both 2010 and 2011. In 2010, the boys beat the girls 18.2 to 14.6 percent, but this narrowed slightly in 2011 with the boys ahead with 21.41 compared to girls at 17.58 percent.

Education campaigners are united in calling for increased funding for schools, and Education Minister David Coltart said Wednesday that the results were far from impressive.

Educationist and former cabinet minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said: “The education sector needs to be supported not the peanuts they are currently getting. These results are a wake-up call to government because education is key to the development of any nation.”

Wellington Koke, the principal of Harare’s Direct Contact School, said the results were a “wake-up call” to the government to get its priorities right.

“The average percent pass rate simply shows that something is lacking in the country’s education system, which is funding,” he said.

“The schools that passed do not enrol under performers. Average and under-performing students should be turned around through remedial teaching and that is how we can boost the percentage pass rate. It’s useless to have same schools performing better every year while others continue to go down the drain.”

He pointed out that most rural day schools were manned by untrained staff with lesser resources compared to the boarding schools and church-run institutions which are traditionally the best performers.

Coltart complains that the bulk of his department’s budget still goes to salaries, with little spent on improving the school environment and supply of teaching aids.

The Zimbabwean Unlimited

By Daniel Molokele

5 March 2012

Dear Sir/Madam

RE: Invitation to Attend Diaspora Consultation Meeting with the Minister of Education

The Zimbabwe Diaspora Education Support Initiative (ZDESI) would like to invite you to be one of the participants at the consultation meeting that will be held with the Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, honourable Senator David Coltart.

ZDESI is a loose network of various organisations and dedicated individuals that are based in the Zimbabwean Diaspora community who would like to see the Zimbabwean education system return to its previous acclaimed world class standards.

The meeting will seek to explore various options in which the Zimbabwean Diaspora community could pursue in support of the revival of the education system back in Zimbabwe.

The meeting will be held according to the following details:

Venue: Gold Reef City Hotel, 58 Anderson Street (corner Harrison Avenue), Marshalltown, Johannesburg

Date: Saturday 10^th March 2012

Time: 2pm to 5pm

Please do kindly confirm your attendance by the end of day on Wednesday 7^th March 2012

Please also kindly note that participation to the meeting will only be reserved only for the confirmed participants due to administrative and logistical reasons.

RSVP:  Ms. Nora Tapiwa on +27 79 138 3896 or zimcsoforum@yahoo.co.uk

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