Zimbabwereporter.com

7 December 2010

BULAWAYO- MDC-M secretary for Legal Affairs and Khumalo Senator, David Coltart, has said small political parties need to form a coalition to successfully dislodge President Mugabe’s Zanu PF from power in the crunch 2011 vote.

Coltart’s assertions flies in the face of remarks by Welshman Ncube, who is tipped to take over the leadership of the MDC-M from Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, who has explicitly ruled out the prospect of an opposition pact in the 2011 ballot. Ncube said his party made a “big mistake” backing Simba Makoni’s Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn in the 2008 vote, a move he says he regrets. But Coltart differs. “We are likely to give a gift to Zanu-PF in the forthcoming elections if parties do not accommodate each other,” Coltart told a rally at the Presbyterian Church at Hillside Shopping Centre on Monday evening.

“Small parties have to make a compromise and join MDC formations so that we unseat Zanu-PF.”
Coltart reiterated that the country was not ready for an election, which President Mugabe has said will happen next year come what may.

“This is not the right time for elections but time for constitution-making process,” Coltart said. “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.
But Ncube said: “We are not going to support anyone other than ourselves. Supporting Simba Makoni in presidential elections was a big mistake. Come elections next year we are fielding our own candidate, will not support anyone,” Ncube told journalists in Bulawayo at the weekend.

Newsday

By Silas Nkala

6 December 2010

Education minister David Coltart has said teacher incentives will not be scrapped at the moment “even if some people hated over them” unless a lasting solution to retain teachers was provided.

Coltart, who was speaking at the Social Accountability Conference organised by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association over the weekend, said the incentives came about at a time when the Education sector was on the verge of total collapse as teachers left the profession in large numbers.

“When I was appointed minister 21 months ago, the Education sector was in total collapse,” said Coltart.

“Ninety thousand of the available teachers in the country were on constant industrial action, while over 20 000 teachers had already left the profession and crossed the country into neighbouring South Africa and Botswana for greener pastures. The reasons for the brain drain were poor salaries,” said Coltart.

He said when he approached the Minister of Finance for improved salaries for teachers as a stop-gap measure to retain the educators, Minister Tendai Biti was really concerned over the issue, but said government had nothing in its coffers.

Coltart said provinces most affected by the teacher exodus were Bulawayo, Matabeleland South and North because of their proximity to South Africa and Botswana where teachers earn a minimum salary of R8 000 per month.

“When minister Biti told me that there was no money in the coffers, unfortunately I had no other source of money to keep our Education sector rolling.

“I am afraid I realised that the only way I could keep teachers around was through you parents as sources of money and that was through the continuation of incentives. However I will not scrap the incentives no matter how much you would hate me as long as there is no other intervention which may help keep our educators around” said Coltart.

Coltart’s sentiments came amid numerous complaints from residents gathered for the conference who said the incentives was a heavy burden on many parents especially those who are poor.

The disgruntled residents were calling for the scrapping of the incentives in view of Finance minister Biti’s $469 million allocation to the Education sector in the 2011 Budget.

They said the allocation should contribute to an increase in teachers’ salaries next year.

Recently, the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe national organiser, Enock Paradzayi, was quoted as calling for the scrapping of incentives saying they were dividing teachers according to urban-rural and low-density and high-density location.

Coltart admitted that the allocation of additional funds to Education by Biti would improve the teachers’ welfare.

He however said incentives  may still be required to retain staff.

Chronicle

6 December 2010

By Prosper Ndlovu

TEACHERS’ incentives will not be removed until there is an improvement in their welfare, the Minister of Education, Arts, Sports and Culture, Senator David Coltart said yesterday.

“The issue of incentives is horrible and I know it is not popular with many, I also do not like incentives but there is nothing that I can do to retain teachers from leaving the job,” Sen Coltart said at a social accountability conference organised by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) at the Large City Hall in Bulawayo.
“If we stop incentives now, there is going to be a crisis in our schools and teachers would stop working. As long as there is no improvement in the welfare of teachers, we cannot scrap off incentives.”
He challenged Government to improve the welfare of teachers and restore their professional status by paying them competitive salaries.
It is estimated that more than 20 000 trained teachers left the country between 2007 and 2008 citing poor remuneration.
Most teachers in South Africa for instance earn between R8 000 and R10 000 per month while locally they are taking home around US$170.
Senator Coltart said more than 15 000 teachers who had left the profession have been re-engaged. He said Government’s efforts to lure back skilled teachers had to a large extent been successful.
“The Government is working hard to lure back professionals and more teachers continue to come back,” said Sen Coltart.
“More than 15 000 qualified teachers have returned home from the Diaspora and have rejoined the profession.”
The Government early last year announced an amnesty for teachers who had left the profession and hundreds jumped at the opportunity to rejoin the service.
Although he could not reveal the exact figures, Senator Coltart said there was a need to recruit more qualified teachers adding that his ministry has embarked on a data gathering exercise.
Sen Coltart said that has seen the establishment of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) to carry out the exercise. “The statistics we have now do not capture the accurate picture of the situation in our schools and that is why we have set up EMIS to gather the correct information about our enrolment issues in schools and the correct data of the teachers needed,” he said.
“The information we will obtain from this exercise will give us the clue into the correct figures of how many teachers we need as a country.” During the question and answer session, the residents expressed concern over the declining pass rate at schools and challenged the Government to channel more funds in the education sector.
Some called for the abolition of teacher incentives, saying apart from being a burden to parents, the facility was being abused.
They also urged the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to police the operations of schools to ensure transparency and accountability.
Others said the Government should make policy reforms and establish legislation that would support the disabled among other vulnerable children to be educated without discrimination.

Herald

4 December 2010

By Catherine Murombedzi

LOVE or hate it, the Facebook movement has taken over the social network like a hurricane

Commanding a following of over 500 million members which is about an 1/8 of the world’s population, its far reaching effects can not be understated considering a large portion of the remaining 7/8 of the world do not have access to the internet.

The phenomenon has gripped people of all ages.

Walk into any office and you are assured that that someone is on the net and surely logged onto Facebook.

Started by 25 year-old Mark Zuckerbeg during his college years at Harvard the youngster could have never imagined that the site could permeate the lives of so many and catapult him to millionaire status in no time.

In the first years it initially gripped the teens and those in the early twenties but of late even some in the mid life stages and even senior citizens over 65 have Facebook accounts.

The latest senior citizen to have caused excitement on the scene was Queen Elizabeth who had over 500 000 hits on her account on the first day she joined the social network forum.

Now local users with a mobile handset equipped with 3G enabled features can enjoy the service.

For the service providers that have this it is selling like hot cakes and queues of potential subscribers are evidence in town everyday.

It appears the site has become the proverbial place where one can be who ever one wants to be.

High School drop outs become superstars, while the office orderlies become MDs and philanthropists.

Technology has made the world a global village.

It has broken down distance barriers and on the touch of a button communication has been made possible.

With the Facebook addicts, there any nobody is an honourable somebody.

A loser becomes a financial guru and the lonely hearts become experts in counselling and giving advice like the Dear Aunt columns in the newspapers.

Lies of a church mouse becoming knights are not new.

Married men put up their profiles stating their relationships simply as: “In a complicated relationship”.

Rest assured if his wife and kids were to catch wind of this his life would be very complicated in a jiffy.

Age is not a factor, a sixty year old can be 55 and the younger they get on Facebook.

It could be that each birthday is celebrated in a descending order.

I have noticed three who were in the same stream at college being 36 in 2010. When they shed the six years is anyone’s business.

Youths have come out in defence of Facebook and my 22 year-old son claims it is a cost effective way of simultaneous communication with all your pals at virtually a dollar a day.

I am still convinced it is being abused and the better the senior citizens did not take to lying on the forum. It is best advised for those over the prime to stay off the forum.

But with freedom of expression and communication who am I to tell anyone that you are too old for Facebook.

Our honourable ministers namely David Coltart and Saviour Kasukuwere are there.

There are literally in the nick of life and stay updated.

There have been cases where an honourable minister, not the ones mentioned above has taken to Facebook to address his superiors. He has abused the forum. if he has an issue with the later, then have it discussed professionally and not on the public domain.

Leaders are not made of that stuff — public seeking sympathy does not make good stead.

What is it that is having people hooked up on a technological savvy that did not mean much a decade ago?

It could be an end for those who have been denied visas for years to travel abroad.

On Facebook, a youth in Mabvuku can be in Edinburgh, completing a masters programme.

So I guess it is okay, finally the have never been can now be courtesy of Facebook.

The guy without a passport rat holed in Mbare for 10 years is now in Sydney, Australia.

Dreams never know limits and Facebook has made it possible.

So does it warrant to tell the whole world if the shop keeper was a bit rude to you this morning. Announcing on the forum that so and so is an idiot shows a lack of maturity on the one posting the message.

There is no censorship on Facebook so all hog wash and the truth make it in equal terms.

It looks like suck posers on Facebook have no better work to do. The world has serious issues and Facebook is the chat where rewinding is permitted.

All the same, thanks to Mark for the innovation.

Keep hooked and stay in touch on the touch of a button.

cathrine.mwauyakufa@zimpapers.co.zw

Financial Gazette

2 December 2010

A 15 million Euro tranche recently approved by the Germany government to finance the recovery of Zimbabwe’s education sector has been stuck in Berlin since October after a key Germany ally rejected the release of the money though the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). The Financial Gazette yesterday saw a letter from the Germany government notifying Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart of the approval.
The letter said the money would be channelled through Unicef and would be accessed by among other institutions, a new trust working with the coalition government to improve education in Zimbabwe, called Teach Zimbabwe.
Teach Zimbabwe has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Education Ministry to establish academies of excellence through scholarships for disadvantaged but talented students, and the rehabilitation of schools, among other programmes.
But The Financial Gazette understands that the release of the money has been delayed by infighting among key Unicef funders who are divided over Zimbabwe’s diplomatic relations with the European Union.
Coltart was not available for comment yesterday.
But sources in his ministry confirmed the development.
“The German government has allocated a certain amount through Unicef, part of that money would be given to Teach Zimbabwe for its Zimbabwe Talented but Disadvantaged Children Education Programme,” a source said.
“But there has been a push to block the release of the funds because donors are cracking, they are fighting over the Zimbabwean issue,” he added.
About 4 000 students were expected to benefit during the first phase of the programme next year when five to eight million Euros were expected to be channelled into 20 schools.
Teach Zimbabwe founder, Kojo Paris refused to answer questions from The Financial Gazette yesterday, saying the issues were best handled by the ministry.
Teach Zimbabwe will be officially launched in Harare today.

http://emsworld-sparklecity.blogspot.com

By Emily Batty

2 December 2010

Since Mugabe placed media restrictions in Zimbabwe, it has become almost impossible for Journalists to report there. Zimbabwe, is in total devastation, so reporting the truth is now needed more than ever. Correspondent, Emily Batty explores the dangers involved for Journalists and others, as well as the ethics of reporting undercover.

Picture a place where your neighbours are dying all around you. Each day your prime minister sits down to luxury meals but you struggle to feed your children and then go hungry yourself. Where the government is corrupt and the rest of the world is made blind by banning Journalists from around the globe. It’s not an imaginary place. This is Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe was once known as the ‘Gem of Africa’ but now it tells a very different story. Today it is a country crying out for help under Mugabe’s ‘Reign of terror.’ Some say it is the greatest humanitarian disaster the world has ever seen. Eighty percent of adults are unemployed, over half the population is facing starvation and the life expectancy has decreased to thirty five.

Here in the UK we turn on our televisions and see images of starving children in Africa, depicting the scenes of famine in Zimbabwe. We read an Article concerning the political corruption of Robert Mugabe from an inside source. It is this information that we as an audience take for granted. The lengths people go to produce these stories are unimaginable. Journalists are risking their lives every day to report the ‘truth’ so the rest of the world might open their eyes a little wider.

Musa Vendi is a Zimbabwean living illegally in South Africa. She is working as a maid to earn money for her two small children who are living with her mother in Zimbabwe. As she fled the country illegally she must travel back through a river when she visits her family as she is not allowed over the border. In a deeply emotional interview Musa said: ‘‘It is so difficult for me, when I cross the river I am very scared, there are crocodiles and peoples that are killing peoples on the other side but I must go or my children will have no food.’’

Severe restrictions have been placed upon press freedom within Zimbabwe in an effort by Mugabe to block the truth. Newspapers such as the ‘Daily News’ in Harare have been closed down since the ‘Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill’ was passed in 2001. This has made it illegal for a Journalist to report from Zimbabwe without a license (which is impossible to obtain unless you support the ZANU-PF.) Clause 16 of the act made it illegal to publish or say anything that could be seen as ‘undermining the authority or insulting’ the President. This law has meant Journalists are being forced to report ‘undercover’ in order to get stories from Zimbabwe.

When asked about Mugabe, Musa said: ‘‘he is a bad ruler, he kills many of the peoples, and if I was in my country now I would not speak to you because his men will hurt you, they do very bad things they do not want people to know the truth. They should know the truth.’’

This would therefore mean that Journalists are placing themselves and others in danger, breaking laws in order to report the ‘truth.’ Some may see this as brave or courageous, a Journalist’s duty. Others would say that this is highly hypocritical.

How can a Journalist report the ‘truth’ and their words be trusted when they are prepared to deceive people and put their lives in danger to do this?

Musa Vendi has made it very clear in her interview that if she was in Zimbabwe at the time she would never have spoken to a Journalist. She said: ‘‘I cannot tell the truth there because they find out and will hurt my family I would not do that.’’

So if Journalists in Zimbabwe are operating in disguise people like Musa could be deceived into giving information. If they were found doing this by one of Mugabe’s soldiers, they could face torture, imprisonment and even death.

Is this morally and ethically right, does exposing the truth have more worth than the loss of a single life and so, is world ignorance or world awareness more important?

One man with an answer to these questions and a strong opinion is David Coltart is a MDC (movement for democratic change) member of parliament and a human rights lawyer. He was first elected to represent the Bulawayo South constituency in June 2000, and was re-elected in March 2005 with a 76% majority. Coltart is seen as a major threat to Mugabe’s ZANU-PF. Moven Maachi, Mugabe’s late defence minister once said in an interview ‘‘Coltart is the one behind everything…he is the one causing our problems.’’ (Quote from ‘Degrees in Violence)

Being such an influential figure in the movement against Mugabe’s regime, Coltart has some strong opinions especially over Journalism in Zimbabwe.

When asked whether he feels that the price of a single life had more value over the exposing of the truth he said: ‘Firstly if people do not report at all, people will continue to die in their thousands, only through vigorous reporting will the world be made aware, so even if you save one life by not reporting you will actually commit thousands to a certain death.’ He then went on to talk about the working practice of a Journalist and said: ‘Good Journalists such as David Blair who reported intensively in Zimbabwe are able to protect their sources and in doing so protect themselves and others from danger…Zimbabwe is in desperate times and reports are essential now.’

The future for Zimbabwe is an uncertain one but undercover reporting seems unavoidable. The Zimbabwe crisis is more than public interest. It has become public duty. The need for exposing the truth speaks for itself. Although there may be a price to pay for obtaining this information, world ignorance would be a much greater cost and there would be even greater repercussions

SW Radio Africa

1 December 2010

By Lance Guma

This is a transcript of part 2 of the interview between SW Radio Africa journalist Lance Guma and the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart. It features listener’s questions on leaked confidential US diplomatic reports, friction between Coltart and war vets over his Gukurahundi comments, his views on the victimization of Roy Bennett, the whereabouts of 13 million text books donated by UNICEF and how contracts for the supply of primary school textbooks were awarded.

Lance Guma: Good evening Zimbabwe and thank you for joining us on Part Two of the Question Time interview with the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Senator David Coltart. Senator, thank you for joining us once again.

David Coltart: Thanks Lance, good evening to you.

Guma: Now what a week for politicians around the world with the web site WikiLeaks leaking confidential US government diplomatic cables. We had former US ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell – he had some pretty damning things to say about Zimbabwe’s leaders including Morgan Tsvangirai, Professor Arthur Mutambara, Professor Welshman Ncube who’s from your party Senator. Just to begin the programme what did you make of those disclosures at a personal level?

Coltart: Well at a personal level I think the bottom line is that none of us would want our private conversations or thoughts published to the entire world. That applies to individuals, it applies to governments, certainly applies to diplomats. All of us say in private things that we would never say about other people in public and that is why I think that we need to be mature about what Christopher Dell has reported on.

I know it’s easy for me to say this because from the leaks so far, my own name hasn’t been mentioned and perhaps (laughs) something may be revealed in weeks to come which will affect me more directly but for those who have been criticised we need to recognise that he’s been critical of everyone.

He’s very critical of Robert Mugabe, of Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and as we’ve seen from these leaks worldwide, they’ve been critical of Prince Andrew and that’s the nature of private communications. It happens the world over. I have no doubt that what our own embassies report back on, from London back to Zimbabwe is probably just as horrendous and we need to move on from this.

Guma: What do you make though of this web site leaking this information? Do you think it’s unethical, do you think it’s good for democracy like some are saying? Just your thoughts on that?
Coltart: Well it’s the classic debate between freedom of expression on the one hand and the need to protect the public and national security on the other hand. As you know I gave the Lozikeyi Lecture recently in Bulawayo when I looked at what the limits of freedom of expression are in a Zimbabwean context in relation to Gukurahundi.

And the same applies to these leaks –on the one hand yes it’s wonderful that we can see these private communications and judge America’s private thoughts against their public actions but on the other hand the real danger is that people are put at risk through this type of communication.

Often people go to embassies in private, knowing that their communications will be dealt with in confidence and it is those communications that often lead to the resolution of wars and other problems in the world and if people don’t have that confidence then we may arrive at a situation in the world where it’s a lot harder to resolve crises like that and that’s where we see the limits of freedom of expression.

What I think I would, if I’d been asked for advice on the matter is for the WikiLeaks people to exercise a bit more discretion. Where leaks are going to jeopardise innocent people, then I don’t believe that those leaks should be made. If the intention of this is to expose perhaps American hypocrisy then the leaks should be done in a way that achieves that goal without actually hurting innocent people.

Guma: Several weeks ago you were in the news when war vets demanded a meeting with you over your statements that Gukurahundi was akin to genocide. Now the comical Joseph Chinotimba is leading the charge and we are told gave you a seven-day ultimatum to apologise. The first question comes from Albert in Bulawayo who wants to know what happened and whether this matter has now been resolved?

Coltart: I think the matter has been resolved, in response to Albert. The war veterans demanded a meeting with me, I was happy to meet with them. I met with them in the prime minister’s office building two weeks ago. I had a one hour and a quarter meeting with a group of war veterans including Joseph Chinotimba.

We had a very frank mutual exchange of views and in my mind we reached a satisfactory conclusion to it. I did not apologise either to them or indeed publicly but I think as well I was able to explain to them that my address didn’t just focus on Gukurahundi in isolation but looked at the whole gamut of human rights abuses perpetrated in this country in the last hundred years.

I explained to them that I’ve never been a person to look at Gukurahundi in microcosm. I believe it’s a great tragedy that we never had a truth and reconciliation commission at the advent of independence. And I think once I’d been given an opportunity to explain that full context to them, I think it took some of the wind out of their sails and I think that the matter has now been resolved.

Guma: A few weeks ago Joseph Chinotimba was quoted in an interview that was done by the Newsday newspaper saying he wanted your job as Education minister and at every turn he took opportunities to attack you which brings us to the next question.

We saw for instance the war vets accusing you and Roy Bennett of being unrepentant, jeopardising the livelihoods of white commercial farmers that have remained on the farms.

Tinashe Madamombe in Harare says you and Roy Bennett are unique in being the two white Zimbabweans to be nominated in this coalition government – his question is what do you make of the treatment that Roy (Bennett) has received over the years and why, in your assessment, has he been targeted in this manner? I think he’s referring to the non-swearing in and the court case.

Coltart: Well I’m sure that much of it has to do with the different parties we represent. Roy is a member of a much larger political party than I am and to that extent constitutes I’m sure because of that a much greater threat than I do.

I don’t fully understand the extent of the venom directed against Roy because if you look at my record in the last 27 years, I’ve been just as outspoken as Roy has been over those 27 years and so it doesn’t seem to have much to do what we’ve said regarding ZANU PF. So in conclusion, I don’t fully understand why ZANU PF has reserved such venom for Roy.

I think to be frank, as individuals, Roy because of his fluency in Shona, because he comes from the north east of the country, is a far more powerful political individual than I am and I suppose to that extent I suppose on a personal level they probably perceive him as a much greater political threat than I could ever pose.

Guma: Well Gift Phiri in Harare wants to know why students in rural areas are doing better than those in urban areas and his second question is where are the 13 million textbooks donated by UNICEF in September?

Coltart: Well that question is in two parts; the discrepancy between rural and urban areas – he says that children are doing better in rural areas than urban areas – there are some statistics that support that view, there are other statistics that do not support that view.

For example if you look at the Grade Seven examination results, the pass rate in the two urban provinces of Harare and Bulawayo are much higher than the pass rate in the remaining eight predominantly rural provinces. I think the problem that we face in the education sector is that our data is highly problematic.

My own view is that actually there is an increasing gulf between rural and urban based schools, we have much higher percentages of qualified teachers in urban schools than we do in rural schools and so I would question this assumption that actually children are doing better in rural schools.

I fear that this statistic may have emerged from the O level results. Children in rural boarding schools tend to get better O level results than children at day schools in urban areas simply because they can focus better on the job in these rural boarding schools. They have a much greater opportunity of scoring better results but I don’t believe that is an accurate indicator regarding the difference between rural and urban education.

Let me just conclude by making this point – the education sector as a whole is in a crisis, both in the rural and urban areas. We’ve got a lot of work to do to stabilise it and to that extent I think to nit-pick between rural and urban results is unhelpful. The sector is in crisis overall and really needs to be assisted throughout the country. Would you just remind me of the second question?
Guma: Yes, his second question is where are the 13 million textbooks donated by UNICEF in September?
Coltart: Regarding the 13 million textbooks – all 13 million textbooks have now been printed and the majority of them are still being held at the distribution centre which is at the back warehouse on the Beatrice Road in Harare.

We had enormous logistical problems initially in distributing these books. We’ve never done a distribution of books on this scale in Zimbabwe ever before and what we’ve learnt is that the easy part of the exercise was actually getting the books printed.

That’s the negative side, the positive side is that having gone through these teething problems, UNICEF has now managed to speed up the process of distribution fairly dramatically in the last two to three weeks.

We were only distributing to some 80 schools per week, two weeks ago that had gone up to 500 schools per week and I understand that they’re aiming to distribute in the coming weeks to as many as 700 schools per week. We are behind schedule but our intention is to have distributed books to all 5500 primary schools before the commencement of the first term next year.

Guma: Now there’s a listener in Harare who wants to query why did the ministry grant a monopoly to only one publisher? I think in this case it’s Longmans, to supply primary school textbooks. They go on to say is this desirable for the long term sustainability of the book industry in Zimbabwe and I think the third thread to their question is what impact will this have on the local publishing industry in which publishers previously competed between each other to produce the best, most appropriate textbooks?

Coltart: I’m pleased that that question has been raised because it has been the subject of a lot of debates within the country. In answering all three facets of that question I need to give some background to your listeners.

When I took office, the education sector was in a state of extreme crisis and that was no more so than in the textbook/pupil ratios. In most schools at best, the textbook/pupil ratio was 15 to one. In many schools, especially in rural areas, the only textbook in an entire classroom would be the one that the teacher had and in many schools not even the teacher had a textbook for a particular subject so I came into a situation of extreme crisis and we had to move urgently on this.

What we did initially was to go to the three publishing houses – Longmans, College Press and Zimbabwe Publishing House ZPH and we explained the nature of the crisis – that it was a national crisis, that if we didn’t address this as a matter of extreme urgency and that primary school children in particular would become a lost generation to Zimbabwe.

We explained that because of limited resources we wanted the publishing houses to cut their profits to the bone, that we didn’t want windfall profits, we asked them to go away and to come back to us so that we could reach agreement with all three publishing houses to ensure that the existing market share was respected.

Unfortunately what happened was that a cartel was formed. They came back to us with figures that were quite frankly ridiculous that added a premium of some ten million US dollars to the price that we were expecting to pay for these textbooks.

Because of that we were then, and when I say we, this wasn’t just the Ministry of Education, the lead was taken by UNICEF. The money had been allocated to UNICEF to manage and to that extent we had to work with UNICEF but UNICEF and ourselves agreed that we could not contract with the publishing houses, that we would have to go to a commercial tender and that is what happened.

It went to commercial tender and that resulted in an award to the company tendering who gave the best price and that price happened to be put in by Longmans, by one of the publishing houses which came in with a price that literally saved the overall cost by a figure of ten million US dollars.

They came in well below, overall, the other two publishing houses and on a purely commercial basis UNICEF awarded the contract to one publishing house, namely Longmans.

From an educational perspective we were of course alarmed by that because as your listeners will know, teachers are used to using particular text books and from an educational perspective it certainly wasn’t beneficial to have textbooks from one publishing house sent to schools countrywide to many teachers who may never have used those textbooks before.

The problem that we faced though was that we had tried to get a reasonable spread but ultimately because of this cartel operating we had to go to a commercial tender to get the cheapest price.

Guma: OK.

Coltart: Turning to the other aspects of the publishing industry – having learnt the experience of the primary school, we’ve now, two things have arisen from this – firstly we’ve been able to demonstrate to the publishing houses what it costs to produce a textbook.

Primary school textbooks were being sold between two and three, sometimes as high as five US dollars per textbook. The final price that emerged from the tender was that textbooks can be produced for an average price of 70 US cents.

So we’ve demonstrated that to the publishing houses that that is the price that we will look at as a reasonable price to pay. So we hope that when we get to the secondary school process that the publishing houses will not look to make these windfall profits.

The second thing that we’ve done is that we have now had sufficient time which we didn’t have in the primary school process to conduct a survey. Bear in mind that we didn’t know with any accuracy which school used the textbooks of which publishing house when it came to the primary school exercise.

We’ve done that for the secondary school exercise and we will now be able to ensure because we’ve got a bit more time on our hands that we do actually get the secondary school exercise the particular textbooks from particular publishing houses to particular schools. In that way, we will deal with the educational issue but also we will ensure the long-term survival of all three of these publishing houses and hopefully others.

Guma: Our final question for you Minister comes from Vickie Nkomo who wants to know if there’s anything in place to support the individuals who don’t do well in their O levels? What programmes or other qualifications are being promoted to encourage them to educate themselves further regardless of doing well in their O levels?
Coltart: Once again an excellent question and this has been a huge gap in our education system in the last ten to 15 years. Many children have fallen out, let’s not just talk about children falling out at O level, the drop-out rate between primary schools and secondary schools is horrendous in this country and we need to devise a policy that is going to ensure that these children who are now out of school, who don’t have basic literacy and numeracy levels can receive some education out of school to bring those literacy and numeracy levels up.

And the fourth key strategic intervention plan in the overall strategic plan that was submitted to Cabinet on the 7 th of September and accepted by Cabinet, addresses this very issue.

We have allocated money in the budget this year to devise programmes so that we can identify as many of these children who are now out of school and to either develop a programme of night classes or other classes based on the old adult literacy classes so that we can attract some of these children back into a learning environment and deal with this problem.

The real danger that we face in Zimbabwe because of the chaos of the last ten years is that we are left with a lost generation of children who have very basic or non-existent literacy and numeracy levels who become very frustrated and then resort to crime. We saw what happened in South Africa when as the result of apartheid/Bantu education, there was a lost generation and it causes massive problems in society which we simply cannot allow to happen in Zimbabwe.

Guma: Well that’s the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart joining us on the second part of this Question Time interview. Senator thank you so much for your time.

Coltart: Thank you Lance, it’s always a pleasure being with you.

Feedback can be sent to lance@swradioafrica.com http://twitter.com/lanceguma orhttp://www.facebook.com/lance.guma

Zimbabwean

By Paul Ndlovu

30 November 2010

HARARE – The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture has intensified its textbook delivery by distributing the much-needed materials to 500 schools per week.

Senator David Coltart said that although the programme had experienced a few false starts, it was now back on track. “The textbook programme is proceeding well. It encountered some problems due to insufficient vehicles suitable to deliver to rural schools, but these have been dealt with and the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Education Fund) assure me that they are now delivering to 500 schools per week up from 80,” he said.
The minister said the programme should be complete before the first term starts next year. “They anticipate finishing the distribution to all primary schools prior to the commencement of the 1st term of 2011,” he said. Senator Coltart said the ministry and its donor partners were proceeding with the secondary schools textbooks project. “A decision was made last week to proceed with the Secondary textbook project. This will initially involve the purchase of textbooks in five subjects with delivery anticipated by mid-2011. There has been a delay in this exercise caused by insufficient funds which have, however, now been secured,” he said.
Through the Education Transition Fund (ETF) the ministry printed textbooks for primary schools in a move meant to improve the pupil text book ratio and restore basic education for all to Zimbabweans. With the help of international partners, through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Zimbabwe secured US$30 million for the production of primary school textbooks. The minister did not say how much had been secured for the secondary textbooks, but mentioned that the Scandinavian states had been very generous in their support of Zimbabwean education.

Newsday

By Khanyile Mlotshwa

30 November 2010

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart says government has resolved to publish textbooks for secondary schools through the Education Transition Fund (ETF).

Coltart told NewsDay the decision was made last week.

“As the distribution of textbooks to primary schools rounded up, a decision was made last week to proceed with printing books for secondary schools,” he said.

“This will initially involve the purchase of textbooks in five subjects with delivery anticipated by mid-2011.”
Coltart said money to fund the project had been acquired and he was optimistic the project would kick off in earnest.

“There has been a delay in this exercise caused by insufficient funds which have however now been secured,” he said.

Through the ETF the ministry printed textbooks for primary schools in a move meant to improve the pupil-to-textbook ratio and restore basic education for all to Zimbabweans.

With the help of international partners, through the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), Zimbabwe secured $30 million for the production of primary school textbooks.

However, the minister did not reveal how much had been secured for the secondary education textbooks. Coltart said the ETF received a lot of financial support from Scandinavian countries who have been generous towards the country.

At the beginning of the year, Coltart said the funds would be used to print over 9 million primary school textbooks for the country’s 5 000 primary schools while secondary textbooks would be done later.

The primary school textbooks targeted core subjects which are Mathematics, English, Shona and Ndebele as well as Environmental Science.

Part of the fund was also set aside for braille textbooks for the visually-impaired students.

He said after printing the secondary school textbooks, the ministry will still focus on other subjects beyond the core subjects of Mathematics and English.

Newsday

By Sports Reporter

29th November 2010

Kuwadzana Member of Parliament Nelson Chamisa over the weekend said football leaders should focus on developing junior football.

Chamisa said football fosters unity among Zimbabweans.

“In government we have realised how important sport is and I assure you that I will to speak to Sports minister David Coltart to help in developing junior football in high-density suburbs. This is where talent is in abundance. We have future national teams here,” he said.

“This is just the beginning of great things to come and people should take soccer seriously because one can make a living out of it,” he said.

The tournament that was held in Kuwadzana saw winners pocketing $200 while losers went home $100 richer.

“We are tired of wiping tears after our beloved Warriors lose and therefore we have to plan for the future,” quipped Chamisa.