VOA

9 September 2011

By Peta Thornycroft

Zimbabwe’s breakaway Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga, a supporter of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party, has seized a rural orphanage housing children as young as six months old.

Kunonga, who has been excommunicated by the main Anglican Church of Central Africa and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has already taken more than half of the church’s properties in Zimbabwe, including scores of places of worship, mission schools and business centers.

Two long standing mission schools in the south of Zimbabwe were commandeered by Kunonga this week. The fee-paying schools known as Daribamombe are now under the control of Kunonga’s employees, none of whom are qualified to teach.

“The headmaster for both the high school and the primary school both were evicted by Kunonga,” said Mathias Maduba, education secretary for the church’s Masvingo diocese. “The same happened also for the clinic staff except one nurse who is their ally.”

According to a recent interview in the pro-Zanu PF daily newspaper The Herald, Kunonga claimed that he is permitted to take all Anglican properties in the country by terms of a High Court ruling. The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, which has 350,000 members, has appealed the judgment to the Supreme Court.

David Coltart, Movement for Democratic Change education minister in the current inclusive government of Zimbabwe, says the takeover will be investigated, as only authorities approved by the ministry are permitted to run schools.

Harare Anglican bishop Chad Gandiya said that he had gone to court this week to try and prevent Kunonga from evicting about 100 children from an Anglican orphanage about 60 kilometers northeast of the capital.

“The Shearly Cripps children’s homes at St John’s, Chikwaka, holds about 100 children whose ages range from 6-months to about 16,” he said. “If the staff are evicted and the children are not, who will look after the children? The whole thing is a mess.”

Bishop Gandiya added that all 30 Anglican churches in the capital have come under Kunonga’s control, leaving Harare-based followers without a place of worship.

Archbishop Williams, head of the world-wide Anglican community, plans to visit Zimbabwe to conduct open air ceremonies next month.

Kunonga was not available for comment Friday.

8 September 2011

By Fungai Kwaramba

Zimbabweans from all walks of life last week demanded that government officials who got luxury vehicles at a combined cost of US$20 million return them and use the money for poverty reduction.

Through the People Charter, a petition was signed and submitted to the Minister of Finance Tendai Biti, Higher Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Henry Madzorera, The Minister of Education, David Coltart, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Dr. Stan Mudenge, and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Lovemore Moyo.

The petitioners said that they were disappointed by the government’s unfortunate demonstration of opulence amidst poverty via the recent purchase of luxury vehicles for cabinet ministers and their deputies.

The ministers including their deputies and permanent secretaries got Range Rover vehicles at a time when thousands in the country are wallowing in poverty.

“We hereby petition the government to return the luxury vehicles and acquire a reimbursement of the US$20 million resources and to reallocate the resources that had been used to purchase these vehicles to the Ministries of Health, Education, and Higher and Tertiary Education in order to purchase medicine and books for our hospitals, schools, colleges and universities.

“While Zimbabweans are struggling to set a meal on the table, the government has been nothing but extravagant with ministers,” the petition reads.

In a statement the petitioners said that they want an urgent response from the government.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note from Senator David Coltart:

I issued a brief statement regarding this matter on the 15th August 2011 when the Daily News first ran the story. I repeat it below:

“For the record as far as the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture is concerned the following is the factual situation: I declined the offer of acquiring for the Ministry a Land Rover Discovery or Jeep Cherokee but agreed that the Ministry could acquire a Toyota Prado to replace its 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero which had reached the end of its economic life. This vehicle is a Ministry vehicle and will remain so.”

Daily News

By Enock Muchinjo

8 September 2011

Harare - Pressure has mounted on the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) to wrap up investigation into the Asiagate match-fixing scam, the biggest scandal ever to rock Zimbabwean football.
Concerned by the slow pace of action following the leakage of a damning Asiagate final report in July, the Daily News can reveal that government, through the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), last week wrote to Zifa urging the association to take all necessary measures to bring the culprits to book.

The Asiagate dossier, put together by a Zifa inquiry team, fingered several players and officials as having taken bribes from a huge underground network of illegal Asian betting syndicates to lose matches on several trips to the Far East between 2007 and 2009.

Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze yesterday confirmed receipt of the letter, written by Sports minister David Coltart.

“Yes, government wrote to us saying they want to see finality to the issue,” Mashingaidze said yesterday. “We are now working flat out on that. Pressure is now on us and the police to act.”

Coltart has previously vowed to protect the Asiagate document from “gathering dust.”

“I will certainly raise the matter with the Attorney General’s office and the Ministry of Home Affairs to make sure that appropriate action is taken,” Coltart told the Daily News in July.

SRC director general Charles Nhemachena yesterday detailed contents of Coltart’s letter.

“The minister wrote to us last week asking us to update him on developments,” said Nhemachena. “The letter was clear and straightforward. So we simply forwarded the letter to Zifa to respond. We are still waiting to hear from Zifa. (In the letter) He was acknowledging receipt of the (Asiagate) report and he wanted to know if the matter had been reported to the police, and if it was reported, what kind of action has been taken. He wanted us to check on progress.”

Nhemachena said the SRC, the country’s sports regulatory body, was equally disturbed about the delay in wrapping up the investigation.

“As the SRC we are obviously concerned by the delay,” he said. “We don’t want this matter to drag on longer than necessary. As they say, just delayed is justice denied….We don’t want this issue to distract us from real issues like the development of our game. Right now the Warriors have just revived people’s hopes by beating Liberia. We don’t want this Asiagate issue to keep distracting us from these positive developments.”

He said government has also called for an all-stakeholders meeting on factors affecting the game.

“The minister has called for an all-stakeholders indaba to iron out all issues which are hampering our development,” he said.

“As SRC we don’t want to be dragged back. It is our outmost desire to see Zifa finalise this issue. I agree with the recommendations of the Zifa probe team that criminality be reported to the police and that a disciplinary tribune be set up. As SRC we agreed on these recommendations, but since then there has been no report on progress.”

The Daily News is also reliably informed that police has quizzed several people implicated in the report.

A copy of the Asiagate report was already in procession of the police six weeks before it was leaked to the media.

Zifa employees, players and coaches fingered in the scandal were recently interviewed by the Central Investigation Department (CID) officers, a highly-placed source said.

In another development, the Fifa anti-corruption team, which has twice delayed its visit to Zimbabwe, is now set to arrive in Harare next week to help wrap up the investigations.

The team, led by Fifa’s head of security Chris Eaton, postponed the visit to “guarantee a thorough and far-reaching investigation” by Zifa.

Nhemachena welcomed the visit, saying: “I’m hoping that the visit by the Fifa officials will give a clear-cut direction on how Zifa should progress.”

The Centre for Independent Studies

5th September 2011

Zimbabwe’s Minister for Education, Sports, Culture and the Arts Senator David Coltart and Argentina’s former minister and presidential candidate, economist Ricardo Lopez Murphy speak with The Australian’s Paul Kelly.

View the interview on U tube at:

http://www.cis.org.au/media-information/videos/233-life-under-challenging-regimes-argentina-and-zimbabwe-

• ZANU PF's pathetic reaction to fall of Gaddafi shows how out of touch with reality they are – still don't understand the lifeline given them #
• Well done to Zim XI for great performance against Pakistan in cricket warm up match yesterday #
• Ngoni Makusha in World long jump finals today – go do it for Zimbabwe Ngoni! Best of luck #
• Congratulations to Ngoni Makusha for winning bronze in the World Athletics long jump. Makorokoto, Umhlope! http://t.co/JK5yMxW #
• Good luck to coach Norman Mapeza and the Zimbabwean Warriors football team as they prepare to play Liberia tomorrow – Zim is behind you all! #
• Ray Price eventually forces Younis Khan to hit out to break the drought he had imposed on the Pakistanis and he is caught; well done Razor! #
• Now we need the Warriors to emulate the spirit of Ngoni Makusha, Ray Price, Kirsty Coventry and Stephen Muzhingi and beat Liberia this pm #
• Zimbabwe's catching has been atrocious – had we taken even half the catches offered Pakistan would be in deep trouble. #
• Disappointing batting performance by Zimbabwe but this is a learning curve – we are paying for basic errors such as dropping catches #

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

BY Vladimir Mzaca

4 September, 2011 

School teachers say politicians are abusing the curriculum. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said in a press statement this week that the history curriculum in particular had been militarised.

The union blamed this situation on events over the years that have seen Zanu-PF lose its grip on politics. As a result, Zanu-PF had resorted to brainwashing school children and teaching only history that favoured the party, it said.

“The threat to the political order which emerged at independence in 1980 has prompted power-holders to officially abuse the history curriculum to peddle their ideology and brainwash the innocent learners,” the union said.

“Teachers too have not been spared and those working in politically volatile areas have stopped teaching components of the history syllabus deemed to be politically incorrect for fear of being attacked. Non-professionals or professionals cum-politicians have now invaded the system to teach what they call ‘national history’.”

In April, the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) said the political situation was forcing teachers to desert rural schools that are understaffed or have unqualified staff.

The teachers appealed to the principals in the Global Political Agreement to solve the problem of political violence and setting up of militia bases at schools.

PTUZ said Zanu-PF was moving into primary schools to push its propaganda on innocent children by offering what it terms “structural lessons”.

“According to the ‘syllabus’ designed by the National Museums and Monuments, pupils will be exposed to biased content, which is the subject of a fierce dispute between Zanu-PF and other political formations in the country,” the union said.

PTUZ argued that curriculum developers have substituted topics such as food studies and health with studies in democracy, nationhood and territorial integrity as well as sovereignty. These topics were being taught on biased political ideologies.

The union said its members were at a crossroads, especially history teachers, who found it hard to teach the subject without being accused of attacking Zanu-PF. This has forced teachers to avoid teaching true history for their own safety.

“As a coping strategy, most of us have now resorted to either teaching one-sided history for our safety or to stop teaching such topics,” read the statement.

PTUZ said the history curriculum had been structured in a “militarised” manner, which sought to undermine other aspects of human history, such as economic, technological and social aspects.

“Collectively we must see the militarisation of the national history as an attack on our children’s freedom of conscience and their right to develop critical minds.

Last month Education Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart said government was working on an educational policy that would make it a criminal offence for politicians to interfere in the running of schools .

“We have adopted a policy to ensure that children are not part of political campaigns in school. The absence of a tougher educational policy has posed serious effects on school children who are swept into the political agenda. The policy is a priority to the ministry, we don’t want politicians in schools,” he said.

“Schools should not be partisan to politics. School children should learn about politics in the classroom, its part of history and culture, learn about the different ideologies but should not be involved in campaigns. Thisproblem is common in the rural areas, where politicians have created bases and even threaten teachers,” Coltart said.

Sunday Mail

4th September 2011

By Lincoln Towindo

EDUCATION, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart has clashed with Permanent Secretary Dr Stephen Mahere over the former’s alleged plans to allow Trust schools to run their affairs without Government oversight.

Sources revealed last week that Sen Coltart attempted to “smuggle” a clause granting the schools total independence into the education sector reform programme.

If the plan succeeds, the learning institutions would be free to produce their own school calendar, set tuition fees and levies as well as write external examinations of their choice.

The sources said tensions escalated after Dr Mahere resisted the move, resulting in the clash that has seen the two fail to exchange kind words over a            month.

“The two have been at each other’s throats since (Dr) Mahere blocked (Sen) Coltart’s bid to give Trust schools more freedom,” said a source.

“They have failed to exchange even the barest of pleasantries for over a month now because of their fight.

“The minister sought to revert to the old Rhodesian system where Government had no say whatsoever in what happened at these schools.

“Had (Sen) Coltart’s proposals been accepted, this would have resulted in private schools being given the freedom to levy their own school fees and produce their own calendar while writing foreign examinations of their choice.”

Last week the minister denied there was bad blood.

He said education sector reform documents do not recognise the existence of Trust schools.

“That is absolute nonsense! If you look at the documents that we have produced so far on the education sector reform, you will realise that at no point is there reference to Trust schools.

“We view all non government or non local government schools as the same and see no need to draw distinctions between them at all.”

Dr Mahere refused to comment.

Statement by Senator David Coltart

1st September 2011

On behalf of the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture I would like to welcome you to the African Olympic Qualifier in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

This tournament is a build up to the 2012 London Olympics, with the winners in the men’s and women’s competition gaining automatic qualification into the Olympics for the Africa Zone. The runner up from this tournament will go through to a further qualifying tournament.

Zimbabwe hockey has a rich history, with hockey having been played in the country for many years. The country’s successes are highlighted by the famous “Golden Girls” who won gold at the 1980 Olympic Games. Hockey has been played at a high level in Zimbabwe’s schools and it is hoped that with the revival of the club structures and development of hockey facilities, such as the Khumalo Hockey Stadium, that the game will go from strength to strength.

The game of hockey is gaining popularity amongst African nations, and the quality of the participating teams will ensure that spectators will be treated to entertaining hockey. It will be a challenge for the participating teams to achieve the ultimate goal of Olympic qualification.

I would like to thank the Minister of Finance, the Hon Tendai Biti MP, and his Ministry, the Minister of Public Works, the Hon Joel Gabbuza, and his Ministry, the City of Bulawayo, the Local Organising Committee, and the many individuals involved for their efforts in ensuring that Zimbabwe could host this African Olympic Qualifier.  I am particularly grateful to local Bulawayo Schools and Clubs and parents for their magnificent help in renovating the Stadium. This has been a wonderful team effort.

I am delighted that the tournament has attracted teams from throughout Africa. My hope is that you all have a memorable stay and that you see for yourself that Zimbabwe, after a decade of trauma, is now rebuilding and is a wonderful place to visit. We certainly look forward to welcoming you all back again soon.

Good luck to all participating teams and officials at the tournament. I am sure that the efforts of all those involved will result in a marvellous and successful spectacle for hockey players, supporters and the City of Bulawayo.

Senator David Coltart

Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture 

Zimbabwean

By Vusimusi Bhebhe

31st August 2011

Zimbabwe’s Education Minister David Coltart has accused Zanu (PF) of living in cloud cuckoo land and refusing to accept the reality of an unfolding African people-led revolution that has seen unprecedented political change across the continent.

Commenting on Zanu (PF)’s angry reaction to last week’s decision by Libyan ambassador Taher Elmagrahi to defect to the rebel-led National Transitional Council, Coltart said President Robert Mugabe’s party was unwisely refusing to smell the coffee and learn from events elsewhere in Africa.

Elmagrahi had earlier joined other embassy staff and Libyan nationals on August 24 in chanting freedom songs as they burned the green flag synonymous with the regime of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

They replaced the flag with the red, black and green banner that was used by the Kingdom of Libya before Gaddafi changed it after seizing power in 1969.

The Zanu (PF) wing of Zimbabwe’s shaky coalition government ordered Elmagrahi to leave the country last week, insisting that the envoy lost his diplomatic privileges after declaring his allegiance to the NTC.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joey Bimha said Elmagrahi was no longer recognised as Libyan ambassador since the NTC had no legal status in Zimbabwe.

“Zanu (PF)’s reaction to the fall of Gaddafi shows how out of touch with reality they are. They still don’t understand the lifeline given them,” Coltart said, apparently referring to a compromise power-sharing agreement brokered by former South African president Thabo Mbeki in 2008 to accommodate Mugabe and his party after they lost elections earlier that year.

The Libyan embassy was later forced to pull down the NTC’s flag.