• Speaking at UCT 1pm today on the topic "Reflections of a Christian lawyer in Zimbabwe" #

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

• Wade booed for standing for re-election at 85. Why is that we politicians never learn that we all have a sell by date ?http://t.co/nHPE4NKY #
• "Education Unplugged," a candid conversation w/Minister @davidcoltart on #education in #Zim Tomorrow, 3pm @ Eastgate. Free and open to all. #
• http://t.co/yjJ27jYP fears for missing activist #
• Get better soon Tendai http://t.co/uIHmDcDq via @newsdayzimbabwe #
• Beast in hospital with heart condition http://t.co/uIHmDcDq via @newsdayzimbabwe #
• Good luck to Zimbabwe's Warriors as they do battle in Burundi today. We are all behind you as you begin the job of rebuilding Zim football. #
• Well done Warriors – despite being pulled together at the last minute they played well and we must just finish the business in Harare #
• ZANU PF MP involved in car accident http://t.co/be2Gcdqf Edward Chindori Chininga is viewed as a moderate who spoke out re diamond concerns #
• Hon David Coltart – Minister of Education, Zimbabwe, Opening Speech, ICTE Summit 2012 http://t.co/pdLo5bll via @AfricanBrains #
• "One of the oldest lessons is that private property ownership is the strongest incentive to advancing people's skills and talents" Jack Kemp #
• "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that his justice cannot sleep forever" Thomas Jefferson 1781 Notes on Virginia #

The Standard

3 March 2012

The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) has failed to pay Ordinary and Advanced level examination markers due to serious cash flow problems, The Standard has been told.

One examiner last week said the failure by Zimsec to pay the allowances was inconveniencing the teachers who dedicated their time marking the examinations.

“We were told that we would get our money, seven days after marking the final papers, but it’s now a month after the results are out and most pupils have gone for Lower Sixth and we are still waiting,” the examiner said.

“We were given a few dollars a month after marking and no explanation has been given for the outstanding balance.”

The examiner said it was outrageous that Zimsec breached a contract, whose terms the organisation set without consulting the markers.

“We do not negotiate the contract, but just sign one they create unilaterally,” he said.

“One would think they could fulfill their own terms, but they have the impunity to breach the contract.”

The markers were supposed to be paid between 90 cents and US$1,20 per each paper they marked. Markers who were expecting between US$600 and US$700 but got only US$300.

Zimsec director Happy Ndanga said his organisation communicated its position to the examiners.

“We have communicated with them and do not know why we should talk to the newspaper,” Ndanga said. “They know why there is a delay and how they will be paid.”

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart last week confirmed the non-payment of examiners adding that they were still waiting for funds from treasury.

“The failure to pay is part of a major cash crisis within Zimsec,” Coltart said. “Treasury has not released money for Zimsec to pay. Payment will be done once Zimsec gets the money.”

Coltart said the Ministry of Finance had not indicated when the money was likely to be availed.

By David Coltart

2 March 2012

Zimbabwe is approaching a critical point in her unique although checkered history. Frost and Sullivan report massive development in our mining sector, analysts have accounted for a strong return to Zimbabwean tourism, and our work to innovate education, culture, the arts and sport continues to raise eyebrows and intrigue around the globe. Though partnered with cautious optimism, we see before us a tangible and exciting roadmap for fundamental infrastructural progression.

With this outlook in mind, we and the international community have to now address that which has flown under the radar for much too long – the responsibility in newfound opportunity and what must be undertaken to encourage sustainable development.

We have to pay close attention to specific investments in the nation, ensuring corporate integration and commercial goals match a commitment to our own. For the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in particular, our goals have been to enhance and exhilarate the athlete, artist and student experience in Zimbabwe, foster pillars of structural stability and slow the ‘talent drain’, seeping away our nation’s brightest and best. We must now, in an era of change, accept the certain realities that in past have hindered this occurring and increase attention to what can be done.

As fragile and imperfect as the rebuilding process is in Zimbabwe from the election violence of 2008, and though we still consider ourselves newly out of an absolute state of crisis, our political strides are the only avenue we have and the restructuring process from my sector has to be cognoscente of this.  We were once a beacon of African education; indeed it is tragic that today, we have but $5.00 USD to spend on every child’s education in Zimbabwe for the entire year and have received in total only $1 million USD of support from the United States over the last three. Increasing dropout rates, throughout the nation, perpetuate crime and amplify political strife. The truth is simply that if you invest in education, invest in health, you invest in human potential and indeed set the stage for economic capital. If we do so Zimbabwe will boom again.

However, although the Zimbabwean mining sector is expected to grow by 44 percent this year alone, buoyed by an increase in platinum, diamond, coal and ferrochrome output, western political capital and investment across the board has been notably low. Our network of partners and sponsors therefore play a pivotal role, one that requires political and social capital in order to amplify appropriately. Our goal is to increase the education budget, to innovate ‘learning as usual’ and revolutionize our schooling system. We are fighting for every child to receive a quality, contemporary education from qualified teachers nationwide.

The Government has received support to restore the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), which assisted some 400,000 underprivileged children access education last year. In conjunction with UNICEF, we have provided 22 million textbooks to schoolchildren throughout Zimbabwe, allowing the ratio of student-to textbook-to reach 1:1, a tremendous precedent across most of the continent. Little is mentioned of these achievements abroad and the profound impact they are having on bringing about peaceful democratic transformation in Zimbabwe.

Though our Ministry has worked diligently with NGOs that continue to act, much more can be done in this climate. It is to this point, fair to say that shifting the international narrative on Zimbabwe is of the utmost importance.

We want to invite the world to see the changes we have accomplished, address the challenges we continue to face and help surpass the benchmarks we are working towards. In that light, we look to showcase a series of social media-disseminated case studies, interviews with Zimbabwe’s best of tomorrow and those that carry the flag proudly in their respective sects, such as our accomplished sports ambassadors. We look to document a modern Zimbabwe and in doing so, encourage openness, dialogue, and send a clear message worldwide as to what must be done to sustainably refill the once-breadbasket of Africa.

Zimbabwe’s growing prospects need effective oversight and indeed promotion to properly engage the international community.  With an eye on opportunity through the Education Transition Fund and a calculated investment in the foundation of Zimbabwe’s future, we can set a groundbreaking precedent and provide tangible change at an instrumental level, for the long-term.

News Day

By Conway Tutani

2 March 2012

Last year, eminent Ndebele historian Pathisa Nyathi said something profound.

He said arresting those who dared talk about the Gukurahundi massacres would not solve any problem but rather continue raising emotions.

He said the old wounds were still festering, people were boiling within. He added:

“You can arrest people but you can’t wish it away. They need to be very simple, humble, and honest and accept responsibility for the good of Zimbabwe, for us to have meaningful unity, for us to have genuine reconciliation.”

MDC secretary-general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga was this week quoted in the Southern Edition of NewsDay as telling people at a campaign rally that the refusal by President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to recognise Welshman Ncube as one of the inclusive government principals was informed by tribal malice based on his Ndebele origins.

She said: “(The late Gibson) Sibanda was the president of the ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions), but when they saw things going (their way) they kicked out Gibson and chased away people from the party.”

I stand to be corrected, but is it not a fact that at the formation of the MDC in 1999, Sibanda agreed to step down in favour of Tsvangirai for the same reason that Ncube approached Mutambara in 2005 to lead his breakaway faction of the MDC after being reportedly turned down by Tendai Biti as the conventional wisdom at that time was that a party with a Shona at the helm stood a better chance of national appeal?

To say Tsvangirai pushed Sibanda aside is historically incorrect. It’s possible some people were uncomfortable with that set-up, but they did not publicly say so then. Let’s stay true to the background to this.

“Mugabe removed Joshua (Nkomo), Tsvangirai removed Sibanda . . . ,” she continued.

If she is referring to Mugabe’s axeing of Nkomo from the Cabinet in 1983, then it’s correct that Mugabe removed Nkomo.

But if it’s in reference to Mugabe’s eventual ascendancy to the Presidency in 1980 through Zanu PF after he and others broke away from the Nkomo-led Zapu to form Zanu, then that’s highly misleading. How could Nkomo be removed from a party to which he never belonged?

What informs this overreadiness to overread into events?

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said even in Cabinet, Ncube was attacked “left, right and centre, sitting in front of people and those that come from here (Matabeleland) have not defended him. Out of all those who come from here, it’s only I who at times comes to his defence.”

Is this the correct interpretation of the Cabinet goings-on or she completely misreads the situation? I ask so because, by her own admission, even ministers from her own party, by “not defending” Ncube, do not see things the way she sees them.

Is she implying that David Coltart and Moses Mzila-Ndlovu read the situation fundamentally differently from her? It’s strange indeed. Does she miss this irony?

“They should tell the truth that they hate Ndebeles. We started seeing their hatred of the Ndebele by their unanimous stance that they do not want Ncube to be DPM (Deputy Prime Minister).”

Has she has fallen into the trap of Tafataona Mahoso who thinks everything is determined by race? In her case, it’s tribal determinism to the exclusion of other factors; to her everything hinges on tribe, but life is not as simple as that.

She must avoid becoming a fanatic, defined by British statesman Winston Churchill as “one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”. People at the top must take responsibility for what happens after what they say.

Yes, there are a lot of things to be angry about in our nation. But people need to control anger before it controls them because the pain and backlash we inflict on others during anger are harder forgotten. Anger usually does not change or improve the situation.

That said, people should avoid prejudice. Pre-judging means you have already made up your mind ahead of time, mostly without knowing all the facts.

You already has an opinion — a firm opinion — about someone or something or some event. We are all liable do it at one time or another.

Pre-judging can make a person blind to the facts — and what’s “true” may be in reality false. The thing with prejudice is to be aware and conscious of it. We all have biases, but let’s avoid such virulence.

Going back to the Gukurahundi issue, Nyathi said it was wrong for all Shonas to be accused of being responsible for the massacres as many had no clue as to what was happening.

“What is happening now is the same as during Gukurahundi where all Ndebeles were being accused of being dissidents,” he said. “It’s wrong to paint all Shonas with one brush and one wrong can’t correct another wrong.”

Mbuso Khuzwayo, secretary for Ibhetshu likaZulu, said while Shonas might have indirectly benefited from the atrocities of Gukurahundi, it was wrong to blame all of them for the genocide.

He said there were many Shonas that were as much victims as the Ndebeles.

It’s not all about Shonas as a tribe, but about an oppressive, corrupt system with tentacles all over the country – from Manicaland to Matabeleland.

The oppressive system was kept intact after independence in 1980 as the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act remained (now reincarnated as the Public Order and Security Act) and the State of Emergency was repackaged as the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Regulations. Samora Machel, not known as an intellectual, said the liberation wars in the region were not being waged against whites as a race, but the system.

“People who think with their epidermis or their genitalia or their clan are the problem to begin with. One does not banish this spectre by invoking it. If I would not vote against someone on the grounds of ‘race’ or ‘gender’ alone, then by the exact same token I would not cast a vote in his or her favour for the identical reason.

Yet see how this obvious question makes fairly intelligent people say the most alarmingly stupid things,” wrote journalist and historian Christopher Hitchens.

Perhaps, as our nation gets older, it will be enough for any citizen to say simply and with pride: “I am a Zimbabwean.”

SW Radio Africa

By Tererai Karimakwenda

29 February 2012

Several churches, civic groups and community organizations have joined in the search for missing human rights activist Paul Chizuze, who disappeared over three weeks ago after leaving his home in Bulawayo.

There is growing concern he may have been kidnapped or even murdered, as there has been no sign of his Nissan twin cab either, which he was driving when he was last seen on February 8th.

Education Minister and Senator David Coltart, who worked on projects with Chizuze in the late 80s and 90s, told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that several churches, the Legal Resources Foundation and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace have all joined in efforts to locate Chizuze.

“I also know that lawyers have been involved and family members have gone to rural areas. Other community activists have also been searching at police stations,” Coltart explained, adding that he was “deeply distressed” at the disappearance.

Coltart said what is worrying people the most is that “there is absolutely no leads whatsoever” after so much time. “You can understand how a person can go missing but it is really odd that something as big as a vehicle should go missing,” the legislator said.

Asked whether Chizuze might have uncovered something that threatened the security of top officials, Coltart said: “It could very well be, he has been working on issues that could be very embarrassing to hardliners.

Chizuze was a well-known grassroots activist who worked mostly as a paralegal with human rights and community groups in Bulawayo. According to Coltart, he did “groundbreaking work” and has a lot of information on the Gukurahundi massacres of the late eighties.