The Chronicle

14 November 2011

The Government will next year introduce a retraining programme for all the teachers in the country so that they keep up with prevailing trends in the profession, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, said yesterday.

The retraining is part of proposed education sector reforms that would be carried out under phase two of the Education Transition Fund, which may also see a revision of the country’s education curriculum.

Phase one of the programme reduced the pupil to textbook ratio from an almost unworkable 15:1 at moist schools, to 1:1 for all subjects, including some minority languages.

Under phase two, a similar thing would be done for secondary schools, while teachers would begin on Government funded refresher courses.

The teachers would be trained by teams at their schools and the funding would come from the ETF and Treasury.

Speaking at a Professor Welshman Ncube-led MDC rally at Nketa Hall, Minister Coltart said funding for education would also be decentralised from Harare to provincial and district level. He also said the Government was waiting for an opportune time to scrap teacher incentives.

“I have recently come from Finland and Denmark to secure funding for the project. Our teachers are out of touch with modern trends of teaching. Most of them cannot use computer designed programmes to teach pupils. We want them to be abreast with teaching methods, for the benefit of the entire country. We also want to renew the water and sewage infrastructure at schools,” said Minister Coltart.

In an interview after the rally, Minister Coltart said teachers would be taught new teaching techniques that would make learning more exciting for pupils, while adding on to the teachers on-the-job skills training.

He said the country’s education curriculum was last revised in 1986 and in some cases disadvantaged learners.

“We are working on a comprehensive programme to update it. We should move with the times as most of our children cannot use computers,” said Minister Coltart.

He said his ministry was moving to decentralise the disbursement of education funds from Harare.

“We have been trying to send education funds through Harare and it is our experience that money gets caught up in Harare. Now we will distribute the money through per capita grants. This means every child will be allocated money from the Government and each school will be able to get the money at provincial or district level. The more pupils a school has, the more money it will get,” said Minster Coltart.

He said he was sorry that parents were still paying teacher incentives.

“I want to end them, bat at a responsible time. If we abolish them now, to please people, our teachers may turn into criminals. Our mission is to restore dignity to the teaching profession,” said Minister Coltart.

The minister said he was pleased that there were fewer conflicts between teachers’ unions and the Government as there were hardly any strikes or stayaways this year.

He said he was happy that for the first time, grade seven pupils sat for a Tonga examination.

Meanwhile, speaking at the same rally, Professor Welshman Ncube hit out at the MDC-T saying his party would never form a coalition with Morgan Tsvangirai’s party.

“This party does not exist for purposes of forming a coalition with the MDC-T or supporting the party.

“We exist to compete and present our credentials as a capable party with leaders who are up to the task of leading this country. I repeat, Tsvangirai is not our ally, just as Zanu-PF is also our competitor. Newspapers should stop writing fiction that we are here to support Tsvangirai,” said Prof Ncube.

He said Mr Tsvangirai was a hypocrite who went around saying President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF is a violent party, when his party is engaged in violent activities during a heated fight for posts in the run-up to their national congress in April.

“Even the party members are two-faced. They ask us to vote for Tsvangirai but when his back is turned, they point at him and start saying akulalutho lapha,” he said.

supersport.com

By Neil Manthorp

14th November 2011

I first met him when he was still playing first-class cricket and our paths crossed in press boxes and commentary boxes on a regular basis for the next 23 years.

For a long time, like many of his colleagues both on and off the field, I was intimidated by his eccentricities. We naturally fear or avoid what we don’t understand – human instinct. But I didn’t avoid conversation, far from it. I just avoided debate on the basis that I didn’t stand a chance and preferred to defer to his vastly superior knowledge.

Then, almost a decade after we first met, he was travelling around South Africa during Australia’s 1997 tour of South Africa looking more and more dishevelled. Nobody ever saw him at the ‘usual’ hotels and he brushed off my queries about his accommodation with a casual “oh, just with friends.”

We had just moved into a house we really could not afford and furniture was not only second hand but sparse. Still, I invited him to stay and he gladly accepted. He wore tracksuit pants the first evening which must have been at least 20 years old and a sleeveless Somerset sweater that was filthy, and smelly. My wife asked, understandably, when it had last been washed. He looked down at his chest and then up to her before replying, nonplussed: “But, it’s a cricket sweater…?” Evidently they were not intended to be washed. That night she put the entire contents of his duffle bag in the washing machine.

We had a new puppy at the time and we were battling to train it. The only decent piece of furniture we had was a beige sofa. The puppy fell in love with it and, if it wasn’t trying to jump on it, it was chewing the legs off it. He sat down on it and the puppy jumped on him. I removed the dog and asked our guest not to encourage it. This request was infinitely more difficult to comprehend than washing a dirty sweater – and impossible to comply with. So the dog stayed. It was a bit like having two dogs, actually. One was only a little bit better house-trained than the other.

One was a stubborn animal with a sense of mischief which seemed to revel in the attention it got from doing something naughty, and the other was a six-month old Ridgeback puppy.

It used to infuriate me that he would write so many articles about players, analysing their personalities and characters, without even talking to them. Maybe it was the fact that he was so accurate most of the time. I would challenge him about it and he would simply say: “Was I wrong?”

Then he really did get it wrong – horrendously and embarrassingly wrong in my opinion – when he suggested that Herschelle Gibbs should be made captain of the national team. “The maverick is often a leader in disguise,” he said. “Empower the rebel and the rest will fall into line.”

“Have you even spoken to him?” I asked. “Peter, you’re mad!” I said, smiling.

“Ah well, you can’t be right all the time. Never mind. Still, it got people talking, hey?” He didn’t mind one little bit.

I consulted him intensely when Zimbabwe Cricket invited me to return and help with their return to test cricket after an absence of six years. Peter had campaigned with passion against Zimbabwe’s right to play on the international stage claiming that ZC administrators were as corrupt as Mugabe and his ZanuPF cronies. I told him I wanted to go and see for myself – I said it was time I stopped judging from afar (and suggested that he might consider the same.)

He gave me his ‘approval’ and wished me good luck and I completed two short tours with the Zim national team as their media liaison officer. One evening I was surfing the web and was shocked to see an article in which he described me as a turncoat and accused me of having double standards. I was furious. We had a blazing row next time we met and I reminded him that I had sought the blessing of three critical people before accepting the assignment: Andy Flower, Senator David Coltart – and him. We did not speak again for over a year.

Then, on Thursday, he asked whether he could buy me a coffee on Sunday morning, the scheduled last day of the Newlands test. He wanted to “repair bridges.” I agreed – but made him promise to talk and listen with an open mind! He smiled. I’m pretty sure it meant ‘yes.’ But I’ll never know now.

A radio station in New Zealand asked me for an interview about the man I had known for so long. The presenter told me beforehand that NZ law precluded him from using the word ‘suicide’ in his interview. I assumed that meant it was my job to say it. “No, no – you can’t say it either,” he replied. “It’s against our law.”

It was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. It would have made Roebuck laugh out loud: “Australia and New Zealand are nanny states, I love them, but Africa is so much wilder and more free,” he told me more than once.

“After questioning by the police,” I heard myself saying, “he left his hotel room via the window, apparently without the assistance or intervention of anybody else.”

Roebuck. No wonder he wrote so brilliantly on the subject of flawed genius.

Zimbabwean Metro

14 November 2011

HARARE — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was as ripped by serious divisions and suspicions as President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU- PF, Wikileaks cables from 2001 to 2005 show.

Local U.S. diplomats learnt of the chaos, infighting and poor organisational framework of the then opposition party after meeting scores of the MDC’s senior leadership — including then deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire and other executive committee members such as Trudy Stevenson, David Coltart, Paul Nyathi and Tendai Biti.

Stevenson, now Zimbabwean ambassador to Senegal, was particularly scathing about her colleagues, making it clear to the Americans that she did not trust anyone in her party as she believed that many of her colleagues were ZANU- PF plants.

A fired up Stevenson told US diplomat Earl Irving in February 2001 that she did not trust her fellow members of parliament Tafadzwa Musekiwa, Job Sikhala and the Late Learnmore Jongwe, as well as Youth leader Nelson Chamisa because she thought they were ZANU- PF spies.

She said this group of MDC youths and others, whom she described as gatekeepers, stuck to Tsvangirai like glue and prevented anyone else from getting close to him.

She similarly did not trust Tsvangirai’s special advisor Gandi Mudzingwa either, adding emphatically: “I don’t trust anyone”.

United states embassy officials did say that they had no evidence to substantiate Stevenson’s claims.

“We can say with a fair degree of confidence that her distrust of certain younger members is a result of ZANU- PF’s strategy to sow doubt and discord within the opposition party,” embassy officials said.

Coltart was scathing the party’s Information department, then led by Jongwe, describing it as a disaster.

He had no kind words either for the accounting department, calling it a mess.

• In a cool and dark Copenhagen for Global Partnership for Education meeting – hoping to secure more funding for #Zimbabwe #039;s education sector #
• The Good, the Bad and the Odd http://t.co/L7OPlrn6 #
• Encouraging @KRuddMP video at opening of Global Partnership for Education: Australia making education international development aid priority #
• About to deliver Zimbabwe's pledge at the Global Partnership for Education in Copenhagen – commitment to make Education an absolute priority #
• Spoke at GPE re need to identify talented disadvantaged girls so they are nurtured through secondary school to become inspirational icons #
• Arrived in Helsinki for meetings with Finnish Ministers of Education and Development; Helsinki positively warm (10 degrees); Global warming? #
• Rats – #Tendulkar got so close to his 100th 100 but fell short on 76. Time for #India to take on #Zimbabwe at a Test – Zim cricket is back!! #
• Zimbabwe's two main power stations down because of "exogenous shocks" from transmission line in Mozambique – R Maarsdorp, Chair Zim Power Co #
• I wonder whether Tendulkar's quest for a 100th 100 will be as frustrating as the world's expectation that Bradnum end on an average of 100? #
• #South Africa cricket out for less than 100 – looks they are the ones who have been out of Test #cricket for 6 years rather than #Zimbabwe #
• #South Africa Cricket 111 for 1 on the 11-11-11 at just past 11 minutes to 11am!! #
• #Happy 11/11/11 #South Africa #Cricket team with 11 players at 111 for 1 at precisely 11am on 11-11-11 !!! #
• Must be the greatest #Nelson ever SA on 111 for 1 at 11 am on the 11-11-11 – now moved off it to 112 just after 11 #
• Now SA #cricket need 111 more to win at 11 minutes past 11am on the 11-11-11 – #Happy11 11-11 !! #
• At exactly 11 am on the 1-11-11 SA with 11 man team were on 111 for 1. Then at 11 mins past 11 on the 11-11-11 SA needed 111 to win. Howzat? #
• Amla out on 112 at double Nelson 111×2 (222) on the 11-11-11. Finally the 1s have run out… #
• Good for a laugh and also complimentary about Zimbabwe cricket http://t.co/kshnInGz – #
• Zimbabwe news: Brendan Taylor says Zimbabwe will continue being aggressive http://t.co/rVk9XWwd via @espncricinfo #

NewsDay

By Feluna Nleya

11 November 2011

CHIVHU — Evicted teachers and staff members from two Anglican Church-run schools in Chivhu and Mhondoro are back at work following High Court and Education Ministry rulings in their favour.

Six teachers from Daramombe Secondary and Primary schools and five from St Mark’s in Mhondoro were this week reinstated following the nullification of their eviction by High Court judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu last month.

Church of the Central Province of Africa Diocesan secretary Reverend Clifford Dzavo confirmed the development.

“The staff members who had been affected by the evictions are making their way back to school. By this week all of them should have gone back to work,” said Dzvavo.

“We only have to confirm with the primary school headmaster at Daramombe if he is prepared to come back. Otherwise the rest of the staff is back.”

The church’s ex-communicated leader Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, evicted through the Deputy Sheriff, both the primary and secondary school headmasters at Daramombe together with teachers and other support staff.

The eviction of the teachers saw the intervention of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart who condemned the act saying it was detrimental to the development of education in the country.

He ordered an investigation which produced a damning report about Kunonga’s actions.

The High Court also nullified the eviction of 14 staffers at Daramombe Mission by Kunonga saying the move was illegal.

Bhunu in his judgment said: “The first and second respondents (Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and Bishop Kunyanye) be and are hereby ordered to stay eviction of all staff at Daramombe High School and Primary School pending determination of the final order . . . The first and second respondents shall not interfere with the respective staff operation at Daramombe High School, Primary School and clinic.”

“ . . . Any of the staff members who may have been removed, be reinstated in their previous occupation and workstations, pending determination of the final order,” he added.

The Zimbabwean

By  Vusimusi Bhebhe

11 November 2011

The government plans to introduce a “second chance” programme to help children and youth forced out of school by political violence return to school or acquire vocational skills to enable them to move on with their lives, Education Minister David Coltart said.

Speaking at the launch of the Global Partnership for Education in Copenhagen, Denmark, Coltart said the Zimbabwean government was pursuing several initiatives to improve enrolment and the quality of education by 2015.

“We will introduce a major programme of second chance and skills education for children and youth who have missed out through the political chaos of the last decade, in particular for orphans and vulnerable children,” he said.

Thousands of children have been forced to cut short their education since 2000 following the displacement of their families from rural areas.

Marauding gangs of Zanu (PF) youth militias and self-styled war veterans have terrorised students and teachers at rural schools, accusing them of supporting Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T.

Coltart said other initiatives being pursued by the government included a 75 percent increase in public spending on education during the next four years and introduction of stricter rules barring the expulsion of pupils over fees payments.

“We will endeavour to increase domestic government funding for basic education by 75 percent from $469 million in 2011 to $822 million benefitting over four million young Zimbabwean learners,” he said.

He revealed that Zimbabwe, which has already abolished rural primary school fees, would “offset the school costs for 700,000 orphans and vulnerable children in 2012 and prohibit exclusion of learners for non-payment of levies through the reform of education regulations”.

The Chronicle

9 November 2011

Zimbabwe will endeavour to increase Government funding for basic education by 75 percent from US$469 million this year to US$822 million, benefiting more than four million young learners, a Cabinet Minister said yesterday.

In a speech delivered in Copenhagen, Denmark, during the Zimbabwe Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart said Zimbabwe, which has already abolished rural primary school fees, would offset the school costs for 700 000 orphans and vulnerable children next year and prohibit exclusion of learners for non-payment of parental levies through the reform of education regulations.

“We will further reduce primary dropouts and increase transition to lower secondary through the phased reduction of compulsory school fees and levies,” he said.

Minister Coltart said the ministry would introduce a major programme of second chance and skills education for out-of-school children and youth who have missed out through the political challenges of the last decade, in particular for orphans and vulnerable children.

Zimbabwe, he said shared the GPE’s vision of quality education for all and sought to nurture robust, international partnerships to achieve this vision for the children of Zimbabwe.

“Zimbabwe developed one of Africa’s finest education systems in the 1980s and boasts one of the highest adult literacy rates on the continent. All members of our inclusive Government are steadfastly committed to restoring Zimbabwe’s education system.

“In the last two years, we have made major improvements, including the reopening of schools, the provision of core textbooks for all primary pupils and the creation of a robust five-year sector plan,” he said.

Minister Coltart pledged that the Government would retain the proud achievement of gender parity in primary and lower education and expand access to quality basic education, especially for orphans and vulnerable children.

He said the ministry would establish a national baseline of early primary literacy rates next year, track it and improve it with measures including the mainstreaming of early childhood development at all primary schools, teacher development and quality enhancing per capita school grants.

Minister Coltart said that they were aiming for a 10 percent increase in attendance at the end of primary examinations by 2015.

Global Partnership for Education in Copenhagen

Speech by David Coltart

8 November 2011

Zimbabwe shares the GPE’s vision of quality Education for All and seeks to nurture robust, international partnerships to achieve this vision for the children of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe developed one of Africa’s finest education systems in the 1980s and boasts one of the highest adult literacy rates on the continent. All members of our Transitional Inclusive Government are steadfastly committed to restoring Zimbabwe’s education system. In the last 2 years we have made major improvements including the re-opening of schools, the provision of core textbooks for all primary students and the creation of a robust five year sector plan.

I, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture of Zimbabwe, pledge that we will retain our proud achievement of gender parity in primary and lower education and expand access to quality basic education, especially for orphans and vulnerable children.

We will:

1. Establish a national baseline of early primary literacy rates in 2012, track it and improve it with measures including the mainstreaming of ECD in all primary schools, teacher development and quality enhancing, per capita school grants. We aim for a 10% point increase in attendance at end of primary examinations by 2015.

2. We will endeavor to increase domestic government funding for basic education by 75% from US$469 million in 2011 to US$822 million benefitting over 4 million young Zimbabwean learners.

3. Zimbabwe, which has already abolished rural primary school fees, will offset the school costs for 700,000 orphans and vulnerable children in 2012 and prohibit exclusion of leaners for non-payment of parental levies through the reform of education regulations. We will further reduce primary drop outs and increase transition to lower secondary through the phased reduction of compulsory school fees and levies.

4. We will introduce a major programme of 2nd chance and skills education for out of school children and youth who have missed out through the political chaos of the last decade, in particular for orphans and vulnerable children.

New Zealand Herald

By Andrew Alderson

6 November 2011

Zimbabwe’s minister for education, sports, arts and culture has pleaded for cricket tours like New Zealand’s to continue as the Unity government attempts to haul the country back from the brink of implosion.

David Coltart is an elected politician for a branch of the Movement for Democratic Change which forced president Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party into a coalition known as the Unity government after the September 2008 election.

He wants that process to continue, claiming his party has gained traction over three years to loosen Mugabe’s grip on power.

The other school of thought argues there should be a mandatory boycott of sporting links with Zimbabwe until remnants of the oppressive and brutal regime of 87-year-old Mugabe are gone.

Mugabe led the liberation movement against white minority rule and was elected in 1980. He has been there since but his health is deteriorating. He regularly travels to Singapore for medical treatment.

Coltart is the first to admit the running of the African state is flawed but says the installation of democracy is a process, not a one-off event.

“The situation is far from perfect. It is a fragile transition. There are a lot of things I dislike but we have no viable non-violent alternative. It is not as bad as it was before the 2008 elections.

“We faced rampant cholera, hyperinflation, the closure of schools and politically motivated murders. Today none of that applies. We tackled cholera, controlled the currency, got teachers back to work and there has not been a single politically motivated murder this year.”

Coltart draws comparisons to South Africa’s return from boycott in the 1990s when apartheid was in its death throes. While Nelson Mandela was released by president FW de Klerk’s government as part of a conciliatory step in 1990, he did not take office until 1994.

“There are always hardliners in and out of government determined to derail the process. In South Africa there were political assassinations as late as 1993. Yet the international cricket community embraced the South African cricket team as early as November 1991 when they went to play a one-day series in India. That was long before any guarantee everything would end happily. We are in a similar position.”

Coltart claims cricket is a microcosm of Zimbabwean society where those in charge have brought past players back from premature retirements instigated by Mugabe’s regime.

“We had ructions with white players leaving and racially discriminatory policies appearing to be implemented. We’ve sought to reconcile the racial fractures by bringing back disaffected players like Heath Streak and Grant Flower to coach. Some black players like Tatenda Taibu have returned as well.

“I believe efforts like that deserve to be rewarded by the ICC and national boards when deciding whether to tour. They are not superficial decisions. Our team is selected on merit. Any suggestion of discrimination is gone. It is reflected on the playing field. We could barely get through two days of a test six years ago. We were annihilated and axed from test cricket as a consequence. Compare that to now. We’ve beaten Bangladesh and competed against Pakistan and New Zealand.

“The relevance to New Zealand Cricket and other cricketing bodies is that we are making steps to rectify the situation. I’m hopeful people seeking reform from us will be encouraged. It is about rebuilding a national spirit.”

World cricket’s scepticism about Zimbabwe ambitions is not helped by Mugabe remaining the Zimbabwe Cricket patron, a curious affinity for the game driven by the British once piping the BBC’s Test Match Special radio commentary into his prison cell as a form of audio torture. He came to love or at least tolerate the game, but Coltart says Mugabe’s involvement is largely irrelevant these days.

“That fact is used against us because he looms large in all facets of our society. The reality is he has not been involved in cricket in any way since I became minister.”

Zimbabwe Cricket has still had problems of late. Taibu complained ahead of the New Zealand series that no player had received match fees or signed a contract for more than a year. Coltart acknowledges the issue.

“No sane person would argue Zimbabwe is perfect, cricket included. Zimbabwe Cricket is in financial difficulty but not alone in that regard around the world. Look at Sri Lanka and the West Indies. While you can’t condone the non-payment of match fees it is not a deliberate act.”

New Zealand Cricket Players Association boss Heath Mills visited Zimbabwe last year as part of pre-tour security.

“Our health and safety concerns were met, there were no issues from that perspective. We were comfortable the infrastructure would support the tour. The New Zealand government was supportive of us being there following David Coltart’s visit to New Zealand which demonstrated progress was being made.

“The MDC and Coltart were desperately keen for touring to resume. They felt the country had started to rebound from rock bottom following the establishment of the Unity government. You could see things were far from perfect but cricket coming back was a big thing for those trying to bring about change.”

Times Live

By Vladimir Mzaca

6 November 2011

The Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture is on an ambitious drive to get a large chunk of the national budget for 2012, aiming to make sure that government continues to give top priority to the education sector.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti is expected to announce next year’s budget in the next two weeks.

In recent weeks his team has been on a countrywide consultative drive.

He is on record as saying that a huge share of the budget will go towards paying the civil service bill, while another considerable figure will go towards electoral reform.

However, Education Minister David Coltart has sent his wish list to Biti. “We want at least 22% of the budget. There is a lot to be done in the education sector to keep it alive,” said Coltart.

Coltart heads a ministry whose workers’ union activists do not shy away from threatening industrial action.

The minister has argued that there is a need to improve the working conditions of teachers for them to stay in service.

“The issue does not start or stop with their remuneration. Conditions of service are also important. Some schools have dilapidated infrastructure and textbooks are still an issue,” he added.

In Coltart’s view the ministry has always been underfunded, which is why problems are getting worse.

“If you are always short-changing the education sector, it always carries forward its burdens to a point that they become too many. That is why things are like this at the present moment,” he said.

In the 2011 budget the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture and the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education received the largest allocation of the government’s budget.

In 2010 Biti stated that 555 primary and 399 secondary schools had no desks. Furthermore, the textbook to pupil ratio was 1:15.

He also pointed out that at least 26% of primary classrooms needed repair.

In a drive to alleviate a textbook shortage, Unicef came up with a textbook distribution programme in 2010 that seeks to ensure a textbook to pupil ratio of 1:1 at primary schools.

It is difficult to gauge the success of this programme since it has not yet been evaluated.

Zimbabwe’s education system was once among the best in Africa. Since the turn of the century it has suffered a serious decline in public funding, along with hyperinflation and political unrest which has resulted in the mass exodus of teaching staff in search of greener pastures in neighbouring countries.

Biti said the projected budget for 2012 was $3.6-billion, so the 22% that Coltart referred to amounts to $750-million.