The Herald

2 November 2011

Zanu-PF says teachers’ incentives should be exempted from taxes to avert labour unrest from disenchanted educators.
The call comes after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority decided to tax incentives that school development committees have been paying to teachers to cushion them from the paltry salaries they are getting from Government.

Zanu-PF’s Secretary for Education, Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, yesterday said that Zimra should not tax the incentives, as it would erode the effect of the measures.

“If we need teachers we must make sure that they stay motivated.

“We must give them tax breaks and for that reason Zimra must not tax the incentives. We are saying to Zimra there are other ways to generate revenue.

“One also needs to ask: was this agreed in Cabinet or it was the decision of the Finance Minister (Tendai Biti) to instruct Zimra to collect the taxes?”

Teachers, he said, needed to be incentivised in other ways such as loans and cars, as was the case in the past as civil servants got the facility through the CMED.

He said Government should also encourage teachers to go to rural schools by making the areas attractive through the provision of housing, transport, social amenities, electricity and solar energy.

Education, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart, teacher’s unions and economic analysts have condemned the Zimra decision to tax incentives.

Meanwhile, the Zanu-PF Politburo is today expected to finalise the programme for the 12th edition of the annual national people’s conference to be held in Bulawayo next month.

The conference is going to be held under the theme “Defend National Sovereignty, Consolidate Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment”.

Zanu-PF secretary for information and publicity, Cde Rugare Gumbo, yesterday said the party was happy with the preparatory work done so far.

“The provisional programme is now in place and we hope it will be finalised at tomorrow’s (today) Politburo meeting,” he said.

“What I can say is everything is progressing well and we are only left with a few touch ups since we are now only three weeks away from the conference. We are now dealing with transport logistics and we hope that by the time we go to the conference everything will be in place.”

Cde Gumbo said various committees tasked to do the conference logistics would be travelling to Bulawayo next week to arrange accommodation for the delegates.

“We will be travelling to Bulawayo on the 11th of November to inspect accommodation hostels. We once visited the venue of the conference – the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and we are quite happy with it.”

The conference is expected to attract 6 000 delegates.

Last week the Zanu-PF fund raising committee launched a fundraising campaign where each province is expected to raise US$150 000.

Last year the conference was held in Mutare where the party resolved to forge ahead with the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme that seeks to address colonial economic imbalances.

The party also endorsed the candidature of President Mugabe for general elections that were supposed to be held this year.
The elections were deferred to next year after Copac failed to complete writing the constitution.

Parties in the inclusive Government agreed under the Global Political Agreement that elections would only be held after a new constitution is in place.

VOA

By Jonga Kandemiiri

2 November 2011

Zimbabwe Teachers Association Secretary General Richard Gundani said the decision was welcome as children are now writing examinations.

Moving to end a controversy over the taxation of cash incentives to low-paid Zimbabwean teachers by parents and schools, Finance Minister Tendai Biti has promised to direct the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to stop taxing such compensation.

Biti’s decision followed a meeting Tuesday with Education Minister David Coltart on the contentious issue. Teachers had hinted that they might strike over the tax question.

ZANU-PF Secretary for Education Sikhanyiso Ndlovu had condemned the tax authority’s moves to begin taxing the incentives paid by parents to top up low teacher salaries, warning that the unpopular tax could lead to further labor unrest in the sector.

Zimbabwe Teachers Association Secretary General Richard Gundani told Jonga Kandemiiri the decision was welcome at a time when the nation’s children are writing examinations.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe President Takavafira Zhou, taking exception to the intervention by ZANU-PF education specialist Ndlovu, said ZANU-PF should speak out against harassment of teachers by its members, especially in rural areas.

AfricanBrains launches The Southern African ICT for Education Summit being held at the Elephant Hills Resort, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe on 26-27 January 2012

PRWEB

2 November 2011

AfricanBrains is proud to announce, under the patronage of the Zimbabwe Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts & Culture, the launch of The Southern African ICT for Education Summit 2012 being held at the Elephant Hills Resort, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe on 26-27 January 2012.

The Summit will be based around dedicated pre-scheduled meetings between the private sector, ministers and educationalists from the 15 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) plus Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. It will focus on key areas for establishing partnerships and procurement between the ministries of education and the private sector.

Senator David Coltart, Zimbabwe Minister of Education, Sport, Arts & Culture stated “It is essential to deliver investment in ICT for education through strong partnerships with international and local technology leaders. This summit represents the ideal opportunity for business and government to enter into bilateral discussions for e-learning, m-learning, improving connectivity & capacity, developing digital content & storage, electronic publishing, strengthening pedagogical programs for science & mathematics teaching and building long-term public-private partnerships for education. With that in mind and our strong commitment to this summit, we encourage the participation of companies and organisations who wish to benefit from this opportunity to engage with ministerial officials from the Southern African countries all under one roof.”

AfricanBrains recently organised and completed African Education Summit 2011 in Morocco which represented the start of a long-term commitment to bring the public sector and educational institutions together with private and corporate sector operators and investors.

Keynote speakers included Dr. Cheick Diarra, Chairman of Microsoft Africa with a speech on “Understanding Africa’s ICT infrastructure and embracing the potential that lies ahead”; Dr Francis Tusubira, CEO of UbuntuNet Alliance who spoke on “Research and Education Connectivity – Unlocking the Intellectual Potential of Africa Based Researchers” as well as Prof Is-haq Oloyede – Vice Chancellor & Board Member, Association of African Universities who delivered a talk on “AAU Efforts and Opportunities for University Connectivity in Africa”.

The Herald 

Felex Share

1 November 2011

The taxation of teachers’ incentives by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has caused panic among educators, with unions  threatening to call for a strike as pupils write public examinations.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said yesterday that Zimra’s move should be stopped forthwith to avoid further damage to the sector.

Economists said Zimra’s move was unprecedented and called for the review of the Income Tax Act to make teachers’ incentives tax-free.

Teachers’ unions castigated Zimra, saying more teachers would leave the profession if the taxes were not reversed.

Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe chief executive Mr Manuel Nyawo said the taxation of the incentives has brought anxiety in schools.

“A lot of teachers are now panicking. If it means going onto the streets to demonstrate against this behaviour, we will do that.

“Where were they for the past two years when we were getting incentives? It is our hope that the Finance Minister (Mr Tendai Biti), who knows what we are getting, will do something since we are getting peanuts from Government.”

Minister Coltart said the education sector was still recovering and the taxation of incentives would result in a de-motivated workforce.

“Our argument is that incentives do not constitute a regular income and cannot be taxed,” he said.

“This is merely a donation by parents who want their children to be served by a motivated workforce.

“One thing is certain, if Zimra insists, then it means unnecessary labour unrest. Teachers have been patient for long and they need to be treated fairly.”

Minister Coltart said he would soon meet his Finance counterpart Tendai Biti over the matter.

Zimra is applying the Pay-as-You-Earn tax to teachers receiving incentives, arguing that the educators are part of the mainstream workers who earn income that should be taxed.

The incentives are considered as double pay and should be declared for taxation.

Zimra is applying Section 8 of the Income Act (Chapter 23:06), which calls for the taxation of extra income. Industrialist and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatals, Mr Larry Mavima, said Government, through the Finance Ministry, should review the Income Tax Act and make the incentives tax free.

He said incentives were making “life easier” for Government in terms of salaries and should be accommodated in a tax free manner.

“The onus is on the Finance Minister because he is the one who scraps and introduces taxes,” said Mr Mavima.

“The incentives are not demanded, but are paid by willing parents who want to enhance service delivery, but now we have someone garnishing the money.

“Government should respond positively because incentives were bringing relief to them in terms of adequately paying workers.”
Teachers said the matter could only be put to rest through protests.

Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive, Mr Sifiso Ndlovu, said Zimra should find other alternatives of improving revenue inflows.

“They should spare the education sector which has suffered for long,” he said.

“Doing this without consulting is a clear sign of cruelty and the concerned parties should resolve the matter before it is too late in the schools.”

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary general, Mr Raymond Majongwe, said there would be a “sad ending” to the incentives debate if there was no political intervention.

“It’s unfair for teachers to be victimised when they are already victims,” he said. “If the situation goes on unabated, it will be chaotic. No one wants to serve for free. That is the reason why we are encouraging dialogue.”

Teachers’ incentives have been a controversial matter and several meetings have been held to determine whether or not to abolish them.

Newsday

By Ronald Moyo

1 November 2011

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe has claimed some officials in the Education, Sport, Arts and Culture ministry were behind the proliferation of illegal colleges recently closed in a government clampdown.

“Anyone with money can open up an illegal college including those from within the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education should be honest with itself that a lot of people who open and run illegal colleges are linked to officials within the ministry.

“Therefore, investigations should be done into the matter to find out who was involved in the establishment of these institutions,” he said.

But, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart challenged PTUZ saying: “My general attitude is to investigate this type of thing and if the public has any evidence of officials being responsible for opening the illegal colleges, they should come forth with it.”

Coltart said the closure of illegal colleges was an ongoing exercise initiated by his ministry and encouraged parents to be aware of the existence of such colleges so as to avoid placing their children at these bogus institutions.

Majongwe, however, commended the ministry’s closure of the illegal schools and colleges.

“I would, however, like to support the ministry’s exercise to close illegal colleges as this would improve the quality of education in Zimbabwe,” he said.

Newsday

1 November 2011

Gender disparity between men and women in terms of access to education, especially upper secondary, is widening in Zimbabwe, a recent United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) report has concluded.

According to the report Global Education Digest released last week, Zimbabwe is one of sub-Saharan African countries that did not only have lower educational attainment than other regions, but also has “obvious” gender disparity against women, along with Kenya and Tanzania.

“Increasing levels of education are associated with increasing gender disparity. This is most obvious in Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The Gender Parity Indices (GPI) for primary education completion in these three countries is 0,70, 0,74 and 0,77 respectively,” said Unesco.

Unesco said, for completion of lower secondary education, the GPI drops to 0,48, 0,52 and 0,67 and for upper secondary education the GPI values are as low as 0,37, 0,40 and 0,43.

In the education sector, girls bore the brunt, Unesco as they often had a lower chance of proceeding to upper secondary education.

“When a girl enters lower secondary school, her chances of completing this level and moving onto upper secondary education are slim. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where girls are increasingly disadvantaged at the upper secondary level — there are now only 76 girls for every 100 boys,” Unesco added.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart said the major cause of gender disparities when moving to upper secondary school stemmed from financial problems, and that most schools especially in rural areas ended at “O” Level.

“O” Level education is cheaper than “A” Level education, thus there are less students particularly girls who proceed to “A” level and because in most rural areas education ends at “O” level it becomes expensive to send children to boarding school,” Coltart said.

IPS

By Ignatius Banda

31 October 2011

BULAWAYO – As concerns deepen about the quality of education in Zimbabwe, parents can expect an indefinite extension of subsidising teacher salaries as the cash-strapped government struggles to meet the bloated civil service wage bill.

Teacher incentives – a stipulated amount of usually between two to five dollars, which is paid by parents directly to teachers on a monthly basis – were introduced two years ago by the government to supplement teacher salaries. But many parents say the situation has become untenable and that they can no longer afford to contribute to teachers’ salaries.

Zimbabwe’s education sector is bedevilled by a myriad of problems. In addition to the low teaching salaries there is a shortage of teachers as many have left government schools in search of better wages in the private education sector. In addition, thousands of unregistered and bogus colleges have sprouted across the country.

While Education Minister David Coltart has called the incentives “a necessary evil” if teachers are to continue working, parents like Davison Phiri believe this “cannot go on forever.”

“We want our children to go to school but it is unfair that we are expected to (supplement teachers’ salaries), which in fact is government’s obligation,” Phiri said.

“If the government has no money, surely education is one of those areas that must be prioritised with what little (money government) has?” he asked.

Coltart announced in September that the incentive scheme would continue despite complaints from teachers’ unions and parents that this system makes education inaccessible to the poor.

With these incentives teachers can earn up to 500 dollars a month, but there are increasing concerns that they are not fully discharging their duties when learners fail to pay these controversial bonuses.

The pro-government Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) said the incentives must be discontinued.

“Teachers are now fighting with parents because of these incentives,” said ZIMTA’s chief executive officer, Sifiso Ndlovu. “This just cannot be sustained indefinitely.”

Parents pay varying amounts under Parents and Teacher Association agreements. Primary school teachers get paid about two dollars a month per child, while secondary school teachers get up to five dollars a month per child.

Teachers’ salaries increased this year from around 150 dollars a month to 220 dollars a month. But this is well beneath the country’s poverty line of 500 dollars a month, which indicates the basic living cost for a family of five.

The country’s diamond sales have also been sucked into the issue of teachers’ salaries.

Early this year President Robert Mugabe responded to a strike threat by teachers’ unions over poor salaries by saying that the government had made enough money from diamond sales to meet these demands.

(Zimbabwe restarted its diamond sales in August 2010 after exports were banned in 2009 amid allegations of human rights abuses at the country’s Marange mines.)

However, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, disputed Mugabe’s statement. This sets the stage for a long-drawn public spat among the coalition government partners about teachers’ salaries.

However, the Progressive Teacher Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) insists that the government has made sufficient money from its diamond exports to pay teachers more.

“The government has made enough from the diamonds and they must give us some of that money,” said Tennyson Dube, a teacher affiliated with PTUZ.

“If ministers and legislators can buy themselves luxury cars, they must also have enough for teachers,” Dube said, referring to the recent announcement that the Ministry of Finance approved a five million dollar purchase of vehicles for legislators.

However, the International Monetary Fund has raised concerns that Zimbabwe cannot afford a huge public service wage bill as this will effectively scuttle any efforts towards economic reconstruction.

Meanwhile those parents who can afford it have turned their back on government schools and have opted to send their children to private and even unregistered schools and colleges.

“We are aware some of these colleges are not registered but at least here the teachers are dedicated,” said Mavis Sibanda, whose child attends class in a municipal recreational hall that has been turned into a school.

However, it is not certain for how long the unregistered schools and colleges will survive. This year the government has shut down hundreds of such schools, which have been operating without licenses.

Meanwhile, human rights watchdog Amnesty International released a report in early October stating that hundreds of thousands of school children were still reeling from the effects of the 2005 Operation Restore Order, a government campaign that forcibly destroyed informal settlements and indirectly affected almost 2.4 million people.

“The victims (of Operation Restore Order) have been driven deeper into poverty while denial of education means young people have no real prospect of extricating themselves from continuing destitution,” Amnesty International’s Deputy Africa Programme Director Michelle Kagari said.

“The government’s removal of people from places where they had access to education, and its subsequent failure to provide education, has struck a devastating blow to the lives and dreams of thousands of children,” Kagari said in the report.

The Standard

By Brian Nkiwane

30 October 2011

A vicious black dog and its litter of four puppies have found a new home at the crumbling Magamba Hockey Stadium in the capital.

Once touted as the best hockey stadium on the continent, the multi-million dollar sports facility was built towards the 6th All Africa Games, which Zimbabwe hosted in 1995.

However, the once glittering state-of-the-art stadium is decaying.

When Standardsport visited the stadium last week, the black dog and its puppies, barked threateningly at people who invaded “its space”.

The playful puppies were busy tugging and ripping apart the astro turf.

The electronic scoreboard was not working, a signal of how things have not been ticking at the stadium.

From a distance you would think someone is practicing ridge and furrow farming in the turf.

The blue bucket seats have fallen victim to the elements of weather and have been destroyed.

garbage and old broken furniture have been piled just outside  changing rooms. A broken John Deere tractor, which was once used to maintain the ground, is also parked at the stadium. The taps are leaking and some of the electrical fittings in the changing rooms have been vandalised.

The media and medical rooms have also not been spared as they are also crumbling.

Built by the Ministry of Public Works and handed over to the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) ahead of the All Africa Games, the facility was world-class and one of the best hockey stadia on the continent, but neglect and the disintegration of the turf have led to the stadium being unusable.

The Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture David Coltart said he was aware of the decay at Magamba adding that US$1,3 million was needed to renovate the sports facility.

“I spoke to Mr Leandro Negre — President of FIH — the hockey equivalent of Fifa in football when he was here for the African Olympic qualifiers in September and there is a possibility that if we as government renovate Magamba, Zimbabwe will be granted the right to hold a World Cup qualifying tournament next year. I have actually advised the cabinet about the development. But all this will require the government to allocate a budget amounting to US$1,3 million in the 2012 budget,”  Coltart said.

The Hockey Association of Zimbabwe has hosted international events such as the 6th All Africa Games in 1995, the Women’s World Cup qualifier in 1997, Junior Africa Cup of Nations (men and women) in 1997 and the African Cup of Nations (women) in 1998 at Magamba.

It also hosted the Africa Cup of Nations (men) in 2000 and the Africa Cup of Club Champions in 1996 and 1999.

BBC News

By Steve Vickers

30 October 2011

The Zimbabwe FA (Zifa) has accepted an offer from Caf to host the 2012 African Women’s Championship.

Zifa will have to secure a government guarantee by the end of November.

The offer was made by Caf following Zimbabwe’s successful hosting of the Cosafa Women’s Championship in July.

“It’s an endorsement of Zimbabwe, it will help to grow our game and it will unlock opportunities for sports tourism,” Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze told BBC Sport.

Sports minister David Coltart has indicated that government is keen to stage the event.

“It’s also a stepping stone for us to host competitions like the Africa Cup of Nations and the Caf Under-20 and Under-17 tournaments,” Mashingaidze added

Zimbabwe has never hosted a Caf tournament, as the right to stage the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations was taken away by Caf and given jointly to Nigeria and Ghana.

Last year Zimbabwe made a bid to host the 2015 Women’s World Cup but withdrew, leaving Canada to hold the competition.

The African Women’s Championship will remain in southern Africa in 2014, as Namibia will be the hosts.

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