Zimbabwe Independent

5 August 2011

By Wongai Zhangazha

AS the cold wind blows continuously across the small rooms without window panes or doors, discomfort is written all over the faces of the youngsters.

While the ideal thing to do would be to position oneself in some corner of the room there are very limited options.

The floor is bare, cold and dusty, and the walls are not plastered. The pupils have no alternative but to sit on hard benches supported by bricks. This is not a juvenile prison but one of the many backyard schools that have mushroomed around the country.

Lighthouse College, a primary and secondary school situated in a 300 square metre yard in Dzivarasekwa, is one such example.

While schools are expected to have spacious classrooms with playgrounds and ablution facilities, Lighthouse College is the exact opposite.

Squeezed in a corner of a house under construction with no toilet facilities, no playground, no administration offices, no library and no uniform, nothing at all resembles a school environment at this place.

As they wait for school to start, the pupils wait outside the gate basking in the sun.

Backyard schools are mushrooming in many of Harare’s high density suburbs taking advantage of the government’s failure to deliver on its education obligation due to a struggling economy and a lack of political will.

The situation has become so common that even the government has conveniently abdicated its responsibilities by turning a blind eye to this increasing dereliction. The quality of education these mainly underprivileged youngsters receive at these schools is worrying and if the government continues to turn a blind eye, the country could soon be plunged into mass illiteracy in the not too distant future.

Based on the present nosedive in the country’s once solid education system, the situation is likely to get worse. According to official statistics contained in the 2011 national budget statement, less than 20% Ordinary level candidates obtained a pass in 2009 and only 50% of the registered students managed to sit for the 2009 examinations.

Statistics show that eight percent of school dropouts are children aged between six and 17 years.

About 26% of primary school classrooms are in need of repairs, 555 primary and 399 secondary schools have no desks, and worse still, 24% of the country’s teachers are unqualified.

At this rate, Zimbabwe’s once glowing literacy rate could be relegated to the country’s history dustbin.

Lack of government commitment to social services was exposed when Finance minister Tendai Biti presented his midterm fiscal policy review statement last week.

Foreign travel expenditure far outstrips high-priority capital projects, such as education and health.

Government spent about US$30 million on foreign travel compared to US$500 000 spent on education.

Basic Education and Assessment Module and student support received less than US$5 million.

The lack of a well-defined education environment and financial support has resulted in the springing up of sub-standard educational and training institutions countrywide.

Biti at one time bemoaned the emergence of “backyard” educational institutions, which he said were compromising the quality of the country’s education system.

In terms of the Education Act of 2006, individuals should not establish and maintain a school unless it is registered.

A Tynwald South parent, Emilia Sibanda, said she opted for backyard schools thinking it was a better option, but she now regrets sending her children to Lighthouse.

“My children were learning at a council school, but I could not afford the incentives that were demanded by the teacher of US$1 per day. It meant that I had to pay US$10 at the end of the week for my children on top of the US$35 fees per term.

“But Lighthouse has been the worst school ever and I regret sending my children there,” said Sibanda.  “It was a waste of money. They are just people who want to make money. The children did not learn last term because they were always shifted from one house to the other because they were not paying rent,” said Sibanda.

The owner of the house at which Lighthouse operates said she was left with no choice but to fire the “school officials”.

“The headmaster had no experience whatsoever and there were no qualified teachers. The school was being run worse than a school in the rural areas. I felt that I was not doing justice to the children and decided not to associate myself with these people. Imagine in the room that is the dining room, there would be about three grades learning in one room. One teacher has to shout to each grade to listen attentively while others are quiet as she gives them work. She then shouts that the other grade must listen while they are also given the work. That’s the confusion children have to go through. I wonder why parents send their children to such schools,” Sibanda said.

They didn’t learn anything and spent most of the time out of school because the so-called school authorities were not paying their rent.

“They just didn’t know how to handle the children and how can children have geography lessons in Shona? It’s pathetic,” she said.

Educationalist Godfrey Museka said the backyard schools were producing raw children who would face difficulties when they entered higher education facilities.

“People have generally lost faith in public education including the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council,” said Museka.

“Parents have resorted to sending their children to private schools thinking that it is the best option where they can be taught without any disturbances like teachers going on strike and so forth.

“However, most of these backyard schools are not registered and most of the teachers are unqualified. The end product is raw kids who know nothing. They are not properly prepared for any higher education. Government must immediately do something about this,” he said.

Education minister David Coltart said his ministry had recently procured 59 vehicles that were going to be used by district educational officials to monitor and curb indiscipline and illegal schools operations which have crept into the country’s education system.

“These unregistered schools have been a problem for some time and one of the main problems has been the inability on government’s part to monitor the situation on the ground to check if they are registered and operating within the country’s laws,” said Coltart.

“We have 73 district offices in the country and the vehicles we have acquired will enable us to closely monitor schools. Those schools operating illegally will be shut down in due course.”

Coltart revealed that it was impossible for a school operating from a rented house to have basic facilities expected of a formal school.

He said applications for accreditation of schools involved a bureaucratic process and thorough inspections had to be carried out on all premises earmarked for housing a school.

“Anyone applying for a licence to operate a school has to go through the provincial education director. There are certain building regulations that they must satisfy us with and a lot of inspections are done in terms of the health and safety of the children and other basic standards expected of a school. If the building does not comply, the application would be rejected,” said Coltart.

Zimbabwe Independent

Muckraker

5 August 2011

MUCKRAKER was intrigued by Nathaniel Manheru’s column last weekend which seemed designed to impress us with his importance.

It was about a meeting between President Mugabe and what sounded like Ronald Reagan. After Reagan had finished speaking, Mugabe attempted to reply. Sadly, he wasn’t allowed to because Reagan had other commitments, or at least his aides claimed he had.

Why Manheru should have treated us to this little vignette is difficult to say, except of course to illustrate how clever he is in comparison with the editor of this newspaper.

He is so clever in fact that he is allowed to write forests of column inches without any editorial restraint, a fact that doesn’t reflect very well on those who so indulgently accommodate him! His contributions obtain no benefit at all from the extra acres Manheru invades and occupies on a weekly basis. Then of course there was the time he was so busy showing off that he mixed up Harold Wilson and Harold Macmillan.

Last Saturday we tried to cut through the dross to interpret why he should have waxed so indignant about Constantine Chimakure. Then it occurred to us in a flash. The previous Friday George Charamba had been laying down the law –– literally –– on the role of the Zimbabwe Media Commission and how the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe fitted into that. It was a little lecture from on high and as Chimakure pointed out, we have our own ideas of where to put the ZMC!

So Charamba should spare us his funny little homilies and his anecdotes from years gone by and tell us what steps he is taking to remove himself as an outstanding issue so the country can have a professional public servant in that job.

There has been very little comment on the riots that took place in Malawi two weeks ago. The country’s civil society has been excoriating about the record of President Bingu waMutharika. He sacrificed the country’s essential aid programme because a UK cable published by WikiLeaks described him as “autocratic and intolerant”.

Isn’t that fair comment?

Nineteen people were killed in the riots in Blantyre. Malawi’s economy has been sacrificed on the altar of pompous self-regard. Couldn’t many African presidents be described as intolerant? And needless to say, he is one of Zimbabwe’s few remaining allies in the region. Then there’s the wife. That’s another story!

We were interested to read David Coltart’s remarks in The Australian ahead of his visit to Sydney last week.

He was evidently anxious to dispel claims that President Mugabe was a monster.

“No, he is not a monster,” he said.

“He is not Idi Amin… Fewer people are being murdered.”

Mugabe is a complex individual, Coltart  tells us. He even enquired after Coltart’s daughter who had been injured in an accident.

It was such things that gave room for optimism, he felt.

Which is all well and good. But did Coltart tell his audience about the disappearance of his election agent Patrick Nabanyama? Or the fate of MDC officials who were incarcerated after being implicated in that case?

Then of course there was the LRF account (which Coltart helped to author) of the thousands of people murdered in the Gukurahundi. Was any of that complex?

It is one thing for Coltart to feel flattered, quite another for him to let Mugabe off the hook marked Matabeleland 1982-1987. That will require something more substantial. And Coltart should say so.

Muckraker is delighted to hear the news from Caracas. Hugo Chavez and Noam Chomsky have fallen out.

Chavez has long considered Chomsky one of his best friends. He has basked in his praise for Venezuela’s socialist revolution and echoes his attacks on US imperialism, the Guardian reports. But now these two intellectual heavyweights have quarelled after Chomsky accused Chavez of amassing too much power and making an assault on democracy.

In particular Chavez has refused to heed Chomsky’s pleas for the release of a notable judge. Chomsky accuses Venezuelan authorities of cruelty in detaining the judge, a “glaring exception in a time of worldwide cries for freedom”.

Chavez is rapidly running out of friends. First he alienated Brazil, then Argentina. But Chomsky, it may be argued, was more important than either nation.

He was a towering intellect whose book Chavez marketed during his visit to the UN General Assembly a few years ago when George Bush was present.

Hot air balloon Tafataona Mahoso will have a problem choosing because he admires them both. Chomsky accused Chavez of intimidating the judiciary and adopting enabling powers to circumvent the national assembly.

Still in South America, what happened to the president’s proposed visit to Ecuador? He had every chance to drop in there on his return from the UN where he attended a youth conference. Why are we not being told why that trip was cancelled? Also, why was he never invited to Venezuela?

Did Herald readers notice the reading material on General Chiwenga’a bookshelf last Saturday? It was Tony Blair’s autobiography. This is where Zanu PF got the silly story about a British invasion. In fact the UK Defence minister is quoted as dismissing any such project. Nobody in Britain took the claim seriously, but it was grist to the mill for the gang around Mugabe.

Blair repeated recently Britain’s offer to release funds for land reform so long as the UNDP agreed to a credible programme.

On the subject of political studies, students should know that the Speaker of the House of Assembly is known as the Speaker of Parliament. Muckraker mentions it in passing because there was recently an attempt to mislead people on that score.

Government says it will not hesitate to dismiss corrupt councillors from across the political divide whose actions negatively impact on service delivery, ZBC reported on Sunday.

The warning comes after MDC-T councillors, who dominate most urban local authorities, “have made headlines for all the wrong reasons with the latest being allegations of accumulation of ill-gotten wealth”.

Ironically Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo is at the forefront of making the allegations. According to the report Chombo said reports indicating that councillors are looting council resources for personal gain show the calibre of people who were chosen in the 2008 harmonised elections.

“There have been reports that have reached my office that councillors are living lavish lifestyles that cannot be accounted for,” Chombo said. “If they are found to be abusing council resources, I will just fire them. The law is very clear and no one should cry foul,” he said.

“All local authorities run by MDC-T councillors are a complete disaster,” he said. “Zimbabwe is a democratic country but the parties should have set standards for the candidates because we cannot have a local government system run by small boys, who are careless and corrupt,” he said.

This is rich coming from Chombo who has acquired vast tracts of land and property across the country under controversial circumstances. While we do not condone any instances of corruption from whichever party, we find it laughable that Chombo should have the temerity to describe others as having lifestyles they cannot account for.

He is a “complete disaster”. Who can forget Chombo pushing out elected mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri, replacing him with the Sekesai Makwavarara-led commission. Harare and indeed most municipalities are still to recover from Chombo’s meddling over the years.

Residents watched Harare, once one of the cleanest cities in Africa, degenerate into a cesspool of waste and decay under the Makwavarara-led commission.

Who is the disaster here?

We were concerned by the interest registered by Youth minister Saviour Kasukuwere in Big Brother Amplified co-winner Wendall Parson. Kasukuwere was among the first to issue a congratulatory message.

“We are proud of his achievement,” he said. “We would like to call upon the nation to rally behind Wendall and expect a huge turnout at the Harare International Airport when he comes back,” Kasukuwere said.

Muckraker hopes that there is no intention to “indigenise” Wendall’s money by demanding a 51% stake. And by the way, what happened to Munya?

Two editors this past week got rapped for doing their job. One was our own Constantine Chimakure for calling for media reforms and the other South Africa’s City Press editor-in-chief Ferial Haffajee for unearthing ANC Youth League president Julius Malema’s trust fund scandal.

Sowetan columnist Eric Miyeni had launched a scathing attack on Haffajee in his column titled “Haffajee does it for white masters”.

In his column Miyeni said Malema “must never answer a Ferial Haffajee”.

“Who the devil is she anyway if not a black snake in the grass, deployed by white capital to sow discord among blacks?” he declared.

“In the 80s she’d probably have had a burning tyre around her neck.”

Luckily Sowetan readers will be spared any more disgust at reading Miyeni’s rants as his column was immediately discontinued.

Sowetan acting editor, Len Maseko, said Miyeni’s column has been discontinued with immediate effect.

“Avusa Media and the Sowetan newspaper are committed to free, fair and robust debate,” said Maseko.

“However, the expression of these views should not be accompanied by the promotion or condonation of violence against those who hold differing views. In his latest column Miyeni crossed the line between robust debate and the condonation of violence.”

How many times have the Manherus and Jonathan Moyos of this world crossed that line?

Meanwhile, as mentioned in our introductory remarks, closer to home Chimakure was on the receiving end of personal attacks from Manheru for having called for media reforms. Apparently Manheru was stung by Chimakure’s call for the implementation of the Government Works Programme which, among other things, is mandated to democratise the media space by introducing two Bills — a Freedom of Information Bill and Media Practitioners Bill.

Chimakure went on to question how –– as George Charamba postulates –– the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe could be formed under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Media Commission as a statutory body when it is supposed to remain voluntary.

This elicited a venomous response from Manheru, with attacks on the person of Chimakure. Fortunately Manheru’s readers were not fooled. A reader stated that: “After reading through this article with its expletives, I expected to be educated on where Chimakure erred. I can’t find it. What has caused him (Manheru) to be so incensed? Does he think Zimbabweans are dumb? Thanks to the Internet, everybody can now dissect his stupidity online and not have to depend on the useless Herald.”

Some questions that need to be asked, a reader submitted last weekend.

“If the Chinese are classed as indigenous, can they vote? How many Chinese are there in Zimbabwe? And when will we have a Chinese president?”

Don’t laugh. Have you done a head-count recently?

Muckraker visited a Chinese restaurant last weekend. The lady proprietor had a Zimbabwean translator to say “Good evening, you are welcome”. She has been in the country some 10 years. There is no need for her to learn any English. Everybody she knows speaks Chinese.

Guardian.co.uk

3rd August 2011

By Andy Bull

While the world’s attention is focused on what is happening at the top of the Test rankings, there are about to be some intriguing developments at the bottom. Zimbabwe start their first Test in six years on Thursday, against Bangladesh in Harare. At any other time their return from self-imposed exile would be unlikely to pass with so little comment from the cricket community, but the series between India and England leaves little room for anything else.

Zimbabwe may prefer it that way. On the eve of the match their most experienced player, the wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu, launched a stinging attack on the country’s governing body, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), undermining the perception that it has done much to reorganise and rehabilitate the sport in recent years.

“I don’t think much has changed really, the administration is still struggling to run cricket in the country well,” Taibu said. “For example, the guys haven’t been paid their match fees from August last year up to now. At the moment I am sitting here without a contract, no one has got a contract. Those are all things that the administration is struggling to deal with.”

The chairman of selectors, Alistair Campbell, who has been at the centre of Zimbabwean Cricket since he was appointed in 2009, said he would not drop Taibu, but described the comments as a “slap in the face” and promised that he would “have it out” with the player. According to a report by Tristan Holme on Cricket365, Campbell and Taibu did exactly that, on the outfield at the Harare Sports Club and in front of players and public.

Taibu’s criticisms of the administrators got stronger still.

“When you walk around and you see a house that’s painted well you will think that house is really standing strong but if it does not have a strong foundation, it will fall down one day or another,” he said. “Zimbabwe Cricket has just painted a house that’s about to fall.”

He was quick to point out that the blame did not lie with those involved with the team on a day-to-day basis.

“I can’t fault the coaching staff, they’ve worked really hard and I can’t fault the guys. They come in day in and day out but they are not getting much support from the administration, unfortunately.”

Taibu’s words seemed to be aimed at the managing director, Ozias Bvute, and the chairman, Peter Chingoka, who have been in place since before Zimbabwe withdrew from Tests, on the grounds that they were not competitive enough.

Zimbabwe Cricket has been praised for introducing a franchise system at domestic level, a move which has rejuvenated the sport. The improvements made in the last two years under the guidance of the minister for education, culture and sport, David Coltart (an MDC Minister) have been significant. But as Coltart said this year, the real challenge for ZC is to find the resources to “maintain the franchises and develop a rigorous player development programme”.

Eyebrows were raised when ZC reportedly paid Brian Lara US$30,000 (£18, 260) to make guest appearances in the domestic Twenty20 competition a few months ago. And Coltart added that while high-profile coaches – Allan Donald, Duncan Fletcher and Jason Gillespie have done stints in the country – were helping the players, such recruitment should not come at the cost of the basics.

And when, as Taibu says, the national team do not have contracts two days before the start of their first Test in six years and have not been paid their match fees for the past 12 months, it would seem that some of the essentials have been mishandled. The money which was so forthcoming when the likes of Lara were brought over seems to have dried up. The Zimbabwean players are still waiting to be paid their match fees from the World Cup.

“It’s no secret that the guys haven’t been paid their money,” Campbell told Cricket365. He said the reason the players were not on permanent retainers was because the new contracts would not start until September. “Maybe Zimbabwe Cricket should have organised contracts a bit better, but it is nothing to make a big deal out of. It’s not ideal that the players haven’t been paid their match fees but there’s a cashflow in this global economic crisis which has left a lot of other boards in debt. They will be paid, but it will be easier once we get more international cricket here.”

Pakistan are due to play a one-off Test and some limited-overs fixtures in Zimbabwe this season, and New Zealand are scheduled to tour, having been persuaded out of their initial doubts by Coltart. Zimbabwe prepared for this match by playing two four-day games against Australia A – they lost both, which will do little to assuage the worries of those who say their return will only lead to more unequal Test matches.

Bangladesh, however, have not played a Test in 14 months, and they lost their warm-up against a Zimbabwean XI on a grassy pitch that was similar to the one expected to be used in the Test.

For the next five days, as Campbell said, “everyone will be watching how we are going to perform”. Zimbabwe’s players should be fine in that regard. There is some genuine talent in the team. But the same goes for the administrators, and they have fouled up before the match has even started.

Zimbabwean

2 August 2011

By John Chimunhu

Zanu (PF) militants forced workers at the targeted Mimosa Platinum Mine here to buy the unpopular party’s membership cards at extortionate prices, The Zimbabwean has learnt.

Mimosa Mine is the the target for Zanu (PF) sharks, who are also demanding to be given service and supply contracts.

According to security guards at the Oreti mining compound which houses contract workers for the mine, the militants, armed with spears, axes and other home-made weapons, accused the workers of rejecting President Robert Mugabe’s party and voting for the MDC-T in the last elections.

They claimed it was an offence to vote for anyone other than the discredited dictator accused of ruining Zimbabwe through violence, graft and bad policies.

“We were rounded up in the evening and told to buy the cards or be killed,” said Mavurawa Chitsvare, a security guard contracted to the mine by Midlands Security.

Chitsvare said the militants were led by a local Zanu (PF) chairman identified as Mapako from the neighbouring Mafala village.

“They sealed off all the roads to the compound and ordered everyone to a meeting to buy cards. The cards cost one dollar but we were forced to pay three dollars as ‘punishment’ for not supporting the party,” Chitsvare said.

Zvishavane has become an MDC-T stronghold because of the presence of mine employees who have refused to toe Mugabe’s line.

Mimosa mine has become the target for Zanu (PF) sharks, who are also demanding to be given service and supply contracts. The officials have threatened to blacklist the mine in similar fashion to what they have done to Zimplats, which has become the target of verbal attacks by Mugabe and his cohorts.

The local Zanu (PF) MP, Obert Matshalaga, demanded and was awarded a contract to supply cleaning services to the mine. Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has also been active in the area. Last year, he surprised many when he decided to officiate at the handover of a school built by the mine.

Mine management had decided to invite Education Minister David Coltart to open the school but were advised that the function would be disrupted by militant Zanu youths in the area. Sources said the officials were told that an MDC minister was not welcome in the area.

The bankrupt Zanu (PF) has taken to forcing villagers around Zimbabwe to buy party cards in an attempt to bolster its coffers.

VOA

2 August 2011

By Gibbs Dube

Union sources said Revenue Authority officials are visiting schools and demanding that teachers account for all of the so-called incentive payments they have received from school associations since 2009

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is demanding that teachers who received supplemental pay from school development associations report such income and pay taxes on it, infuriating teachers unions and Education Minister David Coltart.

Union sources said Revenue Authority officials are visiting schools and demanding that teachers account for all of the so-called incentive payments they have received from school associations since 2009.

They said Revenue Authority officials have indicated they are reviewing teachers monthly earnings for the past two years and will send them bills for additional taxes.

Union representatives said they have asked the Ministry of Education to intervene and are also engaging the Revenue Authority in a bid to halt the exercise.

It was not clear how the authority proposes to tax teachers who were paid in kind – for instance buckets of maize, goats and other kinds of food and livestock.

Education Minister Coltart said the Revenue Authority was ill-advised in its initiative as incentives are considered nontaxable gifts derived from school associations. “If it thinks that this is a long-term source of income, they are mistaken,” Coltart said.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe General Secretary Raymond Majongwe said the attempt to tax teacher incentives is nonsensical.

Scorning the Revenue Authority initiative, Majongwe said tax collectors “must go to teachers who were given a bucket of potatoes and say give us five sweet potatoes and those who received chicken and also demand a few chicks because they must be seen to be dealing with this thing in a uniform manner.”

The government recently boosted civil service salaries with the lowest paid workers now earning US$253 a month, well below the poverty level of US$502 for a family of five.

Herald

Chemist Mafuba

1 August 2011

ANGELINE KAMBA has had to speak six languages to a man in the street to prove that she knows her mother tongue. The chair of the Harare International Festival of the Arts revealed this during the Book Fair workshop on society and development.

“When I went to park at my usual bay in Borrowdale,” said Kamba, “I asked the man of the place to check pressure in the tyres of my car.

“A man who happened to have heard me said to the attendant that I had spoken to him in English when I could have done so in the mother tongue.

“I felt blood rushing to my head and spoke to this other man in six languages – in one breathe – to prove that I know my mother tongue very well.

“That man ended up looking very foolish in front of the crowd that had gathered to find out why I was speaking to him like that.”

The need to promote local languages was the main focus of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair that ended in Harare at the weekend.

A book rights activist described how audiences in the United States asked her several times to expand on the aspects of the culture of the people of Zimbabwe.

“They had read about that in the books of Yvonne Vera and Tsitsi Dangarembwa,” said the activist. “I had to do my homework in order to have confidence in what I was telling these people.”

Public orator Milton Kamwendo was concerned about people of Zimbabwe who pretended to know the Queen’s language better than English people themselves.

“I wish somebody who knows how the Literature Bureau used to operate can come forward and start another publishing house like that one,” he said.

“There is a dire need in Zimbabwe to have some sort of a national translation agency so that all books in the mother tongue can be available to all people of this country.

“I’m distressed to see that people in Mashonaland hardly know the works of Sigogo – the writer that we grew up reading in Matabeleland. He was a man among men.”

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Lazarus Dokora, opened the Book Fair, whose theme was books for the development of Africa.

He was aware that different associations on languages were working on ways of coming up with relevant publications for reading.

“I am sure that different associations are working on this aspect,” said Dokora. “They may be inhibited by lack of finance.

“It is, therefore, necessary that we engage our all-weather friends and other agencies to assist with funding.

“The projects that language associations may be embarking on will provide reading materials in those languages.

“It is incumbent upon language associations, book publishers and writers to work hard to provide reading materials in these languages.”

Dokora said the Curriculum Development Unit was working hard in the areas of Nambya, Tonga, Shangaan and others to make them user friendly in schools.

The students who were at the Book Fair wanted to know more about this aspect. They asked the author of Mapenzi, Ignatius Mabasa, whether people were buying books that were written in the mother tongue for reading as a hobby.

“A good book will be able to stand on its on in spite of the language in which it is written,” said Mabasa.

“I’m at home when I’m writing in the mother tongue. You write your best when you’re using the language in which you’ll be at home.

“You can’t write smoothly when you struggle to find the word expressing precisely that which you want to say. Many of us want to use English when we’re speaking on certain occasions.

“But we use our mother tongue most of the time, such as when we want our change from the conductor in the commuter omnibus.”

Mabasa said that for most of the people who were living in Mashonaland, Shona was their mother tongue which they could not wish away.

“If you want to be original when you’re writing,” he said, “you should write in the language that you know best.”

Mabasa received a standing ovation when he read excerpts from the upcoming book which has taken him seven years to write.

He revealed that Mapenzi had been translated into English and was being translated into German.

Zimcopy executive director Greenfield Chilongo said that there was need for people of Zimbabwe to appreciate their mother tongue.

“Langauge is part of our culture which we can’t run away from,” said Chilongo. “When we speak English, we’re forced to use phrases of Shona to finish what we want to say.

“When we went overseas, they wouldn’t understand our English because we were translating it from our thought process in Shona. We constructed our English from the ideas that we were thinking in Shona.

“Our thought process will always be in the mother tongue. It is important to preserve our mother tongue so that our culture will grow. Our culture dies when we don’t use our mother tongue regularly.”

Last week Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart unveiled Government efforts to bring in school languages that had been neglected.

He told Parliament that by 2013 students would be able to write exams in their local languages that were not on stream.

The Government had tasked the Great University of Zimbabwe to train teachers for all indigenous languages. They would be taught in schools up to Form Two.

So far 80 089 textbooks had been printed in Shangaan, 56 900 in Tonga, 34 000 in Nambya and 35 000 in Venda.

Kalanga textbooks were being printed and 3 200 Braille books had been distributed to 60 special schools.

Dokora said development of Zimbabwe would depend on the kind of literature on local and foreign research that would be available.

The book policy of the Government was aimed at bringing reading material to all people.

“A policy should not simply allow a blanket import platform,” he said. “The interests of local production and local writers and the chain of livelihoods in this business will be taken into account.”

Dokora said that tuition grants in Government schools and per capita grants in non-government schools were meant to support purchases of reading materials.

“Our printers are expected to compete with printers who have capitalised as a matter of new capital infusions.

“You may not get donors for recapitalisation process. But they should find business partnerships that foster this development.

“The book policy should address these after consulting with relevant ministries and Treasury. These issues should be thrashed to come up with a policy that is easy to implement. “It is my hope that follow-ups should not wait for another International Book Fair to take place next year.”

The key speaker for the indaba was Professor Helge Ronning. He is with the department of media and communication at the University of Oslo.

“Reading literature and books is essential for development,” said Ronning. “It has to do with understanding of society.

“Reading is both an individual and a social activity. The knowledge from books enables people who are living together to respect each other.

“The people who have a reading culture are better placed to tolerate each other’s points of view. Without books there would be no development that would be worth talking about.” He said that conditions that were needed to drive development would depend on how a given society would have come about.

For instance, the struggle that Zimbabwe had to wage so as to attain independence would chart the way the country would go.

It was the right of people to strive to improve their standard of living, he said. The ease with which people were able to get books for reading would have a lot to do with their ability to read and write and count.

Dokora said Zimbabwe ranked high in the world among countries that had a 92 percent literacy rate. He attributed this in part to the availability of books and other factors such as the culture of learning.

“This achievement should either be maintained or improved on,” said Dokora.

He noted that the people of Zimbabwe were reading newspapers and listening to radio and watching television with passion. This was not apparent in the way they read books.

He said the Zimbabwe International Book Fair had reached the status of Africa’s premier literacy event. The stakeholders were succeeding step by step to restore the culture of reading among local people.

“It is noteworthy,” said the Deputy Minister, “that the number of foreign exhibitors at the Book Fair has more than doubled this year.

“It is expected that this rate of increase will be sustained next year and in subsequent years.”

He noted that there had been a substantial increase in donor support for the Book Fair. This was a reflection of renewed confidence that was being shown in the management of the Book Fair.

“We must be mindful that we need to develop local stakeholder interest in the Book Fair,” he said. “It is the imperative of our being ourselves.”

The book of the week is the Lonely Tiger, which Tatiana Sharpe from Harare wrote in 2005 when she was seven. She wrote the book for children who are between four and seven years so that she would give all the money from the sales to the poor.

Strand Multiprint published the book on ISBN 0-7974-3012-1. Tatiana painted her own pictures that are in the Lonely Tiger.

The author, through Tiger who is dying to have many friends, addresses the universal issue of the fear of the unknown.You know that you were born with a shadow, but if your friend asks you to describe it, you can’t do this because you don’t know its colour.

That is what happens to you when you fear what you don’t know. You may think that, though you have been reading your books, you will fail the test when it comes. If your friends ask you what you are afraid of, you can only tell them what you think.

The book says: “Would you like to be my friend?” asked Tiger. And it goes on to say: “Everyone needs a friend. The Lonely Tiger is looking for a friend. Who will be his friend?

“Will it be the pig, the snake or the skunk? Read and feel the magic in The Lonely Tiger.”

Tatiana signed the copies that she gave away to students who attended the young writers’ workshop during the Book Fair.

DFID Blogs

http://blogs.dfid.gov.uk/2011/08/southern-winters-and-lunar-eclipses/

By Ian Attfield

1 August 2011

Contrary to popular belief, Africa can get really cold at night! I’m currently spending my first winter proper in the Southern Hemisphere, with dry sunny days and crisp nights under the Southern Cross – and temperatures plummeting to zero in Harare.

When I told people I was joining the Zimbabwean Minister of Education, Sports, Arts & Culture: Senator David Coltart for a day touring schools in Gweru, they all warned me to wrap up as Gweru in the Midlands is reputedly the coldest part of Zimbabwe. They were right. We spent the evening at Antelope Park huddled around a brazier, while young lions – the park runs a release-back-to-nature programme: ALERT  – roared all night, perhaps  due to the freezing temperature!

The next morning we proceeded to Muwinga Primary School. After a brief tour, there followed a large open-air meeting in front of all of the students, who sat patiently in bright blue knitwear, oblivious to the dignitaries’ speeches on progress, reform, sector plans and prevailing macro-economic constraints.  After performances by the children, the Minister bravely fielded questions from the school staff – the subject of overdue salary increases  often being raised.

I share the Minister’s optimism that after another two years we will hopefully see a lot more progress in restoring Zimbabwe’s historically excellent education system. Travelling back home that evening, the African skies revealed another surprise, a full ‘central’ lunar eclipse, the first since 2000, with the next not due until 2018. The moon was slowly ‘eaten away’, leaving a shady brown-orange disk that I just managed to photograph freehand, without too much camera-shake.

In the space of the past, present and future lunar eclipses over Africa, my own children will have passed from infancy to adulthood. Hopefully the 2018 night sky will look down upon a fully recovered Zimbabwe!

We continued to Chaplin Secondary, the oldest school in the town, that lived up to its motto: ‘Pro Honore’ (‘Do it with honour’), with an excellent performance in the historic school hall by the students’ choir. However, the head mistress was articulate in describing the problems she faced to the Minister. Hard times made it a real struggle to maintain the large, ageing school estate in the face of widespread defaults on fees/levies by nearly three-quarters of the parents. Almost all the school revenues from the minority of parents who are able to pay goes into a semi-formal system of teacher incentives that top up salaries. In rural areas, parents can’t afford such payments, so teachers end up with much lower rates of take-home pay - not surprisingly leading to absenteeism and low morale.

Again, the Minister didn’t try to duck questions on this difficult situation and was articulate in reminding us all of the progress made in the last 24 months. Schools have re-opened,textbooks  in both primary and now secondary schools are being delivered, and a plan to continue the recovery is being devised – one that hopefully a number of donors such as DFID and theEuropean Commission will be able to support.

• Go Kirsty Coventry at the World Swimming Championships – Zimbabwe is rooting for you. We are grateful to have such a wonderful icon #
• Rev. John Stott, Major Evangelical Figure, Dies at 90 – http://t.co/6GVlBOp?src=tp #
• “Pride is the greatest temptation of Christian leaders – dangers of being feted, don’t enjoy it, don’t think one should enjoy it.”John Stott #
• Fascinating discussion on political correctness at Centre for Independent Studies Consilium at Coolum – we can't even be PC in Zimbabwe ! #
• Just finished speaking on a joint platform with leader of the opposition in Australia Tony Abbott on religion and politics #
• Sorry that Kirsty Coventry didn't do as well as she I know would've liked – but she is building up – go Kirsty! #