Guardian.co.uk
David Smith in Johannesburg
Tuesday 16 February

Opponents condemn proposals to mark Zimbabwean president’s 86th birthday as unemployment reaches nine in 10

Plans to hold a lavish all-night birthday party for the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, were today condemned as insensitive to the suffering of the country’s people.

Mugabe’s 86th birthday will be celebrated next week with an “extravagant overnight gala” starring local and international musicians, the Zimbabwe Times reported.
The paper said Anywhere Mutambudzi, a retired army major who is an official with the information ministry, would organise the event – being held in Bulawayo – which would run from 6pm on 26 February until 6am the following day.

It quoted Mutambudzi as telling state television: “The gala will feature all major local, as well as some foreign, musicians from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa.”

Mugabe, whose birthday is on 21 February, shows no signs of slowing down or willingness to relinquish power to Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), his rival in Zimbabwe’s unity government.

Opponents criticised the party plans at a time when Zimbabwe’s teachers are on strike over pay and around nine in 10 people are unemployed.

Simba Makoni, a former senior member of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, said: “I’m not aware of the source of the money, but I suspect that state resources will be funnelled to this event improperly.

“If they use state funds for a private citizen’s birthday when basic services are starved of funding, it would be the worst degree of insensitivity and disregard for the needs of the people of Zimbabwe.

“It would be an act of gross negligence and incompetence … no competent state would do such a thing.”

David Coltart, the education minister in the power-sharing government, said: “If this is private money, it’s none of my business.

“However, if it’s government money then it’s better spent on school textbooks.”

Coltart, a member of the MDC, added that “all the most flamboyant displays of wealth are inappropriate” at a time when government spending on education was paltry.

Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, said he did not object to the celebration in principle but added that an extravagant cost would “not be in order” when the union’s members were being forced to take industrial action.

Since 1986, Mugabe’s birthday celebrations have been organised by a Zanu-PF youth group called the 21 February Movement, initially modelled on scouting and aimed at promoting children’s rights.

Last year, the president celebrated his 85th birthday with a week of parties costing hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

The events included a banquet, a gala dinner, a public feast and a concert at which dozens of animals were slaughtered.

More pomp and ceremony is expected for the 30th anniversary of Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in April – also signifying Mugabe’s 30 years in power.

The MDC said last week that fresh elections may be needed after the latest efforts to end deadlock with Mugabe in the one-year-old unity government ended in failure.

PSNews.com.au
15 February 2010

The Minister for Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in Zimbabwe has called on the Government to create a computerised database of its employees.

The Minister, Senator David Coltart said the move would help weed out ghost workers who were claiming pay cheques without being members of the Public Service.

“Government has been duped of a lot of cash through ghost workers,” Mr Coltart said.

“But if we were computer networked, thousands of dollars would have been saved.

He said his Ministry was making efforts to keep a computer-based list of teachers in the service to make it easier for the Government to compile a record of teachers working in Zimbabwe.

Mr Coltart said creating a computer database of names was needed to provide a smooth flow of information between Government head offices and provincial and district offices.

He said information was transmitted manually.

“The manual system we have been using for the past years has resulted in Government losing a lot of money,” Mr Coltart said.

“We must have a situation whereby every school will be linked to the ministry.

“A person in another province should be well informed of what is happening at their head office.”

He said the major challenge facing the new system was finding the necessary resources and people with adequate technical skills.

“The process is expensive, but I have spoken to officials from World Bank and some donor agencies that have agreed to chip in financially,” Mr Coltart said.

Zimbabwe Independent
Enock Muchinjo
12 February 2010

Sport has historically been overlooked by central government in Zimbabwe. While most countries have standalone sports ministries, in this country, it has always been merged with other departments of government. Even the formation of the inclusive government in Zimbabwe exactly a year ago failed to address this anomaly with sports being made to jostle for attention with education, arts and culture.

Thankfully, the sports side of the ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture benefited indirectly by getting a minister who knows his stuff insofar as as sport is concerned.

A sportsman of sorts himself, David Coltart outlined an impressive vision for Zim sports in his first interview with this newspaper soon after his appointment.

To an extent, the effect of the GNU has been felt in local sport.

Few months after assuming office, Coltart appointed a new board for the Sports and Recreation Commission. The SRC is the supreme-regulatory body for sports in Zimbabwe.

Introducing the new board, chaired by keen sports follower and Bulawayo lawyer Joseph James, Coltart told the media that government would now get more involved in regulating sports, through the SRC.

Up until the appointment of the new administration, the SRC had become utterly ineffective; ignoring the worst excesses of sports associations they are supposed to regulate either because the board itself was embedded, uninterested or just didn’t take its work seriously.

The previous SRC board’s record with Zimbabwean football is one of its greatest failures. All incoming and outgoing sports tours in Zimbabwe are supposed to be sanctioned by the SRC.

How Zifa were able to send the national team on frequent controversial trips to southeast Asia, where the hurriedly-assembled side got bashed by near minnows of world football, remain to this day a mystery.

Now, the new board is determined to put Zifa on a leash. Last week the top brass of the SRC summoned the Zifa board to a meeting in Bulawayo.

Such pressing matters as the Asian tours were deliberated, with Zifa being sternly warned against its wayward actions.

As the SRC firms its hand, the two sides seemed headed for a showdown in the last two weeks with Zifa insisting that its 2008 constitution, approved by Fifa, will be used for the forthcoming Zifa elections. The constitution had however not been registered by SRC.

One area of special interest to the inclusive government, through Coltart, is cricket. Coltart publicly declared to clean up the mess in the game after five years of turmoil.
But ZC were not prepared to sit and wait for the government to come and investigate. Some critics have dubbed it window-dressing, but call it what you want, some positives have taken place over the last months.

A new, professionalised domestic structure commended by no less than some of ZC’s fiercest critics, a reconciliation exercise that has seen the return of exiled players and officials and the coming in of overseas professionals to boost the domestic game; have all combined to give the game here a new sense of positive spirit that has given hope for revival.

While things cannot be said to be all rosy now at 45 Maiden Drive, and the greater goal of a Test return is not yet sealed, the new political dispensation can claim indirect credit for the local game’s mini-recovery.

Only last week, the re-launch of the Zimbabwe Open golf tournament – once one of the most prestigious events on the local sporting calendar — took place in Harare.
The Zim Open attracts a host of local and international professional golfers.

The return of the open would not have been possible had it not been for the gradual stabilisation of the economy under the inclusive government.

As the political sides continue negotiating outstanding issues in their unity deal, Zim sports can hold its breath – hoping that the gains gotten so far won’t be disturbed by the same politicians who have overlooked them for years.

The Zimbabwean
9 Feb 2010
Written by Frazer Muzondo

When President Robert Mugabe allocated the ministries between his party and the MDC upon formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU), he had only one thing on his mind. He wanted Zanu (PF) to maintain its grip on power so that it could continue to abuse its position for self gain. He gave the MDC those portfolios that were as good as dead and tasked them with clearing up the mess made by his incompetent ministers. He expected the MDC to fail to deliver so that people would blame them. In this new series, FRAZER MUZONDO analyses just what has happened during the first year.

Health

When people look at the Ministry of Health, now under the guidance of Henry Madzorera, compared to what it had become under the leadership of David Parirenyatwa during the tenure of the Zanu (PF) government, there is a huge difference that an ordinary person on the street can notice. The people of Zimbabwe can now talk of Harare Central Hospital (Pagomo) and Parirenyatwa Hospital and other provincial hospitals. These hospitals were virtually defunct, but now people are happy to have their relatives admitted at these government hospitals as they are assured of getting some form of medical care. Patients can now choose what food they want to eat and no longer need to bring their own hospital bedding or food. Patients no longer need to bring basic items such as gloves from home for medical staff to use when attending to them. Basic items in the hospitals also include doctors and nurses. These had disappeared during the Zanu (PF) government, but now they have been lured back to do the jobs they love to do.

Justice

The Ministry of Justice is still under a member of the old guard, Patrick Chinamasa, who, despite having lost the right to represent the people of Makoni, managed to retain his ministerial portfolio because he is a trusted lieutenant of Mugabe’s. Chinamasa managed to recruit the controversial Johannes Tomana as the Attorney General. With the help of Gideon Gono, the ministry has managed to buy luxury cars, plasma televisions and other goodies for the high court and supreme court judges as a thank you for the `good job` they are doing to keep MDC activists in custody. Magistrates who preside and rule in favour of opposition activists are intimidated. Court officials who process approved bail applications for opposition activists without consultation with Tomana and Chinamasa are fired.
Hundreds of MDC supporters have been killed, thousands have been raped, kidnapped and assaulted, tens of thousands tortured, but none of the Zanu (PF) perpetrators have been brought to justice.

And one of Tomana and Chinamasa`s greatest achievements in the eyes of their master is to keep Roy Bennett out of the government job he was appointed to do.

Education

The Ministry of Education is now under the leadership of David Coltart, an MDC legislator. The majority of schools had been closed during the tenure of headman Chigwedere and most teachers had left their jobs as they couldn’t afford to commute to their place of work. Most schools are now functional, with teachers back at work and children back to learn. When the minister took over, the exams that had been written the previous year had not been marked. They were marked and the results were released – although the exams were written under the supervision of Zanu (PF) youth militias. The ministry through its own audit has managed to remove these thugs off the teachers` payroll. Zanu (PF) was threatening the entire generation with illiteracy, because they know that knowledge is power so they were attempting to create a nation of illiterate people. The people of Zimbabwe are saying no to this, education is a right not a privilege.

Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture also under the old guard, in the person of Joseph Made. The ministry has done nothing to get the backbone of the economy back on track. Instead they have watched and encouraged more chaos on the few remaining productive farms. Since the formation of the GNU, the Zanu (PF) hardliners have intensified invasion of white owned commercial farms, disrupting productive commercial farming. So-called war veterans, army chiefs and Zanu (PF) bigwigs have grabbed more farms for themselves. More offer letters have been given out, evicting more white farmers and making more farm workers destitute. The ministry has done nothing to address the situation where farm workers are working for little or no pay on the farms acquired by the grabbers. The ministry has done nothing to improve the sector and make the country self-sufficient.

The nation shall remain an importer of all agricultural products for a long time to come unless the agricultural sector embarks on a seriously managed agrarian reform. Made is better off managing Mugabe`s farms than continuing to watch this mess continue while the country sinks deeper into poverty and continues to beg.

– Next week this analysis will cover the ministries of finance, youth, home affairs and defence.

AFP
7 February 2010
By Fanuel Jongwe

Harare – “No disruption to learning” touts a newspaper ad for a new private Zimbabwean school, one of many springing up in living rooms, backyards and plots across Harare. It’s a big selling point in a country where government schools lost an estimated 20 000 teachers in 2008, a year when students attended class only 50 days.

Teachers launched a new strike on Friday, raising worries about the new school year that began just last month. Zimbabwe’s crisis in education eased last year with the creation of a unity government between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. That ended Zimbabwe’s economic freefall and halted the political unrest that saw nationwide attacks mainly against the premier’s supporters. But government schools still struggle with up to 50 students in a class and 20 children sharing a book. Cashing in on the situation, new private schools run by individuals, families and organisations are sprouting across the country, often inside homes, in yards and in plots designated by the municipalities, offering an alternative to parents. On pamphlets and flyers, in newspapers and on radio and television, advertisements promising anything from one-on-one tuition, free textbooks and transport, to a Christian environment, have become a familiar feature.

Education Minister David Coltart said the government realises that it does not have the resources to provide the schooling that was once the envy of Africa and made Zimbabwe the most literate country on the continent. “Our policy is, we recognise that we cannot hope to cater for the entire education of all Zimbabwean children as the government,” he said. “There is no doubt that the government has not been able to allocate sufficient money to education to be able to provide the educational service it has in the past. What’s of concern is that there is the establishment of schools that have not obtained authority to operate and the danger of that development is that standards will not be met.” Government inspectors tasked with monitoring schools don’t have access to transportation to visit all the new facilities, which in some cases are simply homes converted to schools, but without extra toilets or other amenities. “It has its good and bad sides,” said Lovemore Kadenge, a parent whose child attends one of the new schools in an upmarket suburb. “The mushrooming of private schools is a good idea. If we have many of them, there is competition, standards are improved and children have good education,” he said. “But there is a downside to it. It depends whether the government is monitoring the activities of these private schools. There should be a system in place to ensure the safety of the children.”

At the height of Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation in 2008, when prices rose several times a day and the local currency became worthless, qualified and experienced teachers left to seek better-paid jobs in neighbouring South Africa or Botswana, or as far away as Britain and Australia. Often they found work doing manual labour better paid than teaching. Those who remained practised what they termed “remote control teaching”, where they left their class under the charge of a pupil or student teacher while selling sweets on the roadside to supplement their pay. Even government schools charge fees, frustrating many parents who say they see little result for their money. “There is an admission that in the public school system there are problems, hence they are registering more players in the education sector, some of them charging slightly above government rates,” said Wellington Koke, who runs a private school in central Harare.

With a total enrollment of 50, Koke say his school will insist on small classes unlike government schools where a teacher can have a class of 50 pupils. His school is a refurbished home. “We have always had this idea of having well-paying pupils who are well-serviced,” Koke said. After government abandoned the local currency one year ago, teachers and other civil servants began receiving a flat salary of $150 a month – which was a significant improvement but still too little to make ends meet.

Teachers and civil servants are clamouring for raises, sparking fears among parents that their children could lose another year in the classroom to strike action. But Coltart worries that the new schools are springing up so quickly that parents have no way of knowing that basic standards are being met. “In principle I am not against the proliferation of private schools,” he said. “So long as they are within the laws of Zimbabwe and certain standards are met in terms of the state of the buildings and that there are sufficient safeguards to ensure that we don’t have paedophiles teaching at these schools.”

Sunday News
7 February 2010
Sunday News Reporters

Bulawayo City Councillors have said the rot in the education sector must be nipped in the bud and have called for the arrest of school heads reportedly barring students from attending lessons due to non-payment of tuition fees and levies, Sunday News can reveal.

Schools in Bulawayo have since the beginning of the school term sent away all students who have not fully paid school fees, a move that has been condemned by both Government and parents.

Debating at a full council meeting held at the council chambers last Wednesday, BCC councillors, condemned the move by school authorities, saying the school heads were proving to be impossible and their actions were against both council and Government directives.

The councillors said the school heads should always bear in mind that they were council and Government employees meant to operate as guided by the law.
Last year, 97 school heads from around the country were arrested for defying the Government directive not to bar students from attending lessons because of failure to pay school fees and levies.

Councillor for Ward 11 who is also the chairman of the finance and development committee, Nduna Dladla, said his committee was going to ensure that all heads found barring students from attending lessons at all council run schools would be disciplined for defying the local authority’s directive.

“We are going to ensure that normalcy returns to our schools. What the (school) heads are doing is wrong and illegal. It should not be allowed to continue,’’ he said.
Another councillor said the heads were operating above the parameters of council and it should immediately regain control over its schools.

“Council schools are sending children away and I do not remember us giving such a directive. This means what they are doing is illegal and council should thus descend on these illegal activities,’’ said the deputy mayor, Clr Amen Mpofu.

The deputy mayor said while they appreciated that children were supposed to pay their school fees it was not proper for them to be barred from attending lessons.
He said this gave the council a bad image and put them at loggerheads with the residents.

The councillors have also condemned the payment of teacher incentives saying this further burdened the already troubled parents.

“Council schools should only charge tuition fees and levies, not other charges that are being levied as at the end of the day schools do not benefit from such charges,’’ read part of the latest council minutes.

In an interview last week, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, condemned the move taken by school heads and urged them to desist from defying the ministry’s policies.

“School heads should desist from taking the law into their own hands. They have no right whatsoever to turn away students as I have always said,’’ said Senator Coltart.
Parents have also condemned the move by the schools to turn away students for failure to pay school fees and teacher incentives.
Last week, students were seen moving out of schools in hordes after being chased from some of the schools.
The move by school heads has prompted parents to call for the Ministry to reintroduce supervision of schools rather than the present scenario where school heads did as they pleased.
Parents said what school heads were doing was detrimental to the children’s future.
“The ministry is always saying it issued out circulars to all schools that no students should be turned away from school but everyday they return home. The minister has to be clear on this issue because (school) heads do as they please,’’ said a parent identified as MaSibanda.
Meanwhile, councillors have given parents the leeway to stagger payment of school fees, a situation that would see the parents paying the fees monthly rather than making one payment for the whole term.
According to the latest council report, it was noted that there was a need for parents to stagger fees payment as most of the parents were evidently facing financial constraints.
The councillors also noted that parents still owed council a total of US$797 343 and they were in the process of issuing out summons to the owing parents in a bid to recover the monies.