Sunday News
Senior Sports Reporter
14 March 2010

Matabeleland Tuskers cricket franchise captain Gavin Ewing has apologised to the fans for his team’s poor display this season.

Speaking at the Matabeleland Tuskers franchise management committee chairman, Delma Lupepe’s cocktail, held at the Tuskers chairman’s enclosure at Queens Sports Club last Friday, Ewing acknowledged that his team did not play well and promised better things next season.

“I would like to apologise to all our fans for letting them down. We did not play well this season but we hope to come back stronger next season,” said Ewing. Despite having some of the best cricketers in the country, the Robin Brown coached Matabeleland Tuskers had a dismal season, finishing at the bottom of the log in the Faithwear/Metropolitan Bank one-day competition with only one win. They came out fourth in the Stanbic Bank Twenty20 series where they lost to the Desert Vipers in the third place play off. They are at second from bottom in the Logan Cup four-day competition with one match remaining away to Masvingo based Southern Rocks.

Minister of Education, Sports and Culture David Coltart presented prizes to schools and players, which excelled in the Matabeleland Tuskers champions of champions schools cricket tournament held last year.

Isaac Mandisodza of Mzilikazi High School walked away with Player of the Tournament award in the secondary schools category while Kevin Dube of Mbizo Primary School took the honours in the primary schools sections. The duo walked away with $25 each.

Mzilikazi got $250 for being secondary schools champions while Njube High School received $150 for the runners up spot. Mbizo took home $200 for winning the primary schools section while Gampu got $150 for being runners up. Merlin sponsored all the prize money.

Sports and Recreation Commission chairman Joseph James was one of the high profile figures at the function.

The cocktail gave the franchise management committee an opportunity to interact with the players.

All the Matabeleland Tuskers players attended the function save for top order batsman Charles Coventry and pace bowler Christopher Mpofu who are on national duty in the West Indies.

http://www.zicora.com/
12th March 2010

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart has said the main challenge his ministry was facing was restoring basic education for all children, a position that once existed in the 1980s.

Minister David Coltart said although the county’s education was improving he hoped the sector would revert to the 1980s era where the quality of education was admirable. The minister said he often joked in public and in private that while he has had disagreements with President Robert Mugabe,
there was one item they both agreed on.

He said it was how during the first decade after acquiring Independence, the Government made great strides by developing a sound education system, which was arguably one of the best in the world.

“Our education was one of the first to grow in Africa and arguably one of the best in the world. It was good for Zimbabweans, as it didn’t remain a preserve to be looked at later but was developed so that everyone could enjoy its benefits regardless of creed, race or status. Our country had one
of the leading literacy rates then,” he said.

However, the minister said tragically that trend dropped as the country failed to allocate sufficient resources needed for the sector.”Education needs a lot of funding and we have not been allocating it the needed funds,” he said.

The minister said the ministry was looking beyond the Education Transition Fund, which aimed at restoring acceptable levels of textbooks in all primary schools, as the books were soon to be distributed. He said the focus was on motivating teachers and learners.

“The important ingredients in producing quality education is having highly motivated teachers,” he said. Minister Coltart said the country had highly qualified staff but they were struggling to show themselves due to poor remuneration.

“There is no quick solution to that as we need the economy to pick up. What I am doing as minister is building a good relationship with the teachers.

Next week, the respective trade unions and I will attend a workshop in Eastern highlands, sponsored by the World Bank,” he said.

He said despite teachers concerns and with limited resources available, it was important to have a good working relationship with teachers. The minister said parents and teachers had the same worries that led to the high levels of stress.

“We have to show respect and kindness to each other, both parents and teachers by so doing we can reduce the high levels of stress we have as a nation,” he said.

Manica Post
By Andrew Mambondiyani
12 March 2010

THE Public Service Commission is against the paying of incentives to teachers, as that has created division within the civil services, the commission’s chairman, Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwa, has said.

Responding to questions during a meeting with members of the civil service in Mutare on Tuesday night, Dr Nzuwa, said the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr David Coltart, had recommended the paying of incentives to teachers without consulting the Public Service Commission.

“Minister Coltart recommended the paying of incentives to teacher without consulting the PSC. It is like going into someone’s house without the permission of the owner. The paying of incentives to teachers has divided the public service sector. Some are getting incentives while others are not. Where could prison officers get their incentives? From prison inmates? It is like saying traffic police officers should get incentives from motorists. Do you think anything will go to the national coffers from money realised at roadblocks if we have to allow that? As a commission we are against the paying of incentives to teachers. We will sit down and address the issue,” Dr Nzuwa said.

The civil servants who had waited for hours for Dr Nzuwa to address them were disappointed when he said he had ‘not come with the money’, but only to hear their concerns and chart the way forward.

“We thought the chairman has come to tell us when we will get more money. Now you have come to tell us more problems. We should be receiving information about more money now. So why did you come here when you don’t have the money,” fumed another civil servant.

Dr Nzuwa, however, said: “I did not come with the money. What we want is for us to put our heads together and find ways of increasing production. If you want you can get 100 percent of what the Government is collecting in revenue, but after that what next? I want to hear issues affecting you and your expectations as civil servants. We want to fulfill our mandate as the civil service and that is to work for the people. I want to see on my own what is happening on the ground. We want to understand how you are working,” he said.

He said in October, the Public Service Commission wrote to the Finance Minister, Mr Tendai Biti with a proposal of about $300 for the lowest paid civil servant, but the ministry said its coffers were empty.

“At that time, the revenue collection was about $91 million per month. I have to tell you, I know that the money we are giving you is not enough. I am 72 years old, but I am not senile and I know there is no way a person can survive the whole month on $120 per month.

“The issue is that we are not saying we don’t want to give you money, but we don’t have the money, so we have to produce more for us to earn more.

“It is us who are not producing. I am given $48 million a month to pay everyone on the civil service payroll.

“So we need to plug many loopholes in the revenue collection. I am sure you are saying you want $150 housing allowance and $50 transport allowance, but if I give you that money today, your landlord will raise your rentals and transport operators will raise bus fares, so what we need is to empower you.

“We need to come up with housing programmes for civil servants and a housing programme should be a condition of service. We are also looking at ways of increasing our fleet of buses and currently we are working with the Central Mechanical Engineering Department (CMED) to buy buses for rural areas which will cater for civil servants,” he said.

On utility bills, Dr Nzuwa said a committee had been set up to draft a law, which would draw parameters for the charging of utility bills.

“It seems local authorities are possessed. I received a bill of more than $2 000, but there has not been water for the years. Now there is a committee to come up with a law on how ZESA and local authorities can charge their bills.

“Very soon the law will be in place,” he said.

He said had it not been for sanctions, the country would have borrowed against its national assets to kick-start the economy. “But we cannot do that because our hands are tied. We cannot sell even our stocks of ivory. We don’t have anywhere to sell the ivory,” he said.

Dr Nzuwa, however, took a shot on ministers who were promising civil servants money when on the ground nothing was happening.

“Ministers should not say we will give you money. Why promise people something when there is nothing,” he said.

www.zicora.com
Posted By Own Staff
Friday, 12 March 2010

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart has said the main challenge his ministry was facing was restoring basic education for all children, a position that once existed in the 1980s.

Minister David Coltart said although the county’s education was improving he hoped the sector would revert to the 1980s era where the quality of education was admirable.The minister said he often joked in public and in private that while he has had disagreements with President Robert Mugabe, there was one item they both agreed on.

He said it was how during the first decade after acquiring Independence, the Government made great strides by developing a sound education system, which was arguably one of the best in the world.

“Our education was one of the first to grow in Africa and arguably one of the best in the world. It was good for Zimbabweans, as it didn’t remain a preserve to be looked at later but was developed so that everyone could enjoy its benefits regardless of creed, race or status. Our country had one of the leading literacy rates then,” he said.

However, the minister said tragically that trend dropped as the country failed to allocate sufficient resources needed for the sector.”Education needs a lot of funding and we have not been allocating it the needed funds,” he said.

The minister said the ministry was looking beyond the Education Transition Fund, which aimed at restoring acceptable levels of textbooks in all primary schools, as the books were soon to be distributed. He said the focus was on motivating teachers and learners.

“The important ingredients in producing quality education is having highly motivated teachers,” he said. Minister Coltart said the country had highly qualified staff but they were struggling to show themselves due to poor remuneration.

“There is no quick solution to that as we need the economy to pick up. What I am doing as minister is building a good relationship with the teachers.

Next week, the respective trade unions and I will attend a workshop in Eastern highlands, sponsored by the World Bank,” he said.

He said despite teachers concerns and with limited resources available, it was important to have a good working relationship with teachers.The minister said parents and teachers had the same worries that led to the high levels of stress.

“We have to show respect and kindness to each other, both parents and teachers by so doing we can reduce the high levels of stress we have as a nation,” he said.

Media Global New York
By Rachel Pollock
11 March 2010

On 8 March 2010, 600 members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe (WOZA) gathered in the city of Bulawayo to protest Minister of Education David Coltart and his stance against banning parents’ incentives for teachers. Coltart told parliament last week, “There has been lawlessness in the education sector and demanding incentives, unless approved as levies, is illegal because it is extortion, but if incentives are to be scrapped off, I have no doubt there won’t be any classes because teachers will leave the profession.”

While it is illegal in Zimbabwe for teachers to accept payment incentives from parents, a recent decline in civil servant salaries due to the Mugabe administration, have resulted in insufficient compensation and the loss of many teachers. Christian Karega who is the President and Co-founder of Zimbabwe’s Education Fund told MediaGlobal, “Education is just one of the many resources that has been severely impacted by Zimbabwe’s socioeconomic and political situation. When we started the Zimbabwe Education Fund in 2008, the majority of rural schools were closed. When schools finally reopened, the government had a difficult time supporting schools, so parents were left to rebuild the devastated school system on their own.”

In recent years, there have been numerous strikes and school closings as a result of poor teacher salaries. Teachers are complaining that salaries are not even close to providing livable wages and many teachers are demanding to be paid in U.S. dollars because of high inflation. Just last November a teacher strike was called off pending a wage deal with the Mugabe administration; however, the issue was not resolved and continues to cause conflict and turmoil within the education system.

According to UNICEF, school attendance dropped from 80 percent to 50 percent in 2008 in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, exam scores have shown that grade seven pass rates have declined rapidly from 53 percent in 1999 to 33 percent in 2007. Tsitsi Singizi from UNICEF told MediaGlobal, “Zimbabwean children have lost much of the last two academic years. Between long running industrial actions, strikes, limited learning materials, political violence and displacements, Zimbabwe’s education sector has been struggling.”

Despite these problems, the education system was not always in crisis. Robert Mugabe was once praised for the advancements he made to the education system, boasting one of the highest literacy rates and the most esteemed educational institutions in Africa. In 1980, education was made free, but since 1988, parents have seen a steady increase in school fees. While the fees ensure steady employment of teachers, incentives have also been used as a tool of corruption, with teachers demanding outrageous sums of money from families who can’t afford it.

UNICEF has developed several projects devoted to rebuilding the education system in Zimbabwe. This includes a $50 million multi-donor educational transition fund, which will provide textbooks and learning materials to 5,300 primary schools in Zimbabwe. UNICEF also supports the Basic Education Assistance Module, which is a government program that pays the school fees for children in need. In 2010, this program aims to ensure that 560,000 children are not turned away from school because they can’t afford their fees. Finally, UNICEF provides monetary support to the Schools for Africa Programme, which enables construction and furnishing of primary schools in the most vulnerable districts.

Programs like those supported by UNICEF are crucial to the future of education in Zimbabwe; however, most organizations agree that cooperation from the local government is essential to the long-term success of these programs. Karega told MediaGlobal, “The Zimbabwe Education Fund (ZEF) believes that a long-term holistic approach is necessary to improve the education system in Zimbabwe. In the end, repairing a once thriving education system is not a short-term project. Instead, it will take decades of careful implementation to have a meaningful impact. We strongly believe that any effort to revitalize Zimbabwe’s schools must start with a long-term commitment to Zimbabwean students.”

Baltimore Sun
8th March 2010

Many Zimbabweans regard handicaps as signs of sorcery. So singer-songwriter Mabhena and her bandmates in the Afro-fusion marimba group Liyana were stigmatized at birth. Not every band member has an affliction as visible and extreme as Mabhena’s: She suffers from arthrogryposis, a condition that deforms joints and cost her both her legs.

But they all the band members survived brutal or apathetic treatment at the hands of parents and/or siblings who regarded them as stains on the family’s reputation or drags on the family’s fortune.

They found their individual and group voices only when they landed at the King George VI School & Centre for Children with Physical Disabilities in (Khumalo Constituency – my addition) Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It’s not just an academy but an institution devoted to their physical and psychological care.

In the King George VI School environment, Mabhena was able to dream of reaching an international audience with her singing.

On Oscar night, that audience got a glimpse of her gliding across the red carpet in a green dress, with the film’s producer-director, Roger Ross Williams.

Another school, Baltimore’s MICA, was instrumental in bringing her story to the Academy’s (and now the world’s) attention. Last week, Williams said, “MICA was amazing. I couldn’t have done the film without them.”

Early on, the film’s producer, Elinor Burkett, who first thought Liyana should be captured in a movie, put Williams in touch with Patrick Wright, the chair of MICA’s video and film arts department. Wright lent his own equipment, and some of MICA’s, to Williams for a critical period of early shooting. Wright found seed money for the project, cut trailers to win long-term backing, enlisted students as interns and recommended, as a cinematographer, Errol Webber Jr., who graduated from MICA in 2008 and immediately went to work on the movie.

Recent MICA graduate Matt Davies, who received a credit as production assistant, said that after spending countless hours logging footage, he thought every minute of footage was essential. But when he saw the completed film, he thought it was “marvelous that they packed so much into a short-film format. You get a really good sense of what life is like there, the hardship and what you have to deal with. You could do a half-hour on each member of Liyana, but Prudence’s character, who she is, what she has to deal with, her striving to be positive about her future despite her past, is overwhelming.”

“We all did this because we love Prudence and Liyana,” Wright said at the time of his nomination. “Here were all these young kids, physically disabled, making music in a country falling apart around them. And, here, in the middle, is this beautiful woman who sings like Aretha Franklin.”

Tonight, Prudence Mabhena and her friends got respect.

The Zimbabwean
Monday, 08 March 2010
Written by WOZA

Six hundred members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) marched to the High Court in Bulawayo today in protest against the utterances of the Minister of Education, Senator David Coltart, made in Parliament last week.

The Minister said that he would not stop teachers from receiving the illegal incentive payments demanded from parents. Minister Coltart had been invited to receive a petition that the peaceful demonstrators were delivering but could not attend due to a prior commitment. A clerk at the court received the petition instead.

WOZA vigorously oppose the practice of teachers refusing to teach children until their parents provide them with cash incentives. These ‘top-ups’, over and above the usual school fees and school levies which most parents are unable to afford anyway, are just another nail in the coffin of the education system in Zimbabwe. In a recent report on education released in January 2010, entitled ‘Looking Back to Look Forward – a WOZA perspective on education in Zimbabwe’, WOZA demanded that the Ministry of Education stop this practice immediately. It is therefore incredibly disheartening for the Minister to publicly state that they have no intention of doing so.
Four simultaneous protests began and converged upon the High Court.Police officers and clerks at the court merely watched the peaceful protest, listening to the song sung by the demonstrators – “women are crying for an education for their children. Their tears are sorrowful.” WOZA chose International Women’s Day for the protest as the education of their children is an issue close to the heart of every mother.

WOZA National Coordinator, Jenni Williams addressed members outside the Court, explaining that Minister Coltart’s utterances in parliament were unfortunate as they promoted illegal incentives and corruption.Magodonga Mahlangu lead the singing and sloganeering that finally dispersed the peaceful group.After the protest dispersed, two plain-clothed police officers cornered Williams and Mahlangu outside the Post Office. As they called for back up the activists calmly walked away.

WOZA leaders were recently summoned by the co-ministers of Home Affairs and instructed to notify police of any processions despite the fact that WOZA does not need to notify police under the current exceptions as it is not a political organisation. Before being dismissed, Minister Giles Mutsekwa of the MDC delivered a subtle threat that they could be ambushed on their return to Bulawayo that day. It is unclear as to if it was intended as an active threat but in the current security situation, activists remain vigilant about continued reports of threats on civic society leaders.

Comment/letter to Woza from Senator David Coltart in response:

Dear Woza,

Thank you for sending me this report.

I think it is a great shame that you didn’t take the opportunity to see whether I was correctly reported in the Government and other press after my contribution in Parliament. What was contained in the Herald (and even more so in Zimdaily) was a considerable distortion of what was said. Had you taken the time and the courtesy to speak to me you would have had a variety of issues clarified. I think you would also have seen that I share many of your concerns and am doing all I can to address them. However if I ban incentives overnight many schools will close.

May I suggest that you direct your considerable energies towards encouraging Government to allocate more than the US$1 per child per month presently allocated to education. That is where the problem lies. Had you taken the time to read Hansard and talk to me you would have learnt that I went into this in considerable depth last Wednesday in Parliament.

I think that I am reasonably accessible as Ministers go. I saw one of your members on Saturday morning and nothing was mentioned about this. Other than a brief message given to my Secretary this morning that a demonstration was taking place (without stating what it was about) no attempt was made to seek clarification from me. I expect better from your organisation.

I would appreciate it if you would show me this basic courtesy, which I believe I have always extended to your great organisation, in future.

Sincerely,

Senator David Coltart

NRC Handelsblad
8 March 2010
By Peter Vermaas in Harare

The sanctions against Zimbabwe are supposed to hurt the clique surrounding president Mugabe. They may be having the opposite effect.

Two young men with dreadlocks hung around idly near a mall in Eastlea, one of the better suburbs in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, waiting for a potential employer to pick them up. They had folders filled with references and resumés with them and approached every car that rolled onto the parking lot, hoping to find work. “But there is no work,” Jason Chivunga sighed. “Because of the sanctions.” His former classmate Blessing Kwaramba nodded in agreement. “We are suffering for it. If there was no boycott, Zimbabwe would reach for the stars. Why are we still being punished?” he asked.

The two were no fans of President Robert Mugabe – who was elected to Zimbabwe’s highest office exactly thirty years ago last week. Like almost everybody else here, they support opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who became prime minister in February last year as a member of a government of national unity. But the two unemployed Tsvangirai aficionados were anything but immune to Mugabe’s political propaganda. Like many of their compatriots throughout the country, they believe the European Union and the United States are leaving Zimbabwe little breathing room. “We want to trade internationally again,” Kwaramba said. “Then we will be able to get back to work.”

Sanctions extended

In the past few weeks the EU and the US announced they would be extending the sanctions against Zimbabwe by another year, because the governing parties there have made too little progress implementing the power-sharing agreement reached after the disputed elections of 2008. The Netherlands and the UK were most vocal in their support of the extension. Human rights, media restrictions and land reform have seen the least improvement. The prospective deputy minister Roy Bennett of Tsvangirai’s MDC party has yet to be inaugurated by Mugabe, and other ministerial appointments have also led to disagreements. “But Zimbabwe can trade as it pleases,” a European diplomat emphasised. The “restrictive measures,” as the sanctions are known officially, “only apply to a small clique of Mugabe loyalists. The man on the street is not hurt by them at all,” he added.

The president, his family and a number of prominent members of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party are not allowed to travel to Europe and the US, and a small clique of entrepreneurs affiliated with Mugabe is not allowed to do business in the US. The trade embargo only applies to arms, but Mugabe has been able to portray the sanctions as the cause of all Zimbabwe’s problems in the public eye, especially in rural areas. When the International Monetary Fund refused to grant Zimbabwe, a country that owes billions in debt, any further loans, people were quick to blame the sanctions. A food shortage caused by a local drought and the collapse of the country’s agricultural sector? The sanctions at work.

“Ironically enough, the sanctions have ended up serving Mugabe’s interests,” said David Coltart, minister of education on behalf of the opposition. “The president can blame the West for the economic crisis and all Zimbabwe’s other problems. In cabinet, he has used the sanctions as an excuse for the lack of progress with the implementation of the power-sharing agreement.”

South Africa wants end to sanctions

The sanctions have also led to “pointless irritations” within government ranks, said Hasu Patel, a political analyst and the former ambassador of Zimbabwe in Australia. “A very trivial matter is undermining personal relationships,” he said. He also argued the sanctions did little good for the EU and the US. “The European Union and the United States give Zimbabwe millions of dollars worth in humanitarian aid. But thanks to the sanctions they get no recognition whatsoever in return.”

Last week , while meeting with prime minister Gordon Brown on a formal visit to England, the South-African president Jacob Zuma argued the sanctions against the Zanu leadership be lifted. What have sanctions done to help the situation?” Mr Zuma told the Financial Timesin an interview. “Zanu-PF says [it is] in a cabinet of this unity government. But part of the cabinet can go anywhere in the world for their work and part [the Zanu PF members] can’t go out of the country. This unity government is being suffocated. It is not being allowed to do its job by the big countries.”

Zuma’s argument was greeted with protest in London, but sources surrounding the negotiations in Harare said the South African president’s remarks, made so shortly after sanctions were extended, mostly served a strategic purpose. Zuma was only trying to get on Mugabe’s good side in an attempt to lure him back to the negotiating table with the opposition, they claimed.

Mike Mataure, a former parliamentarian for Mugabe’s Zanu party, wondered if a “creative solution” could not be found to fix the problem. “I understand that revoking the sanctions so shortly after an extension would be a hard sell in Europe and America,” he laughed sitting in his Harare office. “But wouldn’t it be possible to suspend them for a few months? Or take a few names off the list? The West cannot do business with the MDC and Tsvangirai alone. This government will never work without Zanu,” he said.

Weak sanctions yield little power

Prime minister Tsvangirai has also implied he feels the sanctions should be lifted to allow negotiations over thorny issues to proceed more smoothly. “But control over the sanctions is the only weapon the MDC has at the negotiating table,” a European diplomat protested. “If you take that away, Mugabe will be back in full control again.”
“In reality, these sanctions are actually very weak and of little consequence. So how much power does that really give us?” asked MDC minister Coltart. The travel embargo has irked the Zanu leadership the most. “But I wonder what will happen once Mugabe is allowed to fly to London again,” Coltart asked. “Will he gain influence? Of course not. I think his reputation will only suffer if his wife Grace can shop at Harrods as she pleases again.”

VOA
8th March 2010
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare

Zimbabwe’s president strips power from three MDC ministries; move seen as deliberate attempt to provoke party into leaving power-sharing deal

Zimbabwe’s unity government has suffered its worst blow since its formation a year ago, according to the Movement for Democratic Change and several Zimbabwean political analysts and commentators. President Robert Mugabe has stripped effective power from three ministries, and assigned them to ZANU-PF ministers.

University of Zimbabwe political scientist Eldred Masungure says the move stripping power from three MDC ministries was a “unilateralist” action and deliberate effort to tempt the party to quit the unity government.

He said there was no rational basis for the new law announced by the government on Friday. He said the move was a violation of the political agreement which brought the unity government into power and is designed “to induce the MDC to walk out as they did in October last year.”

The MDC disengaged from the unity government when its treasurer, Roy Bennett was arrested.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC who also serves as finance minister, said the political agreement of September 2008 did not “give anyone the right to unilaterally alter a mandate.” He said there had been a “serious breach of the political agreement and that the MDC would not take this lying down.”

Biti said the MDC will meet on Wednesday to address the matter.

David Coltart, an executive of the smaller MDC party which split from the main branch and is also in the unity government said “at first glance this is a very serious breach of the political agreement because there was no consultation.”

He said he hopes that this latest directive was not a decision of Mr. Mugabe’s and that it can eventually be reversed.

ZANU-PF justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, who has inherited some of the powers previously held by MDC ministries, was not available for comment Monday.