Sunday Times

By Vladimir Mzaca

12 December 2010

Twelve academics who won a $55-million lawsuit against Solusi University after being fired for going on strike have taken a swipe at the vice-chancellor.

The lecturers accuse Professor Norman Maphosa of the university, which is owned by the Seventh Day Adventist church, of fraud and nepotism.

Maphosa, who is also the chairman of Zimsec – the national schools examination board – is being accused of dubiously awarding honorary doctorates to individuals.

In a statement the expelled lecturers wrote: “Prof Maphosa has unilaterally conferred honorary doctorates on individuals without following the university’s laid-down procedures, where candidates are vetted and voted on for their suitability by the General Faculty Assembly for the award of the same. How legitimate are those honorary doctorates awarded so far?”

The lecturers alleged the vice- chancellor went around the system to enrol his wife for a Masters degree at the same institution.

“Prof Maphosa abused his position as vice-chancellor by allowing his wife to do a Masters degree without an undergraduate degree, just a simple general nursing certificate from Harare Hospital,” they added.

They also questioned his appointment to the board of Zimsec. They suggested that the Minister of Education Sports and Culture, David Coltart, acted in an unprofessional manner.

“Prof Maphosa was appointed Zimsec chairman by the Ministry of Education headed by Senator David Coltart, whereas Solusi University retains Webb Low and Barry, a firm owned by the senator, as its legal team and advisor in direct conflict of interest,” they wrote.

Responding to the accusations Coltart said he did not have a direct link with the law firm as he was not involved in its day-to-day running and he does not get benefits from it.

“I am a part-owner of the law firm but I can tell you that I do not benefit from it at present. I last got money from it last year in February,” said Coltart.

Coltart also stated that the appointment was done in turn of the Zimsec Act which involves a broad consultative process and restricts the appointment of Chairpersons to Vice Chancellors of Universities.

The lecturers claim that the downturn in the university’s fortunes should be blamed on Maphosa. “First-year student enrolment at Solusi is down to 15 students from the usual 700 to 1000. This is a cause of concern for the collapsing institution and is due to bad governance,” they said.

Maphosa could not be reached for comment.

Sunday News

12 December 2010

By Vusumuzi Dube

GOVERNMENT is considering abolishing teacher incentives after noting pleas and complaints from parents and guardians for policymakers to take a hard-line stance on the issue, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said Government was fully aware on the burden caused by incentives on the parents.
He said while he was very sympathetic to the parents and guardians he was also responsible for the success or failure of the education sector in the country.
“To be frank I am very much aware and sympathetic to the parents’ plight with regards to teacher incentives, so as soon as I can, I will definitely abolish these incentives but on the other hand I can’t just abolish them and see the education sector collapse,” said Senator Coltart.
He said his ministry was now awaiting to see the impact of the 2011 National Budget in terms of civil servants’ salaries then they were going to deliberate on the necessity of incentives.
“If the budget realises the increase of salaries, we will then sit down together with teachers unions and deliberate on these incentives, over and above all I foresee a situation where in the new year teacher incentives would be quite a minimal figure if not totally abolished,” said the minister.
The Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, almost doubled the civil service wage bill in the 2011 budget, increasing it from US$773 million to US$1,4 billion.
Senator Coltart also noted that with the budget allocation to civil servants’ salaries there was a great possibility that parents would not be faced with a similar burden in the following terms.
“The allocation is not enough but is also quite significant therefore at the end of the day parents won’t be faced with a similar situation, very soon I will be making a positive announcement with regards to this issue.
“So my call to parents is for them to be patient and await the Ministry’s announcement at the very least the incentives will be reduced significantly,” said the minister.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Apex Council who is also President of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), Mrs Tendai Chikowore said at the moment abolishing incentives was not feasible as the Government had not as yet come up with a proper package for teachers.
“As it stands we are not even sure what we are receiving for the month of January, so our belief is that these incentives must continue until we get a reasonable figure from the Government. As far as we are concerned this war is far from being over,” she said.
Mrs Chikowore said it was ironic that the very parents who were complaining are the ones who had introduced incentives to help lure back teachers to teach their children at a time when they were getting next to nothing.
“Honestly, parents will do anything just to ensure their children get an education so in this case they would be simple assisting Government meet the obligation of teachers’ salaries,” she said.

Zimbabwe Independent

By Nqobile Bhebhe

10 December 2010

THE international donor community has refused to supplement salaries of teachers because this does not fall under their humanitarian ambit, a cabinet minister said this week.  Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart said this at the Zimbabwe Independent-run Independent Dialogue in Bulawayo on Wednesday whose theme was “The State of Education in Zimbabwe”.
“There is a limit to what I could do to address their (teachers’) legitimate concerns regarding conditions of service,” Coltart said. “One of the first things that I did after my appointment was to approach the international community to try and raise money to supplement their income, but unfortunately that was unsuccessful.”
The international community said payment of teachers did not fit under the scope of a humanitarian crisis and to that extent they could not justify expenditure to teachers in the same way as they did to nurses and doctors.
“They were not prepared to incur recurrent expenditure costs unlike one-off payments towards textbooks. They said they are not prepared to pour money into a bottomless pit of salaries,” he said.
However, Coltart said though conditions of service were still far from being satisfactory, he was pleased that this year has been “the best teaching year in a decade in terms of days of learning as there was minimum disruption through industrial action”.
Only 27 days of learning were recorded in 2008, Coltart said.
On infrastructure, Coltart said virtually all schools had become dangerous learning centres due to a decade of neglect.
He said several billions of dollars were required to rehabilitate close to 8 000 schools, but such funds were not available.
The education sector is still in a state of crisis “and a mammoth task lies ahead before we stabilise issues and that all children in Zimbabwe can expect quality education”.
However, participants at the dialogue, mostly from teacher organisations, expressed concern at the safety of teachers during the run-up to possible elections next year.
They asked Coltart what measures the ministry would put in place to ensure their safety.
Coltart said the ban on the usage of learning facilities for rallies would be enforced.
“Last year, I issued a policy directive stating that schools were not to be used for partisan political activity… I am in the process of revising legislation, to have legal measures to re-enforce that policy directive,” he said.
“Schools should only be used as education institutions and not to be used for partisan political activity. Yes, I will enforce the ban on the usage of schools for rallies by political parties in the run up to future elections.”
He said in instances where teachers have fallen victim to political violence he has acted swiftly to protect them.
Coltart cited a group of teachers in Chiweshe and Rushinga who were tortured during the 2008 presidential election, but were intimidated upon their return after the elections.
He said he had to move them out of the hostile environment.
However, Coltart said as minister “it is difficult for me to prevent these incidents from taking place as they happen beyond the realm of the education system”.
However, one of the panellists, Lawton Hikwa, the Dean of Faculty for Information and Communication Sciences at the National University of Science and Technology, said Coltart had a tall order in achieving a total ban due to historical reasons.
“Schools tend to be the most common available utilities used by rural communities for worship, for traditional meetings and also because of our long history of one political party rule which became part of the regime of things to view schools as facilities that could be used for political gatherings,” he said.
Hikwa questioned the “much celebrated high literacy levels in Zimbabwe” and challenged politicians to explain how the country was managing to attain the high levels.
According to the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Digest released in July, Zimbabwe has overtaken Tunisia to become the country with the highest literacy rate in Africa, jumping from 85% to 92%.
“Zimbabwe has been topical in celebrating its literacy rate and what I don’t hear from politicians is how we justify the high levels. Are we talking of literacy rate as ability to read and write?” he asked.
In response, Coltart said UNDP findings were “deceiving”.
“A few months ago, UNDP released figures that showed that Zimbabwe had the highest literacy rates in Africa.

But I found it hard to reconcile that information against data coming through our own education sector,” the minister said. “UNDP seems to have reached their conclusion on attendance figures for the first four years of education and it seems Zimbabwe does have the high attendance levels in Africa. However, attendance figures do not translate to high literacy levels…We need to question this basis.”
Coltart said most schools did not have adequate test books and “we are deceiving ourselves if we rely on United Nations figures”.

Newsday

By Thembe Sachikonye

10 December 2010

The feeling is surreal. Smoky monogrammed glass doors with polished brass handles.

An imposing grandfather clock; hand-carved, time-worn, heavy wooden furniture.

You can tell just by looking at this stuff that it has never seen the inside of a factory assembly line, it is lovingly hand-wrought.

Acres of space that has that “we have a lot of room” rather than the “we don’t have enough furniture” feeling.

Polished silver in glass cases and gleaming parquet floors, interrupted only by tastefully aged Persian rugs. I can smell the history, the class, and inevitably, the money.

The toilets would, I’m sure recoil at being given such a common label. They would rather be called powder rooms, and I can see why: a purple velvet ottoman, studded with what seems like hundreds of buttons.

Layers of burgundy organza drapes floating lazily in the breeze, pink feather boas flung casually on a hook in the wall and several sepia posters of Marilyn Monroe grace the walls. You can see why it would respond well to being called a powder room.

This is not the inside of a historic building in London, Paris or New York. This is the Bulawayo Club, a building of such grace and elegance, so tastefully decorated (well, apart from the rest rooms), it is what estate agents would call “perfectly appointed”.

The beauty of its graceful structure, its perfect proportions and its luxurious appeal is marred only by the heavy presence of colonisation that is nailed into every exquisite piece of furniture, that rings on the polished floors and stings in the incredible artwork that hangs on its walls. It is beautiful stuff; and yet, it is ugly.

Colonisation really should be considered a crime against humanity. So that in the event that global warming is in fact arrested, and the human race does get to continue, the generations that follow us will remember never to do it again.

Within the elegant walls of the club, there is an Independent Dialogue in progress and the discussion concerns the status of education in Zimbabwe.

Minister of Arts, Sports, Education and Culture, David Coltart, begins by paying tribute to President Robert Mugabe for the investment that the Zanu PF government made into education in the first decade after independence.

He talks about the injustice of the colonial system and how President Mugabe’s government successfully reversed that.

There is not a sound from the audience. As angry and aggrieved as people in Bulawayo are, no one can refute this simple fact.

The ugliness of colonisation is compounded by the insidious and generational nature of its impact. How many generations does it take to recover from its influence? No one can tell, because no one has ever recovered fully!

I am always amazed when white friends wonder out loud whether I should not be grateful, at least to a limited extent, to colonisation for things such as clean running water, electrical light, exposure to new ideas.

Sometimes I respond by wondering out loud whether I should also be grateful for the breakdown of family and social structures, for cultural subjugation and for a multitude of physical and mental illnesses, including HIV.

Occassionally I am tempted to remind them that the first things ever made by human beings were made in Africa.

But mostly I just admire their audacity, their one-dimensional outlook (life is so much simpler when you can only see your own point of view!) and their continuing air of entitlement.

The generational damage of colonisation exists on both sides. The perpetrator passes down his distorted viewpoint to the next generation in the same way the victim passes on his.

On a board above my desk there is a page torn from a magazine which features a Cartier watch.

I keep it there because this watch is an object of such beauty and craftsmanship that I simply enjoy looking at it.

I love Ndebele beading, and I love Shona sculpture too, but I don’t have pictures of them on my wall. Why is this? I am a product of colonisation.

On the one hand we want to celebrate our ability to “cross over”; to appreciate both the Western values surrounding beauty and aesthetics as well as our own. On the other hand we are uncomfortable because our support for African music, African art, and African culture lacks sincerity and spontaneity.

For all the good that post-independence education gave us, there is a gap in our education about Africa and what it means to be African and this is a gap which only the present generation can close. We also have a responsibility to ensure that our children do not grow up with the same gap.

A few years ago we were discussing dream holiday destinations and my (older white male) companion was waxing lyrical about Europe.

“You have to go to Italy” he said. “ The history, the culture, the food, the wine . . .” he was in rapture recounting his experiences there.

When I said I’d rather go to Nigeria, he was shocked at first. Then he gave me that look that people give you when they suddenly realise that you’re “not one of us”.

I still haven’t been to either Italy or Nigeria, and I will probably never be forced to make a choice.

But it gives me hope to hear that for the first time in Zimbabwe’s history students have textbooks for minority languages such as Venda, Tonga and Nambya.

It means that somebody somewhere is serious about closing that gap, and it suggests that the future is in safe hands.

Thembe Sachikonye writes in her personal capacity. Readers’ comments can be sent to localdrummer@newsday.co.zw

Newsday

9 December 2010

By Khulani Nkabinda

Political parties will be banned from holding rallies and setting up “bases” at schools in the run-up to the forthcoming elections, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, has said.

Coltart warned school heads and teachers from forcing schoolchildren to attend political rallies against their parents’ wishes.

“I do not want any political party of any persuasion to use schools for political rallies. I will stick to enforce the ban in any run-up to any future election,” he adeclared.

He said every parent had a right to allow their children to attend a political rally, but no child could be forced to a rally against the wishes of their parents.

“Last year, we issued a policy directive that schools should not be used for political gatherings. We are in the process of revising legislation to reinforce that policy directive. Schools should be used for educational purposes only and not partisan political activity,” he said.

Coltart was speaking on Wednesday at an Independent Dialogue hosted by the Zimbabwe Independent, under the topic: “The Status of Education in Zimbabwe”.

In the 2008 elections, Zanu PF reportedly used schools in rural areas as “bases” where villagers were frog-marched to attend rallies and “political education” campaigns.

During these campaign rallies, schools have reportedly been forced to close, and children made to attend the rallies.

“I work closely with teachers’ unions and they have brought to my attention cases where teachers have been victimised. A group of teachers in Chiweshe were badly tortured in the run-up to the 2008 elections. When they returned last year, they were threatened again. In Rushinga, six teachers were intimidated. We looked into that matter as well,” Coltart said.

“I have tried to respond urgently to these legitimate cries for help.” Coltart said he had even spoken against this practice at Cabinet level, and about the need to “respect teachers”. That respect, he added, should come from all political parties.

The minister said violence in schools was detrimental to education in the country.

“What happens is that when qualified teachers are intimidated, they leave and then they are replaced by unqualified teachers. That is one of the reasons why we have seen some schools having very poor results,” he said.

“I have spoken to Zanu PF officials before and told them that if they have the education of their children at heart, they should ensure that qualified teachers stay.”

Teachers have borne the brunt of political violence as they are always accused of backing opposition parties and of influencing communities they work within to back opposition politicians.

Radiovop

8 December 2010

The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture has banned all political parties in the country from using school premises for political rallies and meetings , ahead of the forthcoming elections.

Speaking about the state of education in Zimbabwe during a meeting jointly organized by Radio Dialogue and The Zimbabwe Independent in Bulawayo on Wednesday , the Minister of Education , Sport , Arts and Culture, David Coltart said his ministry will no longer allow political parties to use school premises to hold meetings with political inclinations.

“We have banned political from using school premises for political parties. The ministry is going to enforce this ban in the run up to the forthcoming elections and any future elections,” said Coltart. The minister stressed that schools are educational institutions which should be solely used for purposes of education.

Coltart said his ministry is greatly concerned about incidences of teachers who are being intimidated by political activists of certain political parties especially in the rural areas.

“The ministry recently intervened in a matter where some teachers in Chiweshe in Mashonaland central who had returned to their schools after fleeing the area during the run up the 2008 elections were being threatened with violence. We have a similar case in Rushinga where teachers are being intimidated. I have even told cabinet that this harassment of innocent teachers should stop, “said the minister.

Coltart said qualified teachers were the most people affected by political violence.

During the run up to March 2008 harmonized elections most schools in the rural areas were used by Zanu (PF) militias and war veterans as opposition torture bases. Some of the Zanu (PF) militia were camping at the schools, resulting in scores of teachers fleeing their areas in fear of violence.

Zimbabwean

By Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association

8 December 2010

FOUR cabinet ministers in Zimbabwe’s not so inclusive government were on Sunday held to account by Bulawayo residents at a Social Accountability Conference organised by Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) that took place at the large city hall.

The aim of the conference, which ran under the theme ‘promoting local democracy’, was to instill a culture of transparency and accountability in public offices through providing residents with a platform to engage with ministers from the Matabeleland region. The conference gave the ministers present an opportunity to explain to the people of Bulawayo what their ministries are doing to improve the livelihoods of Zimbabweans and spur development in a country that has been ravaged by bad governance and economic demise for over a decade.

The ministers who were present at the conference included the minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, the minister of Water Resources, Development and Management, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Moses Mzila Ndlovu and the minister of State Enterprises and Parastatals, Gorden Moyo.

The minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Sithembiso Nyoni had also been invited but failed to make it as she had to travel to Johannesburg on the day of the conference.

In his opening remarks, BPRA chairperson, Mr Reason Ngwenya encouraged the over eight hundred residents present to be free in demanding accountability from the ministers, whom he said owed their positions to the people of Zimbabwe and thus have to be held accountable to ensure that they deliver.
He encouraged residents to fully utilize the opportunity to take their leaders to task.

“This is a rare opportunity that I am sure other residents from other cities are not getting. The thrust of this conference is to inculcate a culture of debate and tolerance in our society, which has become very rare. As the family of Bulawayo let’s grab the opportunity with open hands and make use of it,” Mr Ngwenya said.

In his address, the minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Senator David Coltart presented five key intervention areas in his ministry’s quest to restore Zimbabwe’s education sector to its former status – restoration of the dignity of the teaching profession, improvement of the learning environment, improvement of the quality of the education system, governance of schools and affording the marginalised greater opportunities.

He said the strategy included improvement of teacher’s working conditions, improvements in policing of the conduct of authorities in schools to address corruption in schools, refinement of the basic education Assistance Module (BEAM) and upgrading the education curriculum.

Coltart stressed that since his appointment, his ministry had been focusing on stabilizing the education sector that was in a deplorable state in February 2009 at the inception of the inclusive government.

The minister of Water resources, Development and Management Samuel Sipepa Nkomo promised residents that his ministry was committed to ending the water woes that have been endemic in the dry Matabeleland region and stressed that the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP), although viewed as a dream, would come true.

“Some say this is a pipe dream, so let’s wait for this dream to come true,” he said.

Minister Nkomo also highlighted that the Mtshabezi to Umzingwane pipeline, which is seen as a more feasible short term solutions to Bulawayo’s water crisis, would be completed by March next year.

“I am hoping that by the end of March, water should be moving from Mtshabezi dam to Umzingwane dam,” he said. He said refurbishments were also being done at the Nyamandlovu aquifer to augment water supplies to Bulawayo.

Addressing residents, the deputy minister of foreign affairs reiterated the stance of most opposition parties in Zimbabwe that the country is not ready for elections as the playing field is not level. He said it was fool hardy for the country to go to the plebiscite when over a million Zimbabweans residents outside the country would not be allowed to vote.

“The electoral laws in the country should be changed to extend the right to vote to all Zimbabweans in the dispora. This is the case in all countries in the SADC region except for Zimbabwe,” he said.

In his closing address, the Honourable Gorden Moyo praised BPRA for hosting the Social Accountability Conference. He said such initiatives were important in ensuring that the country and especially the marginalized Matabeleland region are included in the country’s development programmes.

Guardian.co.uk

8 December 2010

Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 14:01
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000930
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR BRIAN WALCH
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR MICHELLE GAVIN
EO 12958 DECL: 12/02/2019
TAGS PREL, PGOV, ZI
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RAY’S VISIT WITH GERMAN AMBASSADOR TO
ZIM
Classified By: AMBASSADOR CHARLES A. RAY FOR REASONS 1.4 B,D

1. (C) SUMMARY: There is a strong need in Zimbabwe for security sector reform, as without it, none of the efforts at political reform can be assured. After Robert Mugabe leaves the scene (either through death or retirement) ZANU-PF as a political force in Zimbabwe will be irrelevant, although some of the party members are likely to continue to be involved in the country’s politics. We need to start now to identify the next generation of the country’s leadership and begin the process of influencing them. According to an MDC member of Parliament, there are three ZANU-PF factions in government and Parliament; a few mostly younger people who want to work with MDC and move the country forward, a large percentage (including Mugabe) who want to hang on to power for as long as they can, and a small number of extreme hardliners (Emmerson Mnangagwa among them) who for ideological or personal reasons want the coalition government to fail regardless of the consequences to the nation. South Africa, at the end of the day, is not likely to be as helpful as we would like in improving the situation here, and we need to look at how to involve the PRC as the Chinese have Mugabe’s ear. China is likely to be agreeable to efforts to improve economic stability and just might be helpful in achieving success in security sector reform. END SUMMARY.

2. (C) I met Dr. Albrecht Conze, German Ambassador to Zimbabwe, at his embassy on December 1, 2009. Unlike most of the other EU ambassadors who waited for me to ask them questions, Conze immediately began probing for the U.S. position on a number of issues, most notably how to engage with the government in the medium term, and our views on security sector reform. He stressed that the need for success in dealing with the security chiefs cannot be underestimated. Without reform in this sector, our efforts at political and economic reform risk failure. Conze agreed with me that we need to do more to identify the next generation of leadership in Zimbabwe and start influencing them now. He is concerned about the obsessive focus on Mugabe, who is admittedly part of the problem, but is also essential to its solution. Should he suddenly die, or otherwise be moved from office, it could lead to chaos and violence as competing groups vied for control. Conze believes that ZANU-PF in a post-Mugabe world will be irrelevant and will not exist in its current form, although some ZANU-PF members are likely to continue to be involved in Zimbabwe’s politics.

3. (C) Conze said that in conversations with MDC-M politician David Coltart, he was told that in Parliament and government there are three ZANU-PF factions. A small number of mostly younger ZANU-PF members want to cooperate with the MDC to move the country out of the rut it is in. The vast majority (including Mugabe himself) are in a second group that is willing to make only grudging concessions but is primarily interested in hanging on to their positions as long as they can. A smaller, third faction (which includes Defense Minister Mnangagwa) of extreme hardliners work hard to cause the coalition government to fail without any regard to the impact this would have on the country. Some of them are motivated by revolutionary (Marxist) fervor, some by personal grudges and animosities, and some are, in Conze’s words, just evil and greedy. Despite his advanced age, Mugabe is the spider sitting at the center of this web and has full control over all the factions. Without him, many of them would be nothing and would have nothing. Even most in the MDC recognize that he is key to the future of politics here.

4. (C) The Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) plays a significant role in Zimbabwe and the Western nations need to involve them more in cooperative activities wherever possible. Conze agreed with me that while they are not likely to want to participate in pro-democracy programs, economic stability is clearly in their interests. He considered an invitation to the PRC ambassador here to periodically attend the Fishmongers Head of Mission meeting (a group of US-Canada-Australia-EU ambassadors who meet weekly) to explore potential areas of cooperation. Conze believes that the PRC might even be useful in moving security sector reform forward as it has a potential impact on economic stability, and he does not believe South Africa will be really useful in this regard.

5. (C) COMMENT: While Conze, like many of the European ambassadors here, often puts too much faith in utterances by

HARARE 00000930 002 OF 002

MDC officials, the characterization of the ZANU-PFfactions seems right on the money. It also indicates that change here will come slowly, and that Mugabe, who has without a doubt been a large part of the problem, is essential to maintaining control long enough to allow reform to take hold. He will continue to make meaningless concessions here and there, but is not likely to cede any power or control for the foreseeable future. MDC for its part seems to understand and accept this. Conze’s views on involving China are intriguing, given the general attitude of most EU personnel here. Most don’t know much about PRC activities, and view those they are aware of with suspicion. Conze is the first to acknowledge that China too is part of the problem and could possibly be part of the solution. His idea of involving them in security sector reform, however, is likely to cause strong pushback from some of the more conservative EU members; and in fact, his idea of inviting the Chinese ambassador to the Fishmonger’s meeting is also likely to meet some resistance. This promises to be an interesting food fight. END COMMENT.

RAY

Newsday

8 December 2010

By Silas Nkala

Reports of sharp differences between MDC-M leader Arthur Mutambara and secretary-general Welshman Ncube have been dismissed by senior party officials as mere speculation meant to widen existing cracks within the smaller faction of the MDC.

Speculation has been swirling in the media and MDC-M rank and file that Ncube, who was instrumental in bringing in Mutambara on board when the MDC split in 2005, has been tipped to take over from the robotics professor.

But the party’s elections director, Paul Themba Nyathi, who has for a long time been off the radar, told Bulawayo residents at a meeting organised by Senator David Coltart in his constituency on Monday that there was no bad blood between Mutambara and Ncube.

He said there was nothing peculiar or wrong in people jostling for positions in the party, especially at a time they were preparing for congress next month.

Nyathi was responding to questions from the floor on what was happening in the party’s top echelons, against the backdrop of numerous reports of internecine brawls for positions.

There are allegations that Mutambara and Ncube are fighting over the presidential position of the party.

“There is no fighting in the party as such, but in cases when a party prepares for congress where the leadership will be elected, it is bound to happen that we have campaigns for certain positions.

“Having a number of people contesting for a position in the party is not destructive, but it is a way of strengthening the party as we go for the congress. It is not a crime for me as an eligible member to also say I will stand for the presidency of the party. There is nothing wrong about that,” said Nyathi.

He said it is only the media and the people who want to raise issues over nothing thereby trying to divide the party in the process. Nyathi said there is no way people would get into party positions through trading blows.

Coltart, who is party’s secretary for legal affairs, played down the tensions saying he always met Ncube and Mutambara together and has never noticed any differences between them.
“Our party is intact,” he said.

“I am always meeting Mutambara and Ncube on regular occasions and have not noticed bad blood between them. Ncube and Mutambara enjoy cordial relations and I wonder where the reports of these differences are coming from.”

Herald

8 December 2010

By Nqobile Moyo in BULAWAYO

MDC secretary for legal affairs and Senator for Bulawayo’s Khumalo constituency, Mr David Coltart, has tipped Zanu-PF to win the elections scheduled for next year.

Mr Coltart joins other former opposition figures in tipping Zanu-PF to win the elections set for next June.

Political scientist Dr John Makumbe and Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Mr Raymond Majongwe have recently been quoted expressing doubts on the MDC formations’ chances of winning any election in Zimbabwe.

Mr Coltart said other parties could only dislodge the former liberation movement if they were united, but was quick to point that such a development was unlikely under the present circumstances.

Addressing party supporters at the Presbyterian Church at Hillside Shopping Centre on Monday evening, Mr Coltart admitted that Zanu-PF was stronger and warned that if small parties fail to join hands with either of the two MDC formations, there was no way they could win against Zanu-PF.

“We are likely to gift to Zanu-PF  the forthcoming elections if parties do not accommodate each other,” said Mr Coltart.

“All parties need to compromise and enter into a coalition so that we unseat Zanu-PF.”

Mr Coltart, however, said the country was not ready for elections and stated that focus should be on the constitution-making process.

“This is not the right time for elections but time for constitution-making process. The constitution-making process needs to follow its course.

“After the successful constitution-making meetings there should be a referendum then the constitution has to be taken to Parliament,” he said.

Mr Coltart said that formed the basis for elections.

He bemoaned the 2005 MDC split, which he said was a gift to Zanu-PF.

President Mugabe is on record, as saying the constitution-making process should be concluded within the lifespan of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to facilitate for elections mid next year.

The President, who is the Head of State and Government as well as the Commander-In-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said he was uncomfortable with the GPA, whose lifespan expires in February next year.

However, the two MDC formations have developed cold feet on the coming polls.