Zimbabwean

By Paul Ndlovu

22 September 2010

HARARE – The Government plans to re-introduce allowances for teachers in rural schools as part of a raft of reforms meant to restore the professional status of the educators’ vocation, a cabinet minister has said.
The plan, that is part of the cabinet approved 2010/2011 Education policy, is meant to subsidise the low salaries that rural teachers. The Minister of Education, Sports, Art and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said the ministry would push for the improvement of the salaries of teachers to the maximum affordable level.
“The Ministry does not control public service salary levels, and will work with colleagues in other ministries to try to ensure that teachers incomes are improved to the maximum level that is possible in the context of the need for retaining some balance between employment costs and non salary recurrent costs, and between recurrent and capital expenditure,” he said.
Coltart said the ministry would also campaign for the re-introduction of the payment of rural allowances to teachers in remote locations. “The regulations and procedures exist for this allowance payment, and with budget provision, it would be a simple matter to reintroduce payment of these allowances as one positive step to ensure that teachers in remote locations, who are least likely to benefit from any salary supplements from parents levies, are provided an incentive to remain in post,” he said.
the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) Chief Executive Officer, Sifiso Ndlovu, cautiously welcomed the plans by the government to pay rural allowances. “That is a welcome development which is long overdue considering that some of our teachers shun rural areas because of the challenges such as transport. For the development of the country, that is a welcome move. For equal access to quality education, that is a welcome move.
“However, it may work temporarily. The question is does the economy have the capacity to pay extra funds? I just hope the minister and the Government is not fooling us about this. Because unless there is a promise from the donor community, there is already a challenge there,” he said. Ndlovu said the teacher situation was still precarious, especially with the
ministry’s directive not to engage temporary teachers.
The minister said the overall situation countrywide regarding qualified teachers was not bad, but there was a growing percentage of unqualified teachers, which needed to be stopped. “In rural areas there are much higher percentages of unqualified teachers, especially in areas where teachers have been harassed. This trend needs to be reversed because it is now being reflected in much worse results coming out of the rural areas in comparison to urban areas,” he said.
Senator Coltart said the ministry would also establish a teaching service professional council as a body to provide guidance and support to the teaching profession and help to restore its professional status.
The Senator said the ministry also proposed a number of critical system development activities for 2011, which would lay the foundation for longer term system capacity to deliver on the medium term strategic plan. “We also propose a study of teacher supply, utilization and development which will provide the basis of a more coherent strategy for human resource planning and management in the Ministry.
“This study should build on available information in the present EMIS system and other official databases, but also provide more specific and detailed information to permit more efficient and equitable deployment and utilization of the teaching corps in the country. This will include a review of non-teaching staff in the ministry and institutions to provide the most efficient and effective support to enable teachers to perform their duties,” he said.

The Independent

By Daniel Howden, Africa Correspondent

Wednesday, 22 September 2010

Sir Richard Branson championed Zimbabwe as a new destination for investors yesterday, saying it was time to get the nation’s shattered economy back on its feet.

While much of the international community has long withheld development assistance, citing the political situation, Sir Richard said the time for “wait and see was over”.

“In life, people have got to take risks,” the billionaire said in New York, where he introduced some of the world’s richest people to his investment venture, Enterprise Zimbabwe. “If everybody waits on the sidelines, it will be the people who suffer. The present state of politics in Zimbabwe is by no means perfect, but it’s a great deal better.”

The initiative has been running quietly for a year already but was unveiled only yesterday to major philanthropists at the Clinton Global Initiative forum on the sidelines of the UN’s anti-poverty summit.

Sir Richard aims to reassure private donors who want to invest but are concerned with how the funds will be used. Concerns remain that foreign investment will go to politicians rather than ordinary people. “The idea of Enterprise Zimbabwe is to have a sort of safe haven for people to invest through,” Sir Richard said.

The enterprise was given a cautious welcome by David Coltart, Zimbabwe’s education minister, who is one of several cabinet members from the two MDC factions. “I think it is a good moment for private charitable funds to consider supporting the service sectors like health, water, transport and education and the private sector,” he said.

Zimbabwe was once among the most affluent countries in sub-Saharan Africa but under President Robert Mugabe, the economy has been gutted and international confidence in the nation has been destroyed. In 2008’s presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mr Mugabe in the first round of voting despite a brutal campaign of intimidation against the opposition. But Mr Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the run-off as violence escalated.

Some fragile progress has been made since and Mr Tsvangirai’s group was pushed by regional leaders to join a coalition with the ruling Zanu-PF party. The US and EU have also been urged by South Africa to drop targeted sanctions against individuals in Mr Mugabe’s regime.

Zimbabwean

By Joshua Morrison

21 September 2010

It has been over two years since the Government of National Unity was formed, and people want to know what has truly changed in the interim.

Thanks to the work of Senator David Coltart in his capacity as the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, there have been various policy announcements in the recent months. As well as that, his ministry is currently working on a huge revamp of the Education Act.
The secondary pieces of legislation that have been created over the past decade pose an awkward problem. Looking at the statutory instruments from the 1987 Education Act reveals that the law is murky and sometimes confusing, and it has taken many weeks of hard work on the part of Coltart and his ministry to compile a comprehensive list that consolidates all the statutory instruments. At the same, there has been a lot of time taken to identify areas in the Act that need to change.
The Rights of the Child have been a major driving force when looking at the elements of Health and Safety that need to be integrated into schools all over the country. Currently Zimbabwe has an outdated curriculum, and Health and Safety is not at the top of the agenda with regards to legislation. However, this is all about to change. Coltart is looking at areas such as asbestos in schools and the controversial issue of corporal punishment. With extensive research being carried out, and legal draftsmen coming on board, we can be hopeful that the face of education in Zimbabwe will be changing for good.
Coltart is aware that his remit stops at the school gates, but is he is always thinking outside the box. A current concern for his ministry is making school travel safer by providing restrictions on what times pupils can be transported and making the use of seatbelts compulsory. This should allow parents to rest secure in the knowledge that their children will be safe at school. Not only is it going to be safer for children in terms of travel arrangements, but there will also be increased security at the school premises, with visitor restrictions being implemented.
Currently in Zimbabwe, all those of ‘school going age’ are bound by law to attend primary school. However, this is does not go far enough. The African Charter on Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990 says, ‘Every child shall have the right to education’. This clearly means all must have a right to attend school.
Children with special educational needs in Zimbabwe are often the victims of prejudice. The statutory instrument entitled, “Education (Enrolment and Exclusion) Regulation” allows for the exclusion of children who fail to benefit from attendance at school due to their level of educational attainment, or any other reason. This highlights the injustice that pupils with special needs face in being removed from school because of their specific educational requirements. Does this not encroach on their right to education?
This is just another example of how human rights are frequently over looked in Zimbabwe. However, with the new Minister of Education working tirelessly for change, Zimbabweans can be confident that the educational sector will be changing to protect the rights of children and all those who are involved in teaching our nation.

Herald

By New Ziana

21 September 2010

Confusion still surrounds the employment of more than 25 000 temporary teachers whose contracts Treasury directed the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture not to renew this term.

Investigations by New Ziana yesterday revealed that Treasury was causing the confusion as it has been issuing conflicting instructions to the Education Ministry since schools opened two weeks ago.

Initially, Treasury directed the Ministry to stop recruiting temporary teachers this term but cabinet later reversed the instruction.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said Cabinet had resolved that the Treasury directive did not apply to temporary teachers with running contracts.

Following the Cabinet decision, the Ministry of Education began recruiting the temporary teachers, but Treasury last Thursday again directed it to stop and withdraw services for those that had already been employed.

Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive Sifiso Ndlovu confirmed that the temporary reprieve to employ relief staff was reversed last week.

“There is chaos and confusion between Treasury and the Ministry of Education as to who should issue instructions to teachers,” he said.

Ndlovu said such discrepancies had an effect on the revival of the education sector.

“This is a disadvantage to students who are sitting for examinations this term,” he said, the confusion was happening at a time teachers were already stressed due to poor working conditions.

An official in the Ministry of Education’s human resources department confirmed receiving conflicting directives from Treasury on the employment of temporary teachers.

“We received verbal approval from Treasury to engage temporary teachers and we went ahead to notify school heads,” he said.

“Later on we received an instruction from the same office to stop the process and wait for written communication,” he said, adding the issue was, however, being sorted out.

Efforts to get comments from the Secretary for Finance Mr Willard Manungo were fruitless as his mobile phone went unanswered while Education Minister David Coltart and his permanent secretary Steven Mahere were locked in a meeting with their officials presumably to discuss the issue.

Zimbabwe needs 120 000 teachers when the sector is operating at full capacity, but according to Zimta, there are currently 90 000 teachers including temporary staff.

Zimeye.org

By Staff reporter

21 September 201o

A group of peer members within the Prof Arthur Mutambara aligned MDC party have threatened to defect to the recently revived ZAPU party following revelations that party leaders are considering to reunite with the Morgan Tsvangirai led faction.

Said a spokesman for the peer group who at present requests anonymity:

“Tsvangirai labelled us evil and called us all sorts of names. Why should he want to engage us now?”

The spokesman added saying that if MDC-M unites with MDC-T, a large number of people will defect to the Dumiso Dabengwa-led ZAPU party in rebellion.

“I think there will end up being 3 new groupings, some of us will go to ZAPU if this ever happens” he said.

Criticising the party’s Legal Secretary David Coltart, who recently announced saying that a united front was necessary to help complete Zimbabwe’s transition to democracy, the peer group leader said Coltart belongs to a group of moderates who align themselves under Mutambara and his position is not a party position.

However, in the United Kingdom, the MDC-M’s national chairman, speaking in his personal capacity opposed the present threats saying any action to unite will help remove Robert Mugabe and his party from power although he also called for a 2-term limit condition for leaders if a new opposition formation is created.

“The unification of democratic forces is desirable and long overdue,” said Abraham Ndodana Mdlongwa.

“Tsvangirai has acted in bad faith”

Criticising Morgan Tsvangirai’s leadership, Mdlongwa added saying that the new formation should of necessity ensure a new Obama emerges:

“The process should culminate in a unification congress where all elected MDC officials including party presidents that have served their 2 terms should be barred from contesting their positions in line with the party constitution of the MDC.  Such officials would of course be free to contest any other position within the united party if they so wished.  This way we would ensure a new Obama emerges within our opposition ranks. I can understand the uneasiness with which some of my colleagues have come to feel about any talk of unity with MDC-T.  Having been an elected official in the original MDC, I am aware Morgan Tsvangirai has not acted in good faith on these matters in the past and has as a result cost the opposition numeours opportunities for dislodging ZANU-PF from power.”

News 24

By Julian Rademeyer and Marietie Louw-Carstens

21 September 2010

Johannesburg – The owner of a safari business, his wife and a professional hunter are among the “masterminds” who have been arrested in connection with rhino poaching.

Dawie Groenewald, 42, the wealthy driving force behind Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris in Polokwane, his wife, Sariette, 34, and Tielman Erasmus, a professional hunter, are behind bars.

They were arrested on Monday along with Dr Karel Toet and Dr Manie du Plessis, two veterinarians from Modimolle, and Toet’s wife, Marisa.

Groenewald, a former police official, was suspended from the South African Professional Hunters Association four years ago, and Zimbabwean authorities put a stop to his hunting there.

He was arrested in the US in April this year in connection with a leopard trophy which was illegally hunted in South Africa and exported to the US. He pled guilty and was sentenced to pay a fine of $30 000 (R228 000).

He spent eight days in prison there, over two months under house arrest and also had to pay $7 500 (R57 000) in damages to the American hunter.

He denied in an interview with Media24’s investigative team that he was involved in rhino poaching and has been forbidden from entering Zimbabwe.

Notorious

According to the South African Aircraft register, Groenewald is linked to a closed corporation which owns a Robinson R44 helicopter with the registration ZS-HBH.

His wife, Sariette, is listed as a director of Valinor Trading 142 – the owner of the helicopter.

It is a known fact that helicopters are often used during rhino poaching operations.

Groenewald’s Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris is rather notorious in hunting circles.

They advertise hunting safaris in Botswana, Tanzania, South Africa and even Zimbabwe, despite the fact that the Zimbabwean nature conservation authority (Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority) forbade them from entering the country in September 2004.

A Zimbabwean cabinet minister and well-known figure in conservation circles, David Coltart, had earlier described Out of Africa to Newsweek as a “cruel organisation which has no respect for the environment” and strives for “unsustainable hunting quotas”.

Hunting experts in Zimbabwe allege that Out of Africa has strong links with politicians close to President Robert Mugabe.

During the height of political instability in Zimbabwe, the organisation apparently organised hunting safaris on farms and land invaded by Zanu-PF’s “war veterans”.

Shock

About 100 vehicles from the police and the department of nature conservation raided game farms in the Musina area on Tuesday. A police helicopter and aircraft were also used.

Several people, including professional hunters, were questioned.

There have been no further arrests.

National police spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said on Monday the nine suspects are allegedly involved in killing rhinos, sawing off their horns and removing the carcasses.

These nine suspects will appear in court in Musina on Wednesday, the day declared International Rhino Day by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The South African Veterinary Association (Sava) expressed its shock over the arrest of Toet and Du Plessis.

It distanced itself from any “colleagues” who might be involved in rhino poaching.

Altogether 210 rhinos have been poached for their horns right across the country since January.

Daily News

By Enock Muchinjo

20 September 2010

HARARE – When a Zimbabwe Cricket second-string XI begins a four-day Intercontinental Cup match against the full Ireland team Monday, the country’s preparation for Test cricket will get into full swing.
ZC selectors refused the temptation to select a full strength Zimbabwe team for this tie, to the delight of Zim XI coach Steve Mangongo, who has always advocated for a bona fide second team in this competition.

Mangongo’s argument is a legitimate one.

To sustain a place at Test level, the country needs a big pool of well-prepared players, so exposing genuine second-teamers to competitive four-day matches against tier two teams like Ireland, Kenya and Afghanistan will widen the base.

“Every international match we play is important in our roadmap,” Mangongo said at a joint press conference on Saturday.

“Playing Ireland with virtually our second team is a positive way forward.”

There was general feeling in the Irish camp that the Zimbabweans had blundered by picking a “weakened” team.

Ireland captain William Porterfield, meanwhile, says the team must regularly beat teams of similar strength like Zimbabwe to boost chances of gaining test status.

The Irish team finally arrived in Harare Saturday following a denial by Cricket Ireland that it was placed under pressure to travel to Zimbabwe.

“We are always looking forward to improve ourselves, and test cricket is the pinnacle,” Porterfield told the Daily News upon arrival. “We’ve made massive strides in Ireland cricket and we now have a good chance of getting Test status.

“I think playing good cricket regularly will contribute (to gaining test status), especially against the teams closer to us. Getting big performances against such teams will do us no harm.”

Porterfield said he expected a “tough series” against the full Zimbabwe team, who they will play in three ODIs in addition to an Intercontinental match against the hosts’ second-string XI.

Last week, Zimbabwe’s sports minister David Coltart applauded the cricket boards of Ireland and New Zealand for agreeing to send teams to the country. New Zealand is also set to resume ties with Zimbabwe after naming an A side to tour the unstable Southern African nation in October.

Newsday

By Munyaradzi Mugowo

20 September 2010

Government has agreed to amend the country’s Labour Relations Act to make it equally friendly to employees and employers following a year of intense lobbying by the private sector, which wants an end to the system of wage arbitration and what it considers an onerous labour appeal and dispute settlement procedures.

Business argues that labour costs now rank second after raw materials in terms of contribution to production costs, undermining its competitiveness, and this is arising from “unrealistic” wage
increments by national employment councils (NECs) acting on flawed provisions of the Act.

The legal framework for labour relations in Zimbabwe was last comprehensively reviewed in 1992 through the Labour Relations Amendment Act No 12, and since then four statutory instruments (SIs) have been passed to solve a growing number of sticking issues arising from fundamental provisions of the Act.

These include SI 31 Labour Relations (General) Regulations of 1993 and SI 30 Labour Relations (Settlement of Disputes) Regulations of 1993. The two subsidiary legislations repealed SI 368 of 1985 and SI 369/1985, respectively.

Initiated last year, the latest effort aims to review the system of wage arbitration blamed for stoking firms’ costs of production under the present “dollarised” environment as well as the current three-tier appeal procedure in case of a labour dispute, which prolongs labour disputes, among other issues.

Quoting a recent survey Antony Mandiwanza, Group CEO of Dairibord Holdings, told a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) conference last month that labour costs now rank second after raw materials in terms of contribution to production costs and blamed this on NECs and arbitrators.

Mandiwanza said the wage shock aggravated a general cost spike arising from “dollarisation”, undermined local firms’ cost competitiveness.

“This (high labour costs) has implications for cost competitiveness,” Mandiwanza said.

“Many people have been asking why local products are more expensive than imports.

“The answer is the competitiveness of the Zimbabwean player is being eroded by high production costs as a result of high the cost of labour and utilities.

“This is why we must take an active role as business in the process of reviewing the Labour Relations Act.”

The interests of the private sector are being represented by the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe in the legislative review process.

Mandiwanza added that the only strategy available to local firms is to link bonuses to performance and that way reduce labour to a variable cost.

Godfrey Kanyenze, the director of the Labour & Economic Research Institute of Zimbabwe, concurred and added that Zimbabwe’s Labour Relations Act had created an aristocracy of “overprotected employees” whose fortune depends on NECs rather than performance.

“The strategy for workers is to declare a deadlock and refer the case for arbitration, which often awards an increment outside the permissive factors,” Kanyenze said.

“What the arbitrator simply does is to average what the workers demand and what the employers offer to come up with an arbitral award.”

He added that the Labour Relations Act provides for quarterly wage reviews by NECs and for an appeal in case of non-compliance or violation.

The labour appeal procedure is widely considered cumbersome, costly and inefficient.

According to David Coltart, Education minister and prominent labour lawyer, Zimbabwe’s appeal procedure must be reduced to a two-tier system as the present procedure tends to complicate labour disputes by holding a case for up to five years.

Under the current three-tier appeal procedure, initially disputes are still handled by labour relations officer who can either make a determination or refer the matter for determination by senior labour relations officer.

In terms of SI 30 of 1993, any party who feels aggrieved by the determination can appeal to the Labour Relations Tribunal.

“And the procedure isn’t finished yet as any party
aggrieved by the decision of the tribunal can still appeal to the Supreme Court which will take at least another year,” Coltart said, adding the process of appeal can take up to five years to the benefit of layers.

Sunday Star Times (New Zealand)

By Richard Boock

19 September 2010

Sometimes it takes a crisis to bring out the best in people. Certainly, that applies to sport. So often maligned in the uber-professional era, it seems its true worth is only really glimpsed when everything else starts falling apart. Disasters have a way of doing that; of clarifying priorities. Most of those who still believe sport is all about winning and losing probably weren’t sitting in the middle of a magnitude 7.1 earthquake a fortnight ago.

Christchurch, we know, has been broken on a wheel. That no lives were lost during the tumult remains a miracle, but the cost has still been high. Stress levels have soared, as evidenced by the region’s escalating domestic violence rates. Many have lost their homes, their businesses and their immediate certainty of future. Most haven’t slept properly since September 4; the aftershocks putting paid to that. The city needs to be rebuilt spiritually, as much as physically.

Sport has an important role to play in the reconstruction. Dismissed as an irrelevance during swimmingly good times, it nonetheless offers a semblance of normality during the bad. At a time when nerves are frayed and patience is thin on the ground, bringing together disparate cross-sections of the community, folk who might otherwise share nothing in common, can only assist in the rehabilitation. In terms of boosting morale and fostering goodwill, it’s a more than worthy vehicle.

Thankfully, much of the sporting infrastructure around the Garden City has survived the quake. Apart from some notable exceptions such as hockey’s Porritt Park, the Coastal Spirit football club grounds at Bexley, and the rowing headquarters at Kerrs Reach, most of the municipal amenities have remained functional, if not unscathed. A return to the days of fields and courts teeming with competitors and spectators, both young and old, can’t come quickly enough.

There are hopes too, that sport will look to give back to the community, especially those codes that have enjoyed fanatical support from Canterbury folk over the decades. A blogger last week wrote to rugby authorities, asking them to consider allowing free entry to next Saturday’s provincial match between the red and blacks and Wellington at AMI Stadium. To its credit, the Canterbury union agreed, opting to waive all charges. That’s what you call quality leadership.

You don’t have to look far for examples of sport playing a key part in the emotional state of communities during hard times. Australians were buoyed by the deeds of Don Bradman during the Depression years. The United States insisted on sport being played domestically during World War II, as a method of boosting morale. On Christmas Day, 1914, German and British soldiers played football on the western front.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil cricket star Mutthiah Muralitharan arguably contributed more towards resolving his country’s ethnic conflict than all the politicians put together. Football programmes are being used in the Indonesian region of Aceh, another to be ravaged by ethnic civil war, in a bid to promote the peace-building process at community level. And surely one of sport’s greatest triumphs over the past decade has been the success of the Afghan cricket team.

When it comes to accounts of sport laughing in the face of intimidation, however, it’s hard to go past the 1944 cricket match at Lord’s between the RAF and Army teams, when the descent of a flying bomb reportedly forced the players, with some urgency, to throw themselves flat on the ground. The story goes that one of the batsmen at the time, Dunkirk survivor Captain J.D. Robertson, stood back up, dusted himself down, re-took his guard and blasted the next ball for six.

In a similar vein, although on an entirely different level, New Zealand Cricket has been drawing widespread praise for their decision to break the touring deadlock with Zimbabwe, and to send an “A” squad to the African nation next month. It’s true, the power-sharing accord between tyrant Robert Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai is far from ideal but, for now it seems, it’s about as good as it’s going to get. NZC should be congratulated for seeing the light.

As the Zimbabwe sports minister David Coltart observed last week, no one would try to claim that the troubled republic was perfect. On the other hand, there was a need to reward institutions such as Zimbabwe Cricket who were trying to improve conditions locally.

He’s right, you know. With security concerns non-existent, safety issues mostly resolved and political progress (albeit moderate) recognised internationally, the time is ripe to lend a hand. It’s all about reaching out.

Sport has that responsibility. It’s just a pity that so many of the athletes and codes that will attend the Commonwealth Games next month are yet to recognise the duty. After hunting high and low for a security loophole, their complaints now seem to revolve around the inconvenience of Delhi being located in India.

Humidity, rainfall, strange food, and what’s more, the place seems to be teeming with Indians. They must be wondering why Britain invaded in the first place.

For most Kiwis, however, and particularly those traumatised by that ugly quake a couple of weeks ago, the true meaning and worth of sport must now seem abundantly clear.

Winning is the aim, no doubt, but the real value is in watching the kids play, in sharing a sideline chat with a complete stranger, and in revelling in the sense of community and bonhomie. Stripped of its pretension at a time of crisis, sport once more becomes the small celebration of life it was always meant to be.

A delightful irrelevance, perhaps. But an important one all the same.

rboock@xtra.co.nz

The Zimbabwean

Our people need to understand that diversity is great for Zimbabwe. I am not just talking about accepting Whites or Asians or Chinese who in many cases have roots in our nation going back for generations. For these people, Zimbabwean is all they have ever known.

It is their home! If we manage to look past the wounds of the past, we can all acknowledge that the fabric of our great nation will be lesser without them. More importantly, I think we should embrace the diversity that comes with further immigration into our country now and in future years.

For many years, admittedly when the nation was still prosperous, Zimbabwe benefited from the influx of Malawian and Mozambican immigrants who came and did the jobs that most of us wouldn’t do for a day.

They tendered our gardens, herded our cattle, held menial farm jobs and spent countless hours in the dark shafts or our gold mines and our nation reaped the benefits of their sweat. In turn, our nation gave them excellent schools for their children, better healthcare and an opportunity to send money back home to help their families survive. Funny how the irony of history reminds us of how good we used to have it, but that’s a topic for another day.

National discourse

Our national discourse on this matter has been limited to sound bites that stereotype foreigners as bad and all white people as white farmers who stole our land. This not only ignores the facts but poisons our minds against a very crucial factor that will define how successful we will become as a nation in the 21st century.

Earlier in the year I was having a conversation with a friend. He is a British born white man (born in Dunstable, England) who chose to become a citizen of post-independence Zimbabwe. Having studied to become a librarian back in England, he worked for the University of Zimbabwe for many years and now runs his own media company.

An honest immigrant who deserves every success he has achieved. And yet, the colour of his skin proves a barrier to him moving up the ladder even after almost 30 years of being a Zimbabwean. An asset to the nation he chose and loves being hindered by superficial differences to all our detriment. That cannot be right!

A certain Mrs Keys was my English Language teacher. An expat and missionary from America who had fallen in love with the continent of Africa, spent years teaching in different African countries and eventually arrived at my high school. She was also the teacher in charge of scripture union in the school.

In the years that she taught me, she not only excelled as a teacher but more times than not was willing to sacrifice her own personal resources to make sure we had the best education possible. Thanks to her, I fell in love with the art of writing and reading comes as second nature to me which is weird for someone whose whole education focussed on sciences and business related subjects.

As you can see here, thanks to her, I turned out to be a pretty decent writer. Should the colour of her skin or the country of her birth negate the enormous contribution this remarkable woman has made to so many generations of children in Africa?

Learning curve
Our nation is only in its infancy in terms of development. Europe, Asia and most of the Americas  are way more advanced than us in every sense. They have been through what we are going through now already. The industrial revolution, rebuilding collapsed economies, managing national resources (like the Marange diamond fields) for the good of the nation and most recently the internet and other technological revolutions.

There is no doubt that our nation will benefit from engineers from Germany, IT and internet experts from the United States to cite a couple of examples. With their contribution, re-inventing the wheel becomes unnecessary. If we can tap experts from these more advanced economies, our nation can avoid the pitfalls of a learning curve and the painful process of learning from our mistakes.

Who among us can stand here and say Lubumbashi stars living and performing in Zimbabwe did not enhance our culture? You may disagree with their politics, but who is in any doubt that Senator David Coltart and Dr Faye Chung have added some value to the education of our children?

How can people like the British doctor I met at the Edinburgh Festival last week who spent five years working in our country be perceived as a bad thing for Zimbabweans on the streets of our capital? Surely, the contribution made by Mohammed Musa, the groceries wholesaler, is demonstration enough of how our nation benefits from this diversity.

The contribution of veteran journalist and former nightly news anchor Noreen Welch must mean something to us as a nation I reckon. Tell me, who will dare challenge the enormous contribution of the hardworking immigrants from Malawi and Mozambique in the 80s and 90s?

Poaching minds

America is the richest and most powerful nation on earth partly because they have embraced the strength of diversity. The United States has poached people of exceptional abilities from across the globe over the years including many of our exceptional countrymen.

Russian nuclear scientists, German engineers, British economists, Chinese wiz kids etc. Our very own deputy prime minister, Dr Arthur Mutambara,  worked for NASSA for years.

Hollywood is the movie capital of the world today because they embraced an attitude of accepting great actors no matter where they come from, the colour of their skin or the language they speak.

America is a country were a foreigner can become a citizen, a world renowned action hero, a businessman and eventually governor of the largest state in the country, all in one lifetime; not necessarily in that order of course. They are a perfect example of how to attract the best to help your country become better for generations to come.

While I can certainly understand why people fear what is different, all evidence points us to conclude that if we get past our anxieties our fears normally turn out to be wrong. To anyone with an open mind, the benefits of common sense immigration policies, diversity, inclusion and tolerance far outweigh the perceived draw backs.

If immigration is managed wisely, we will be richer as a nation because of it! If our nation draws on all the talents at our disposal from Zimbabweans of different races, religions, languages and political persuasions we will reap the greater benefits off it. Most importantly, if we become a more tolerant nation, we will handover to our children a nation more prosperous than what we inherited from our fathers.