Chronicle

18 October 2010

Chronicle Reporter

THE Ministry of Public Service has called for the fast-tracking of the re-engagement of temporary teachers.
In an interview, Minister of Public Service, Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, said there was a shortage of teachers in schools and there was an urgent need for the Ministry to speed up the re-engagement of temporary teachers.
“We are aware that some schools have a shortage of teachers and we do not want any schools to go without teachers. The process of re-engaging temporary teachers is slow, but I talked to the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Senator David Coltart and he is looking into the issue, ” he said.
He said the Ministry did not want to compromise standards in schools, therefore there would be particular care in the teachers that are re-engaged.
At the beginning of the second term, the Public Service Commission (PSC) stopped hiring temporary teachers.
More than 20 000 posts held by unqualified teachers were left vacant, leading to some schools operating with skeleton staff.
The Government later resumed engaging temporary teachers but the process is slow and many schools are still faced with serious staff shortages.
Rural schools in the country are operating with skeleton staff with Matabeleland North facing a shortage of more than 230 teachers.
Minister Mukonoweshuro said the country has lost many qualified teachers due to the mass exodus and temporary teachers were needed to fill the gap.
“Many of our teachers have left the country because of the dire economic challenges and this has left a huge gap, we cannot operate without temporary teachers,” Minister Mukonoweshuro said.
He noted that the most affected subjects are Mathematics and Science.
He also urged all temporary teachers with terminated contracts to report to their respective district officers to renew their contracts.
This setback comes at a time when secondary pupils are about to sit for their public exams.

The Standard

17 October 2010

By Nqobani Ndlovu

BULAWAYO — A human rights organisation representing victims of political violence has written to the Attorney General (AG) demanding a fresh inquest and prosecution of six surviving war veterans accused of kidnapping and murdering MDC activist Patrick Nabanyama in 2000.
The Zimbabwe Victims of Organised Violence Trust (ZIVOVT) is also demanding that the AG’s office retrieve past court records — which have miraculously disappeared — for the prosecution of the accused war veterans.

Nabanyama, who was a polling agent for the Minister of Education, Sport, Art and Culture David Coltart in the volatile June 2000 parliamentary polls, disappeared after he was kidnapped by suspected state security agents and war veterans from his home on  June 19 the same year.
Nine war veterans — Cain Nkala, Stanley Ncube, Ephraim Moyo, Julius Sibanda, Edward Ndlovu, Howard Ncube, Simon Rwodzi, a Mr Moyo and Ngoni were arrested in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Nabanyama.

They were acquitted in 2001.
Nkala was later kidnapped and killed by suspected state security agents after he indicated that he was ready to spill the beans as to what had actually happened to Nabanyama.
Edward Ndlovu and Howard Ncube are also late.
Nkala was buried at the National Heroes’ Acre.

ZIVOVT officials told The Standard last week that they were now pushing for a fresh inquest and prosecution of the surviving war veterans accused of kidnapping Nabanyama.
“We went to look for the court records last week but we could not get them,” said Bekithemba Nyathi, ZIVOVT information officer. “The case was not concluded but surprisingly the records have miraculously disappeared. Court officials have told us that they sent the records to the archives.”
He added, “We have written to the AG (Johannes Tomana) seeking the records and demanding a fresh inquest and prosecution of the accused.”
The human rights organisation is chaired by Patience, Nabanyama’s widow.
She said, “We are pursuing the case with a view to prosecute the surviving war veterans. Our agenda is to pursue justice.
“As a family and organisation, we want the arrest and prosecution of the surviving war veterans who kidnapped my husband. We will not rest until there is justice…we want to know where they took him and why they took him.”
Attorney General Johannes Tomana could not be reached for comment last week.
The MDC-T has said over 200 of its supporters were killed by suspected security agents in the run-up to the June 2008 violent elections. The party last year forwarded names of the victims and those of the suspected murderers to the AG’s office for prosecution but up to now no one has been charged.
ZIVOVT, an organisation that seeks to assist victims of politically-motivated violence in Zimbabwe was launched recently in Bulawayo.
It brings together all victims of political violence regardless of their political affiliation or gender.
Critics say the formation of the ZIVOVT shows that victims of political violence are frustrated by the government process of justice, national healing and reconciliation which has hitherto not yielded any results.
Victims of political violence, civic groups and the two MDC formations have however said that justice is a prerequisite to a successful national healing process for a country.
But President Robert Mugabe recently called for a blanket amnesty to all perpetrators of past violence saying arresting perpetrators would derail efforts of the inclusive government to embark on a national healing and reconciliation process.

The Zimbabwean

By Paul Ndlovu

13 October 2010

HARARE – The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture has issued directives to his subordinates to use US$10 million that lay unutilised at the treasury to acquire learning materials for secondary schools in the country.

Senator David Coltart said he came to know about the funds lying idle at the treasury when he met finance minister, Tendai Biti, two weeks ago. Coltart said that since the matter came to his attention he issued directives that the money be used to buy learning material for secondary schools in the country.

“All of it would go towards secondary schools. We are working on a budget for that cause,” he said. Primary schools are currently benefiting from 13 million books printed under the Educational Transition Fund (ETF). Secondary schools are expected to benefit fully under the fund’s second phase and the minister said he expected to reach a 1:1 student-textbook ration in key subjects by June next year.

Minister Coltart said that Phase two for the ETF was in the pipe line. “On Wednesday I had consultative meetings with all the Provincial Education Directors (PEDs) to review phase one, which was the distribution of textbooks for primary schools. Our second meeting will be held on 30 September and will centre on discussions around hase two, which will be the production of textbooks for secondary schools,” he said.

Coltart said the ministry was working on making sure that rural schools received their books before the rainy season. “The book distribution is a running programme as we speak,” he said. The education minister said apart from textbook production, phase two would also concentrate on rehabilitating sanitary facilities in schools. “I can’t say all the schools because that is subject to the raising of adequate funds for the process,” he said.

According to the Senator, the treasury had allocated US$1,3 million for the acquisition of 73 vehicles that would be given to District Education Officers (DEOs) around the country. The minister said the ministry observed that the problem of levies was alleviated by less supervision to police the system, making it necessary to purchase the vehicles to be driven for checks. “The DEOs had no reliable means of transportation to use when travelling to schools,” he said.

The Zimbabwean

12 October 2010

BULAWAYO – As the late Welshman Mabhena was buried at  Lady Stanley Cemetery on Saturday, his relatives lamented the torture that the departed politician suffered under Zanu before the Unity Accord of 1987.

Family spokesman, Norman Mabhena told The Zimbabwean: “The assault by Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives and other pro Gukurahundi activists, under the control of President Robert Mugabe, was severe. Welshman’s incarceration at Eiffel Flats and Kadoma Prison led to a decline in his health.”
Asked to comment on Norman’s accusations, David Coltart, a lawyer who represented many ZAPU cadres responded, “In 1985, after the election, Zanu (PF) targetted the ZAPU leadership. They detained Edward Ndlovu, Sydney Malunga, Welshman Mabhena, Steven Nkomo, Johnson Ndlovu, and other leaders. I was instructed to represent Edward Ndlovu and Sydney Malunga.
“In the second half of 1986, the trial began. Welshman Mabhena had been detained all this time. We were told that it was for his own security, because he was going to be the principal witness against them. As the lead witness, his first act was to say, ‘What is written in these statements is a lot of nonsense because it has been tortured out of me.’ He then gave great detail about the way in which he had been tortured. And of course the case collapsed instantly. Ultimately they were all released.”
Pressed to say more on the torture of ZAPU cadres, Coltart said, “Well, speaking as a lawyer, it was against the convention against torture. It was extreme torture. I am going (according) to what Sydney Malunga was subjected to. He was given falanga. He was given water board treatment, you know, the sack treatment, the water treatment. He was beaten, had bruises all over his body. He was severely tortured and Mabhena told me that he was tortured like Malunga.”

We all suffered

Dumiso Dabengwa, President of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), shared the late Welshman’s pre-1987 view on torture. Asked to comment, Dabengwa said, “I don’t think you’re being fair by talking about torture. There was genocide. Thousands of lives were lost during the period. And it certainly affected almost everybody in this region. There is no one who comes from Matebeleland who would say, “No! I did not, we did not, suffer from the Gukurahundi operations. Many people lost not just their parents, they lost relatives and many of them. And I am sure that this affected Mabhena very much. I remember when I finally came out of detention. He related to me what happened. He said, ‘You are lucky because, you were in detention. What was happening outside here, you would have not wanted to see it.’ And most of us are questioning why ever we got involved in the liberation struggle. How can such things happen when the country is liberated?”
By conferring national hero status, Zanu (PF) has forestalled a torrent of criticism waiting to be unleashed. However, a rule allowing bereaved families to choose the time and place of burial came in handy.
Asked whether the Mabhena family had wronged government, Dabengwa said, “Government may have its own wishes that the deceased should be laid to rest at the National Heroes Acre, but the family is the final decision maker. And therefore, I am not surprised that the Mabhena family have decided to have him buried here instead of at the National Heroes Acre in Bulawayo. I am sure that they have made known their reasons to government. Many of our national heroes are buried outside the Heroes Acre.”

Genuine patriots

Zanu (PF) has failed to decorate, with honour, genuine patriots like Lookout Masuku, Masala Sibanda and Swazini Ndlovu. The state’s response to the death of many great men has led to dissent among bereaved families. Many are now refusing to bury their loved ones at the national hero’s acre in Harare.
Says Dabengwa, “After Swazini Ndlovu died we wrote background and sent it to Harare. There was no word. Vice President Msika was with me. And there was no word that came. Only on the day of the funeral was it suggested that he is now given a national hero’s status and the Ndlovu family said, ‘No! He will be buried here. Thank you for the hero’s status that you have accorded him, but we will bury him here.’ It’s been the same thing with Masala Sibanda. It was the same thing with a number of others.”
Inevitably Zanu (PF)’s “gesture of respect” for the late Welshman Mabhena was not appreciated by Norman Mabhena. He castigated the honour saying, “Some people consider that only Zanu (PF) and its Politburo can bestow honour on persons. Well the Mabhena family strongly differs. We believe individual’s reputation precedes them. We believe that good works bring respect and nobility. For no one can reap where they have not sown.”
Although Vice President, John Nkomo, paid his respects to the Mabhena family, Zanu (PF)’s tired demagoguery revealed itself. VP Nkomo spoke about the emotive land issue, which had nothing to do with the mourning. He told mourners that God had given them dominion over land and other natural resources. VP Nkomo made no reference whatsoever to the torture of the late Welshman while in detention.

Newsday

By Feluna Nleya

11 October 2010

Amnesty International Zimbabwe (AI) will this week petition the legal secretaries from the three political parties in the inclusive government to help abolish the death sentence in Zimbabwe.

The United Nations General Assembly has also adopted resolutions calling for a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty,” the letter reads.

“I am urging you in your capacity as legal secretary to play a leading role to persuade your party and the Zimbabwean people to abolish the death penalty in Zimbabwe.”

AI executive director Cousin Zilala said his organisation would hand over the petitions to the relevant authorities soon.

“We are trying to make appointments so that we take our petition to them soon and that should be done by end of next week,” Zilala said.

AI Zimbabwe has also made its submission to the Constitutional Parliamentary committee calling for an end to the executions.

“The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;rights which are recognised in the universal declaration of human rights and other international human rights, instruments to which Zimbabwe is a state party,” reads part of the letter.

They also said the adoption of a new constitution would provide a unique opportunity for Zimbabwe to show its commitment to the protection of internationally recognised human rights by abolishing the death penalty.

“In line with the commitment expressed in the Global Political Agreement to act in a manner that demonstrates respect for the democratic values of justice, fairness, openness, tolerance, equality, respect of all persons and human rights, Amnesty International Zimbabwe is urging the constitutional parliamentary committee to demonstrate Zimbabwe’s commitment to human rights by expunging the death penalty from Zimbabwe’s constitution,” the statement reads.

Herald

11 October 2010
GOVERNMENT will allow payment of teachers’ incentives by parents and guardians to stay while a permanent solution to improve their conditions of service is being sought, a Cabinet minister told Parliament on Wednesday.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said while payment of incentives to teachers had a discriminatory effect between rural and urban educators, Government would not stop them until salaries were improved.

Minister Coltart was responding to a question from Mberengwa East House of Assembly Member Cde Makhosini Hlongwane (Zanu-PF) during a question and answer session.

Cde Hlongwane had asked what Government policy was on incentives as rural teachers were complaining that they were earning less than their counterparts in urban areas.

“This is a perennial problem and a perennial question and I need to say at the outset what is our policy regarding incentives.

“We do not like incentives and we would like to end incentives as soon as possible and we made it clear because we recognise that it discriminates,” said Minister Coltart.

“It discriminates between teachers teaching in poor areas in the rural or urban and teachers teaching in wealthy areas.

“So because of that there is tension within the teaching profession and, of course, it creates tension between parents and teachers as well.

“So the general policy is as soon as we can abolish incentives we will do so.”

Minister Coltart said it was important to note that over the past four years thousands of teachers had quit the profession and among those who left were teachers of English, Mathematics and Science, who were difficult to replace.

“It is very difficult to retrain teachers overnight for those subjects. We recognise that at present, because of the state of the economy, there is minimal inflow of money to Treasury.

“So it does not have sufficient money to pay teachers what they earn in the region.

“So we had to take this emergency interim measure and that measure has been to allow incentives to be paid to teachers so that at the very least we can retain some teachers,” he said.

“I do not, at the moment, seek to say this is a perfect system, in fact this is a far from perfect and what you say is absolutely correct there are some areas where teachers are hardly paid any incentives and there are areas where teachers are earning reasonable salaries.”

Minister Coltart was also asked to comment on a study by the United Nations Development Programme, which said Zimbabwe’s literacy rate had surged from 85 percent to 95 percent.

He said there was need to be cautious about the ranking since the method used, in his view, was flawed.

He said the UNDP had relied on attendance at school for the first four years of formal education as indicators of literacy rate.

“Attendance does not translate into literacy because pupils attend lessons with no textbooks and with temporary teachers,” said Minister Coltart.

Daily News

Zimbabwe Democracy Now.com

11 October 2010

Posted by Nxwala

My sister at home in Zimbabwe died and I had to go back home for her burial. I do not have money for the border so I had to go under the fence. I travelled to Lupane using my thumb and rural buses. When I got to St. Luke’s it was much worse than when I was last time there.

I think we must no longer call them government hospitals because the patients pay for almost everything: food, medicine, drip, injections, and beds and most of the people working there do not have a salary for the job at all. They depend on their children who are working in other countries especially South Africa. The government does not take responsibility for the supply of medication in government hospitals in fact money paid by the patients is used to buy hospital supply.

There are no ambulances in St Luke’s hospital in Lupane, even though it is the main hospital in Matabeleland north province. Those who get sick are transported to hospitals through scotch carts and many die before even reaching the hospital, others they do not even go to the hospital because they do not have the money to pay for the doctor, the utensils and the medication.

My family with me went to find my sister’s body and it was the worst. The hospital mortuary are stinking. The fridges in the mortuary are not powerful enough to freeze the body and corpses are not allowed to stay there for more than two days. Electricity can go off for two, three days and just imagine the fluid coming out of the mortuary. I witnessed this myself.

There is no doctor during weekends because there is only one doctor responsible for the whole hospital and I am sure he will be tired to work seven days a week. In fact he is an old family man and he needs to rest but he is still sacrificing his life to help the people. He works overtime from eight in the morning to eight or ten in the evening. If anything happens to him, maybe get sick or if he decide to resign it will be a big blow to the people needing services in that hospital. I do not think his replacement will be able to offer services as he is doing now. They are many people who are dying now due to the lack of services and shortage of doctors but the man is reducing the number (of deaths) by half.

If some non governmental organisation or interested individuals can lend a hand in St Luke’s hospital and help the situation they may save life, lots of them.

Also while I was visiting my rural family in Lupane they told me about the schools and the children who are missing education now.

Schools in rural areas have become a playing ground, I think right from the morning pupils go for PE, then break time, then lunch time and then they dismiss. This is happening everyday you can hardly find the children inside the classroom learning. Due to the decade of political suffering caused by state sponsored violence there are no books, classrooms have potholes and parents are suppose to buy books for their children which they cannot afford. The reason that makes them not afford is none of them are working and to get one American dollar in rural areas is very difficult.

The Minister of Education Honorable David Coltart has played a big role in the sourcing of school books especially for the primary schools but that is not enough because teachers are not teaching. They need the parents to pay them incentives and I know the parents do not have and the teachers won’t teach unless and until they get the money they want. They do not want to help the children’s future for nothing and their reason is valid but the children are compromised. I think the World Vision organization must also help in the educational sector because a country without education will never have a bright future.

Sunday News

10 October 2010

Senior Sports Reporter

THE revamping of Khumalo Hockey Stadium is set to start soon after the release of US$1 million for the project by the government.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart, said the money was now in the hands of his Ministry and the Ministry of Public Works will soon flight tenders for the supply of the turf and repair of the structure.
Coltart and officials from the Ministry of Public Works, Hockey Association of Zimbabwe represented by president Farai Kanyangarara, treasurer Gavin Stephens and the SRC had the first side meeting at the stadium last Thursday.
“There has been lots of progress, we had our first site meeting last Thursday, the whole process has to be fast tracked so make sure the stadium is ready early next year,” said Coltart.
According to the Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, the artificial turf for the both the A and B field will come at an estimated cost of US$600 000. Other areas of the facility that need attention are the flood lights, water pumping system, the roof which has some part of it blown away by the wind and the public address system which has been vandalised.
Coltart added that the artificial turf at the stadium which has become an eyesore will soon be removed.
The refurbishment of Khumalo Hockey Stadium will facilitate the hosting by Zimbabwe of the 2012 London Olympics Africa Hockey Qualifiers next year.
Coltart said two foreign governments have shown interest in providing funding for the renovation of Magamba Hockey Stadium in Harare.
Built by the Ministry of Public Works and handed over to the SRC ahead of the 1995 All Africa Games hosted by Zimbabwe, both Khumalo and Magamba were world class facilities and some of the best hockey facilities in the continent. Neglect and the disintegration of the turf have led to the stadiums being unusable.
The revamping of Khumalo Hockey Stadium will come as a huge relief to hockey enthusiasts in Zimbabwe as the sport had returned to grass.

Herald

By Robson Sharuko

9 October 2010

FROM the very beginning it was so clear that there was something terribly wrong, that it was all certain to end in tears, controversy and accusations of betrayal, that it was all an insult to professionalism as we know it today and that it was all so shadowy even the football gods rejected it.

From the very start it was so clear that something would go horribly wrong, that it was all poised to end in heartbreak, mudslinging and a bad Press, that it was all an insult to the values of management as we know it today and that it was all so primitive that even the football gods dissociated themselves from the farce.

From the word go it was so clear that something just wasn’t right, that it was all meant to end in embarrassment, problems and complications, that it was all an insult to the ethics of leadership as we know it today and that it was all so ancient, bordering on being barbaric, that even the football gods turned away from the madness.

From the beginning it was so clear that it was all comic, it was all a mess, was simply chaotic, everything was in a shambles, there was anarchy and all the structures were in disarray.

A few weeks later, on the eve of the Warriors’ key 2012 Nations Cup qualifier against Cape Verde at the National Sports Stadium tomorrow, we all have egg on our faces — the journalists, the kamikaze administrators, the disgraced technical committee, everyone at 53 Livingstone Avenue and everyone employed to write the world’s most beautiful game in this country.

Tom Saintfiet, the man handpicked by the Zifa technical committee, is holed up in Francistown, across our western border in Botswana, waiting for a call telling him that his application for a work permit to coach the Warriors has been processed and, if he passes the test, returning to take his post as the gaffer.

The team that he was meant to coach tomorrow remains without a substantive coach, five months after the last substantive coach Sunday Chidzambwa left the job, and it is a measure of how badly we manage our football that the team that Mhofu joined, and then left, in South Africa, has already found a replacement.

The man we trusted to guide the team in Liberia, during our search for the coach, and was only thrust into the Warriors’ coaching staff because of public pressure because the technical committee didn’t like Norman Mapeza so much they even settled for Friday Phiri and Madinda Ndlovu as assistant coaches to Saintfiet, remains in limbo after being abused by a system that hates him with a passion.

In the week that all the focus was supposed to fall on the Warriors’ preparations, all the attention shifted to the circus in the camp related to their coaches and the troops could only watch, from a distance, and wonder whether this is the madness that they wanted to see when they left their foreign bases for a week on national duty serving their dear motherland.

But was it all supposed to be like this?

Definitely No!

But we should have read the signs from day one that there was something horribly wrong — the flawed selection process where the technical committee, in their obsession to appoint a foreign coach, offered Saintfiet the job long before Mapeza had been interviewed for the same post.

We should have read the signs when stories were leaked that Mapeza didn’t have the qualifications, as a way of justifying the decision to choose Saintfiet, even though the Belgian didn’t have a league championship under his belt — a key part of the CV of a coach, according to the advert placed by Zifa, which the association was looking for to guide the Warriors.

We should have read the signs when Madinda and Friday, who had not applied for the posts, were suddenly airlifted from obscurity into the fast lane of the Warriors’ coaching staff, roped in as lieutenants Saintfiet ahead of Mapeza even though, given his service to the team, under Mhofu and his own, Norman appeared a better candidate for the assistant coach’s positions.

The Taxi Ride From The Airport

We should have known that there was something wrong, with the whole thing, when Saintfiet arrived in the capital that Monday evening and, at the Harare International Airport, there was only Benedict Moyo to welcome him here.

Where were the other board members?

Given the importance of the visitor, one would have expected the whole Zifa board to have been at Harare International Airport to welcome the new coach, make him feel at home and show him that he had the support of everyone in their team. But there was only one man, who lives in Kwekwe, to welcome him at the airport and, another man, who lives in Bulawayo, to welcome him to the hotel he checked into that night.

Where were all the Harare-based board members?

We should have known that there was something wrong when Saintfiet was bundled into a taxi, on arrival at Harare International Airport that Monday evening, because — if we are genuine to our conscience — that’s not the way we welcome such important visitors to our country.

There is nothing wrong with a taxi ride, and the people who live in Europe, will tell you that it’s all fine.

But there is everything questionable with a Zifa board, which has consistently provided cars and luxury buses to pick up visiting referees, visiting referees’ instructors, visiting Fifa development officers, visiting coaches’ instructors, visiting foreign teams and their officials, to suddenly change the way they conduct business now that their coach, the Warriors’ coach, was coming.

Why was Tom bundled into that taxi when everyone who has visited us has been provided with a chauffer driven car, to ferry him or her from the airport to their hotel, given that — because of the Warriors’ importance — he was probably the most important foreign football visitor since the turn of the millennium.

Did it mean that a Zifa board that had chartered a long-haul Boeing 767 200 Extended Range passenger jet at the cost of about US$250 000, and given free seats to scores of fans on the tour of Liberia, had suddenly gone so broke that it couldn’t afford to provide a decent car for Saintfiet — if everything was above board — just to take him on that short trip from the airport?

On that Monday evening, with the summer darkness having fallen over Harare, as Saintfiet emerged into the arrivals lounge, only to be greeted by the lonely figure of Benedict Moyo, we probably missed a big story that should have told us that whatever was happening, related to the coach, was not the work of a united Zifa board.

On that Monday evening, as a gentle summer evening breeze filtered from the Manyame River and gave a lovely comforting massage burnt out by the intense heat of that afternoon, we should have known that we were not privileged witnesses to a marriage made in heaven but we were just seeing a union made in hell.

We should have known then that there were cracks within the Zifa board, when it came to the coach, and the man who appeared solidly in support of his candidature was the only one who had braved the challenge to come and welcome Saintfiet to Zimbabwe that day.

Now, as the drama reaches fever pitch, we can only look to that very first day and see that there was more, to what we saw at Harare International Airport that day, than what we cared to analyse.

Together, as journalists, we let our readers down because we didn’t see the story behind the story, we didn’t see what CNN would have called the Back Story, we didn’t see the plots and sub-plots hidden behind the absence of the other board members and we didn’t care to question why this appeared to be a one-man show.

Now, three weeks down the line, we know what we missed, how we missed it and how we failed to prepare our readership, that evening, for the chaos that was likely to follow.

We are all poorer, as the football writing journalists of this country, for that omission.

Work Permit Blues Everywhere

Well, Saintfiet remains holed up in Botswana and a number of people have already spoken out about this issue with even the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart, a man whose commitment to his job, and professionalism, are virtues I have learnt to respect, also adding his voice.

What has clearly emerged from all the voices is that the case, related to the coach, could have been handled better.

What has also emerged from all this is that noone is above the law and, on Monday and Tuesday, the country’s laws were broken.

Someone lied to the coach, possibly those who employed him in the first place, that he could go ahead and work without a work permit, as what happened on Monday and Tuesday, and court all the controversy that followed.

But why are Saintfiet’s disciples trying to give us the impression that the coach’s problems are unique and, because of that, it should be the product of an underground movement that didn’t want him to be on the bench tomorrow?

Why are these people suddenly being allowed to make a mockery of the immigration authorities in this country?

Why are the Zifa board members trying to get a helping hand from Vice-President John Nkomo, whom they say is their patron now that times are bad, when the Zifa Council removed the status of patron from the revised constitution when times where good?

Have we forgotten that we have thousands of skilled Zimbabweans, who because of their educational qualities, were offered jobs in many foreign countries right now but they probably missed that chance to start a new life after running into complications related to being granted work permits.

The irony of it all is that Norman Mapeza is also a victim of all this. Having impressed in Turkey, playing in the Champions League for Galatasaray, as a midfield partner of Georgi Hagi, known as the Maradona of the Carpathian Mountains, and playing against Barcelonaand the likes of Romario and Stoichkov, Mapeza caught the attention of Harry Redknapp.

Redknapp was then in charge of West Ham, known as the Academy of Football in England because of its excellent youth development programme, and Mapeza arrived at Upton Park for trials and impressed, in his first week, and was offered a contract.

He was supposed to partner Rio Ferdinand, who was then at West Ham before his move to Leeds United and then Manchester United, in central defence.

But while Mapeza had impressed Redknapp and was offered a contract, he could only sign after being granted a work permit.

As it turned out, the British Immigration authorities turned down West Ham’s application for Mapeza’s work permit because Zimbabwe was such a lowly ranked nation in the world and, in line with new regulations in that country, a player from this nation could only be granted a work permit under special circumstances.

Redknapp didn’t make the stupid move to field Mapeza because he knew that the laws didn’t allow that, he knew it was illegal and he knew that the Zimbabwean wouldn’t be given a licence to play in the Premiership as long as he didn’t have a work permit.

It was the end of Mapeza’s dream to move to England, not because he was not good, but because he fell foul of the law.

I remember calling Ferdinand one night, after being given his phone number by an agent, and we talked at length about Mapeza and he told me, in an interview later published in this newspaper, that he was disappointed that West Ham had lost such a talent because of work permit complications.

But Ferdinand said that was the way life was and, since it was what the law said, it was just unfortunate that they couldn’t change anything and he wished Mapeza all the best in the rest of his career.

Norman would not be the last Zimbabwean player to run into complications, related to work permits, in an English club career.

Onismor Bhasera, who is certain to play leftback tomorrow for the Warriors, went through the same nightmare when he tried to join Portsmouth last season after the Fratton Park club, which was then in the Premiership, offered him a contract.

It then required a number of appeals, while the player’s career was in limbo, before Bhasera was eventually cleared — a couple of months down the line — and then joined Plymouth Argyle in the Championship.

So what is so special about Saintfiet that this whole country should come to a standstill, simply because he was politely asked to leave the country to ensure that he remains on the good side of the law while his application is being processed, and we all should close our shops and schools for his cause?

I have no problem with Tom and I sympathise with him here because he wasn’t familiar with the laws of this country and there are people who told him that he would not be breaking any laws, even if he conducted the training sessions, because everything was under control.

Those are the people who are causing all this chaos.

People Power

The Zifa board needs to understand, and do so urgently, that their job is merely to serve the game in the interests of the majority of the people of this country.

Once their execution of duties, differs sharply with the interests of this country, then it means that there is something terribly wrong with that.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that the majority is always right but there are certain issues, especially when it comes to football, when even the average fan knows who is certainly the best player in the country and who are certainly the best coaches around.

I’m not saying that the Zifa board should make populist decisions but it should try, as much as possible, to ensure that whatever decision they are bound to make, falls in line with the interests of the majority of the fans.

When this Zifa board made a firm decision against trips to Asia by the Warriors, on the basis that they were bringing the name of the team into disrepute and were adding no value to the side, it was a decision that fell in line with the interests of the majority of the fans.

So it was not surprising that the board received the full backing of the people of this country.

When the same Zifa board made the decision to let Mapeza lead the Warriors, on a caretaker basis, for the game against Liberia, it was a decision that fell in line with the interests of the majority of the fans and that was why there was no controversy.

What created controversy this time around was that the decision to appoint Saintfiet as coach, ahead of Mapeza, did not appear to fall in line with the interests of the majority of the fans whose soul remain tormented by a past where foreign coaches have failed.

When the same fans look at giants like Cote d’Ivoire and see that even the Elephants, for all their profile and star players, have ditched the concept of foreign coaches and turned to the locals, those fans read something in those moves.

When the same fans recall the events that happened at the 2010 Nations Cup finals, and realise that for all the galaxy of foreign coaches who were there, it took a team led by a local coach, the Pharaohs of Egypt, to win the tournament, those supporters read something into all that. When the same fans recall that the winners of the last three editions of the Nations Cup finals, for all the big number of foreign coaches who have featured at the tournaments, have been a team coached a local coach, these supporters read something into all that.

When the same fans see that even Bafana Bafana, for all the money that is in their football, have even gone local, they read something into all that because they are wise enough to understand that there is no money in our football and can’t understand where we have suddenly got US$8 000 (net) every month to pay Saintfiet.

They ask why shouldn’t that money be invested in the players, who play the game and fly our national flag, so that we can see if it cannot inspire them to play better and produce good results?

They wonder why Norman appears to have become so bad that he cannot even be number one, and when the preferred number one runs into problem, he cannot even be number two when, only a month ago when the going was tough in Liberia, he was the number one.

They question why Saintfiet can come here and, rather than be a diplomat, he plunges into stupid battles, including mocking our point in Liberia with a foolish excuse that the Lone Stars should have been beaten, all in an attempt to rub salt into the wounds of Norman.

They ask that if Saintfiet was such a saint and points are easy to pick on the road in Africa, as he appeared to claim in his childish attack on Norman, why then did Namibia then lose against little Gambia in Banjul in their first 2012 Nations Cup qualifier last month?

They read what is coming from Namibia and when that country’s Football Association president John Muinjo comments about Saintfiet, they listen and ask questions.

“If it is true that he has been appointed as Zimbabwe’s national team coach, then he was not loyal and he is not credible. We have not received any communication from him. He lacked the professionalism to tell us that he wants to go for another offer in Zimbabwe,” said Muinjo.

“His (Saintfiet) contract is performance based. He lost focus and obviously saw that he was failing to qualify this country for the 2012 Nations Cup, that’s why he decided to go.”

They ask, given all this, if it was necessary for a country like Zimbabwe, and an organisation like Zifa, to go to a friendly nation like Namibia and create all this confusion by poaching this coach?

They need answers, these fans, and when they don’t get answers they believe that their interests are not being represented and that is what torches a rebellion.

We Can’t Dump Our Boys

Given all that has happened, the worst thing we could do for our boys — who have suffered so much during the turbulent week — is to abandon them right now just when they need us the most.

The last thing we could do, right now, is take our frustrations to our boys and decide not to support them, in this big game, simply because we are disappointed by this and that thing which happened.

The best thing that we can do for our boys is to fill the stadium, just the way we did it when Brazil came to town, and in that theatre of dreams, we will re-discover our soul, we will find each other again, we will warm up to the Zifa technical committee and we will try to win tomorrow’s game.

The best thing we can do for our Warriors is to support their cause and show them that, even though they were betrayed by the football leadership, we stand by them and, by going to the National Sports Stadium in numbers, we would have scored a beautiful goal against the administrators.

Let’s forget about the problems that have plagued our camp this week and, just for these last two days, let’s shift the focus to the boys who matter much, the Warriors, so that they feel that their nation is behind them and wants them to do more than what they did in Liberia.

Let’s forget about all the enemies we created this week, because that is what happens in a struggle, and — just for this weekend — let’s reach out to our foes and let’s join hands, united by our identity as Zimbabweans, in backing our dear Warriors.

Let’s forget about all the people who have made us angry this week, even if a lot of now appear to have a problem with what is going on at 53 Livingstone Avenue, and — for the moment — let’s concentrate on what matters and the mission should be to beat Cape Verde.

Let’s forget all those Zifa leaders who tried to split us into tribal groups, through their demarcation of the national team into tribal zones that need representation in the Warriors, and — for a moment — let’s concentrate on what matters most.

If we win tomorrow, and we should, we will heal some of the wounds we have all inflicted in the game that we all love in a forgettable week.

The good thing is that we will have about five months, from tomorrow to our next game in Mali, and there will be time to sort out our problems.

Do it for your dear motherland my true Warriors.