Zim Telegraph
By Getrude Gumede
March 20, 2010

The political stalemate in the coalition is blocking reforms and economic recovery and may force a snap election – if South Africa can’t forge a deal

President Jacob Zuma’s suggestion that fresh elections might offer a way out of the current impasse has sparked off a complex game of ‘call my bluff’ amongst the parties to the power-sharing government. It seems clear that Zuma and his advisors would prefer some form of power-sharing to continue in Zimbabwe, even after polls.

The timing will depend on whether Zuma’s 16-18 March mission to Harare can secure a deal on the key battles between the parties: appointing provincial premiers, the Reserve Bank Governor and the Attorney General, and President Robert Mugabe’s unilateral decision to strip four ministers from rival parties of any effective powers. Otherwise, it will be back to the election gambit. None of the parties really wants elections now but they are happy to pretend that they do, in the hope of extracting concessions from their rivals.

If opinion polls mean anything, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would benefit most, winning a decisive majority in free and fair elections. Yet without electoral and security reform, there is little prospect of free elections: present conditions, with growing political violence in areas such as Epworth near Harare, favour Mugabe and the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara’s faction, MDC-M, has most to fear. It was already punching well above its electoral weight in the division of jobs in the unity government. Since then, it has expelled three of the initial ten members of parliament and not one of those remaining holds office; only Senator David Coltart, the Education Minister, has a popular mandate. Yet MDC-M holds the parliamentary balance of power between ZANU-PF and MDC-T, each having won 100 seats in 2008.

Dumiso Dabengwa’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) is expected to siphon off MDC-M support in Matebeleland; only Coltart has a good chance of winning, thanks to a personal following in Bulawayo. Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube would face a tough choice: does he keep the faith or revert to Tsvangirai or ally himself with Dabengwa, Simba Makoni or even ZANU-PF?

MDC-T would prefer to fight an election under a new constitution, with a properly verified electoral register and a new delimitation of constituency boundaries under independent monitoring. That process has hardly started: even without delaying tactics, preparing for credible polls could take at least another 18 months. MDC-T fears that without these changes, ZANU-PF will repeat the military tactics of 2008 to win, even if that risks finally alienating most governments in the region.

The long serving Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, had ensured that the chaos in electoral registers favoured ZANU-PF, on whose Central Committee he served. Over the past decade, the ratio of urban to rural seats has systematically fallen, although the urban population has risen. On the basis of population distribution, urban areas are under-represented by 15-20 seats, most of which the MDC would have won. South Africa has offered its expertise in cleaning up the register but this has been politely rejected as impinging on Zimbabwe’s national sovereignty.

Having reasserted his authority after reversals last year (AC Vol 50 No 21) Mugabe can live with the status quo but has said that if God and the party want it, he will happily be a candidate for the next election. Using his extensive presidential powers, he can continue implementing controversial policies such as business indigenisation (see Box), on the basis that the enabling legislation predates the February 2009 unity agreement, so the regulations he approves are purely administrative. He can also delay post-agreement reforms and appointments.

Fear of elections and losing power also galvanises ZANU-PF and dampens the faction-riddled race to succeed the 86-year-old Mugabe. Those within ZANU-PF who fear the party is in terminal decline will want to delay polls to maximise revenue from the current sources of patronage: farm seizures, diamonds, rhino horn and now, compulsory takeovers of foreign/white-owned businesses.

If Zuma is unable to speed up electoral and constitutional reform, elections next year are likely. When asked in London this month whether he would support credible external monitors from the United Nations and Commonwealth for Zimbabwe’s elections, Zuma avoided the issue. Holding elections with a flawed register and few credible monitors amid rising violence would be disastrous for Tsvangirai’s MDC.

Now the MDC-T lacks a majority in the lower house, it cannot use its parliamentary weight to push through reforms. In the Senate, ZANU-PF still has an unelected blocking majority. Elections would be organised under the existing flawed system, as would a referendum on any new constitution. Even before the outreach teams started setting out options for a new constitution, ZANU-PF had been mobilising the rural areas against any option other than its Kariba draft, with a strong centralised presidency.

If elections prove too problematic for all sides, the parties might agree to hold the 20 or so outstanding by-elections, now that that moratorium (agreed as part of the Global Political Agreement) has expired. It would be a relatively low risk strategy and might allow the likes of Dabengwa and Makoni to return.

Sunday News
20 March 2010
By Lulu Brenda Harris

IT would not be right to remove teacher incentives at this stage and Government needs to prioritise education as the US$1 per student per year is a far cry from what the sector needs, a Cabinet minister has said.

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, who is a member of the Arthur Mutambara-led MDC formation, was speaking at an MDC party rally in Bulawayo’s Barham Green suburb recently.

He said he was like a man walking on thin ice over the issue of incentives that parents have been forced to dole out to teachers.

Sen Coltart said as much as he hated incentives, he was aware that removing them would be reversing the progress made by both teachers and parents in resuscitating education.

The minister said teachers were earning paltry salaries and removing incentives would force most of them to abandon the profession.

Sen Coltart admitted that the issue of incentives was a problem of deep concern for parents and that the Government was not paying teachers enough, which was one of the causes of the country’s brain drain.

“Skilled personnel migrate to other countries where they can earn more. In South Africa a waitress earns more than a teacher here,” he said.

The education minister said he wanted people to understand that given the chance he would put a stop to incentives but the Government had no money to pay teachers.
“I want to end incentives. I need to end incentives but my problem is this if I end incentives, teachers will leave tomorrow and it would worsen education. Incentives will only end if we get money to pay teachers properly,” he said.

The minister said he could take the easy route as a politician that would make him popular with parents but the problem would be how to keep teachers in schools.
“As soon as I can get rid of them (incentives), I will end them, I don’t like them,” he said. Sen Coltart said the problem was that the Government had no money and it was of no use to tell teachers to stay when they earned peanuts.

“We need to find money to pay them. When I took office the policy of incentives was there to keep teachers in schools. Incentives are a problem they are very divisive between parents and teachers and discriminatory between rich and poor parents,” he said.

Sen Coltart said incentives were discriminatory in the teaching profession as well.

“Incentives are showing the difference between teachers based in rural and urban areas. Teachers in rural areas are less likely to get incentives from parents than teachers working in urban areas. The issue is a problem within the teaching profession as well,” he said.

The minister said the quality education system which existed over the last decade, had disappeared because education was no longer being given priority in the country.
“The big problem is that we as Government are not making education our priority. The education sector received US$276 million from the national budget. A total of US$240 million was for the payment of teachers and the remaining US$36 million was for educational programmes.

“I want you to calculate the money left versus the demands that have to be met. We have 3 million schoolchildren and eight thousand schools. If we divide that, each child gets a dollar. One dollar is not enough to meet a schoolchild’s demands. With a dollar you can’t buy learning materials for a single child, let alone repair toilets, classrooms and so on. I cannot educate children on a $1,” he said.

Minister Coltart said the message he passes on to his colleagues, whether it is in Cabinet or in party, was that if the country is to be serious in terms of its education, the politicians had to change their priorities in Government.

He said parents and other guardians place education, as their number one priority and it made sense for Government to follow suit.

“We have to remove money from other sectors and pour it to the education sector,” said Sen Coltart.

The minister said another answer in improving the education sector lay with the teaching professionals who imparted the knowledge to their students. He said if the teachers were not motivated there would be no quality education.

“The problem is that our teachers are not being paid enough. We need intelligent people and we have to reflect it in how teachers are paid,” he said.

The minister said the conditions of service of teachers were deplorable.

He illustrated his point through what he witnessed on a recent trip to Nkayi where he came face to face with the squalid living conditions of teachers.
“There were seven teachers, some of them married, living in one house. That is unacceptable,” he said.

The Herald
By Tichaona Zindoga

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart has blasted New Zealand authorities for postponing their scheduled June tour of Zimbabwe.

He said he found the reason given for the cancellation ridiculous.

On Monday New Zealand cricket authorities, with the support of their government, said they considered Zimbabwe an unsuitable place to send their cricket side, but could play at a neutral venue like South Africa.

They cited the “collapse of Zimbabwe’s health system and the general unstable environment” as the “primary reasons” for the cricket tour’s postponement.

The decision came at a time when India and Sri Lanka have said they will be coming to Zimbabwe in May and June for a triangular ODI series.

Coltart lamented the Kiwi move saying the Pacific islanders had better come to assess the situation for themselves rather than rely on misleading reports.

“I find the reasons given for the cancellation very ridiculous.

“Zimbabwe is a safe destination with no threat like Al-Qaeda or violent crime like we see in other countries.

“On the other hand, while the state of our public health facilities has not been very good, we have very good private institutions and doctors,” he said.

In January Coltart wrote to the New Zealand ambassador about the June tour and the latter had promised to support the Zimbabwe visit.

“I regret that I have come only to know of the final decision through the Press,” he said.

Coltart said he would continue engaging the New Zealanders with the hope of bridging relations with the tiny nation.

Analysts have regretted the latest action by New Zealand saying it rolls back progress Zimbabwe has been painstakingly recording after the country’s game plummeted from decency almost a decade ago.

Zimbabwe is set to rejoin Test cricket after voluntarily pulling out to put its house in order.

Zimbabwe has hosted a number of international sporting events without any problems.

Last year, the Black Caps, as the New Zealand team is known, sought to push their government into banning them from touring meaning that they could escape ICC sanction.

As Zimbabwe is a full ICC member, New Zealand is compelled to play the country on a reciprocal basis.

Security and health concerns might be considered in postponing a tour, and New Zealand has found it a convenient cover, following political developments rendering alleged political concerns inadmissible.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that New Zealand might tour in 2011, taking advantage of the fact that there is still time on the current world programme.

www.gta.gov.zw
19th March 2010

THE Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture and Unicef have raised US$30 million for the production of nine million textbooks for primary schools over the next five months.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart told the House of Assembly last week that his ministry and Unicef have raised US$30 million for the production of nine million textbooks for primary schools in the next five months.

He also said they would be publishing textbooks for minority languages.

He was responding to a question by Makoni West House of Assembly Member Mr Webber Chinyadza (MDC-T) who wanted to know Government policy on textbooks for primary schools.

“In the past four to five months since the Education Transition Fund was established, we have raised in the region of US$30 million. The money in the first instance will be applied to the production of textbooks for primary schools,” Minister Coltart said.

He said Unicef was managing the fund and was already in the process of signing contracts with Zimbabwe publishing houses to produce core textbooks.

“In the course of the next five months we target the publishing of 9 million textbooks for primary schools and these will be distributed to all primary schools countrywide.

“We are also aiming to have textbooks printed for the so-called marginalised indigenous languages such as Kalanga, Tonga, Namibia and Suthu,” Minister Coltart said.

He added that textbook pupil ratio was a cause for concern because most schools did not have textbooks. He said in most schools the only textbook was the one used by the teacher while at “best” the textbook pupil ratio was one textbook per 16 pupils.

Minister Coltart expressed confidence that the printing of the textbooks would reduce the ratio to one textbook per student or, at most, two students.

Most schools, especially in rural areas, have been finding it difficult to buy textbooks attributing the development to lack of funds while others say it was because of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.

Publishing houses have been failing to print textbooks because of the hyperinflationary environment which afflicted Zimbabwe over the past few years.

Zimbabwe Independent
Friday, 19 March 2010

Zimbabwe Cricket says the decision by the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) board to stop its team from touring Zimbabwe in June was not a mutual agreement between the two boards. This week’s move by the New Zealand government to prevent the Clear Black Caps from touring Zimbabwe on unsubstantiated safety concerns has generated widespread debate in the cricketing world.

It appears once again that the move could be political rather than a genuine worry over security.

“Currently the advise from our government is that they remain uncomfortable with the New Zealand Cricket team touring Zimbabwe, and for this reason we shall need to postpone this tour in June,” NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan wrote to ZC.

The New Zealanders want the already rearranged tour to be postponed to 2011 or played at a neutral venue.

IndependentSport sought clarification from the ICC this week on the possible course of action to be taken, but spokesman James Fitzgerald said the governing body of the game understood that the cancellation could have been a result of a mutual agreement between ZC and NZC.

“At this stage there are conflicting stories doing the rounds as to the exact situation regarding this tour,” said Fitzgerald. “The best option I think would be for you to make contact with the two boards in question to establish where they stand on the issue and that will give you a good idea of whether there is a dispute or if a mutually acceptable solution has been found. Until we have been able to ascertain the facts of this issue, I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to comment on it.”

ZC managing director Ozias Bvute however clarified the issue.

“We have found the stance taken by the New Zealand Cricket board to be factually incorrect and unfortunate,” Bvute told IndependentSport. “It was a unilateral decision that was presented to us without discussion. Subsequently, we have written back to the New Zealand board acknowledging receipt of their letter and stated position.”

Sports minister David Coltart again dismissed the New Zealanders’ fears as unfounded.

“It seems it’s a decision taken by the government rather than the team itself,” Coltart said. “I believe the use of health and safety risk reasons is wrong. I said it last year and I repeated it again this year. Zimbabwe is one of the safest places to visit and play cricket. Harare and Bulawayo have good heath facilities and to that extent there is no health risk whatsoever.”

Coltart added that the Kiwis’ decision set a bad precedent.

“We are in the process of transition as a country,” he said. “It’s a national experiment and that process should be supported by the international community. The decision taken by New Zealand sends wrong signals to potential visitors from New Zealand and other countries.” — Staff Writer.

The Associated Press
March 18, 2010

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwean authorities criticized New Zealand’s decision to withdraw from a tour of the southern African country for the second straight year as being “factually incorrect” on Thursday.

Last year, the New Zealand Cricket board postponed the tour until June 2010 but now wants to push it back till 2011 or play it in a neutral venue.

“It is clear from our recent discussions that the government’s assessment of the security situation in Zimbabwe has not changed from that of a year ago, when the scheduled tour was postponed,” NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said this week.

Zimbabwe Cricket managing director Ozias Bvute said his organization would not agree to either suggestion.

“We have found the decision taken by the New Zealand Cricket board to be factually incorrect and unfortunate,” Bvute said. “It was a unilateral decision that was presented to us without discussion.”

Zimbabwe Sport Minister David Coltart expressed disappointment at the cancellation.

“It seems it’s a decision taken by the government rather than the team itself,” Coltart told The Associated Press. “I believe the use of ‘health and safety risk’ reasons is wrong. I said it last year and I repeated it again this year: Zimbabwe is one of the safest places to visit and play cricket. Harare and Bulawayo have good health facilities and, to that extent, there is no health risk whatsoever.”

“We are in the process of transition as a country. It’s a national experiment and that process should be supported by the international community. The decision taken by New Zealand sends wrong signals to potential visitors from New Zealand and other country.”

Zimbabwe Times
March 17, 2010
by Jupiter Punungwe

RECENTLY a South African newspaper reported on the many people still crossing the border illegally into South Africa from Zimbabwe. The report mentions that the people say there is nothing in Zimbabwe.

I beg to differ. There is plenty. The real problem is that the ruling elite are taking far too much for themselves. It is certainly so much more than their fair share that they are leaving almost nothing for providing basic social services to ordinary citizens.

The government has more than 80 executive level positions. That is ministers, deputy ministers, vice presidents and deputy prime ministers. We haven’t even mentioned the more than 200 Members of Parliament. Each and every one of them has an average of several cars at their disposal with expensive Mercedes Benz being the vehicle of choice.

President Mugabe drives around in a bullet proof Mercedes Benz S-Class. Reserve bank governor Gideon Gono glides around in a twelve cylinder Mercedes Benz. Mugabe’s nephew, Phillip Chiyangwa, recently boasted on BBC about the many luxury cars including the latest Bentley that are parked in his garage.

As far as I know only one minister, David Coltart of the smaller MDC faction, refused to take delivery of a government vehicle to save money. Most of the other ministers and Members of Parliament engaged in bitter fights with Finance Minister Tendai Biti to make sure they got luxury vehicles. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono stirred the pot by handing over luxury vehicles to MDC MP’s against the wishes of the MDC leadership, thus effectively sparking a mini-tussle within the MDC.

While the Zanu-PF half of government has been enjoying the gravy train ride for decades, the MDC side has not been at all slow in learning the ropes. Currently the MDC run town council of Chitungwiza, a satellite town to Harare, is engaged in running battles with the government, particularly the Prime Minister’s office, over allegedly massive corruption.

The MDC mayor of Harare, Muchadeyi Masunda, was embroiled in controversy over acquisition of luxury cars for the Harare mayoral pool. This is despite the fact that Harare cannot supply clean water to all its residents due to supposed lack of funds. This is also despite the fact that just a year ago Harare was the epicentre of a massive cholera outbreak due to rundown sanitation infrastructure.

The mayor of Bulawayo, appointed on an MDC ticket, is currently embroiled in controversy over several additions of luxury cars to the Bulawayo mayoral pool. The most recent additions are reported to be a luxury BT50 twin-cab and a Chrysler SUV. Also mentioned have been a vintage Rolls Royce and I am sure the trademark Mercedes Benz would not be found missing from such a pool.

The MDC Speaker of Parliament, Lovemore Moyo, is reported to have stayed in Harare’s most expensive establishment; the five star Meikles Hotel, for a year if not more. This is at the expense of the people who are forced to crawl under fences, cross the crocodile infested Limpopo and run a gauntlet of all sorts of thugs, rapists and murderers just to maintain a fingernail hold on hope.

If we look at the massive fleet of luxury vehicles being driven by the more than 80 executives in Zimbabwe’s government, more than 200 Members of Parliament, we can probably account for hundreds of millions of American dollars unnecessarily spent by the Zimbabwe government.

Mind you, we have not even mentioned the multitudes of relatives, political hangers-on and even casual intimate girlfriends, who are usually stampeding close behind the ruling elite in the mad rush for the political feeding troughs.

Recently Minister Biti reported that South Africa sacrificed $30million to support Zimbabwe. That amount is not even a drop in the ocean of avoidable expenditure guzzled up in maintaining the luxurious lifestyle of the massively top-heavy ruling arrangement in Zimbabwe. Mind you the arrangement is a result of back-scratching, political horse-trading motivated by the need to ensure lucrative personal incomes for political cronies by both sides.

Even if you get Sekuru Chaminuka to bring 300 spirits, Jesus Christ to bring 300 angels, or Prophet Muhammad to bring 300 prophets, and run the Zimbabwe government, so as long they jump into the same fleet of vehicles, so long as they dive into the same pool of luxuries, you will still get the same problem of poor downtrodden citizens trying to find solace in neighbouring countries, such as through President Jacob Zuma of South Africa.

The basic problem is that the leaders are too busy and too greedily tussling for control of the luxuries to properly plan and provide very basic needs and services for the ordinary citizens.

Maintaining their comfort is the primary objective. Serving the country is a distant afterthought. Regional leaders need to stop entertaining the tendency to play to the gallery by some in the Zimbabwe government. They also need to remind the Zimbabwe leadership of the need to be prudent and thrifty before trotting out their begging bowls.

Above all they owe it, not only to Zimbabweans, but to neighbours struggling with their own problems, to run Zimbabwe properly. It is no use being obstinate against each other and then running to the neighbours crying ‘please come and make us agree.’ That obstinacy, from both sides, leads to the suffering of Zimbabweans who then burden neighbours as they try to find succour.

Some of the disagreements are silly. Imagine spending years disagreeing over whether a man who had a currency to run when he got a job, and barely half a decade later he no longer has a currency to run because he mismanaged it.

That man should have resigned on his own, not waited for his tenure to be the subject of a year long political dispute when his incompetence is so plainly obvious.

3 News (New Zealand)
Tuesday 16 March 2010

The New Zealand cricket team’s decision not to play in Zimbabwe has sparked a row between the two countries with an accusation New Zealand has its facts wrong.

The Black Caps won’t travel to the southern African country because of safety and health concerns but Zimbabwe’s Sport Minister calls that nonsense.

David Coltart argues since a power sharing government was set up in 2008, Zimbabwe has vastly improved security and health. “I think the reasons used are disingenuous…to say that you don’t want to come because of safety and health concerns is simply ridiculous,” says Mr Coltart.

Mr Coltart says he is an opponent of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and was hoping New Zealand support would add credibility to their fledgling democracy.