Zimbabwe Independent
Muckraker
4 December 2009

SO, there are now 27 items to be adjudicated by the South African mediators, as distinct from the eight that dominated the agenda a few weeks ago in Mozambique. Muckraker doesn’t want to get bogged down here in all these issues. Suffice it to say many could be dealt with on the basis of what was agreed in last year’s Global Political Agreement and in the January Sadc summit in Pretoria.

The Herald’s informants are trying to make a distinction between issues and “real issues”. The MDC-T, for one, it says, has refused to call for the lifting of sanctions and done nothing about “illegal broadcasts of hate messages into Zimbabwe from outside the country”.

Meanwhile, the MDC-T’s land-audit proposal is seen as an attempt to reverse land reform.

Zanu PF is evidently terrified of anything that would expose the greedy chefs who have acquired more than one farm for themselves. But there will be no lifting of sanctions until Zanu PF stops behaving badly. No Western country will support a rogue regime whose members help themselves to other people’s property under the guise of addressing historical anomalies.

The whole point of Sadc’s intervention was to prevent a gang of political barons in Zimbabwe from blocking reform and creating a regional crisis. Members of the gang are among the chief land grabbers and have invented the fiction that “pirate” radio stations are pumping “hate messages” into Zimbabwe.
It doesn’t say what these so-called “hate messages” are. Only that the MDC-T is supplying these stations with “false data to discredit President Mugabe and his party”.

Zanu PF doesn’t need the MDC-T to do that.

In reality these stations are simply providing the public with the facts they need to make up their own minds on what is happening in the country. In other words providing a variety of viewpoints.

The GPA is quite clear on this. Once ZBC starts offering an impartial and professional service, there will be no need for external stations. But the minister cannot bring himself to make a public statement that journalists working for these stations will not be subject to reprisals if and when they return home. Nor does he or his underlings seem able to insist on improved standards at the national broadcaster.

The South African mediators are said to be unimpressed with the mushrooming of new issues. The answer is simple. Stick with what was agreed in the first place. Or is that asking too much?

We were interested to note the Mail & Guardian’s comments on the appointment of Menzi Simelane as South African Attorney-General (National Director of Public Prosecutions). This is a “thoroughly unsuitable” appointment, the paper said, given Simelane’s role in the demise of the Scorpions, his bid to frustrate the arms deal investigations, and disastrous interference in the Jackie Selebi investigation.
The M&G referred to President Zuma’s “curious choice” of the prosecutions chief in the light of former parliamentary Speaker Frene Ginwala’s “damning findings about Simelane’s dishonesty and lack of integrity”.

Ginwala chaired an enquiry into Simelane’s predecessor Vusi Pikoli’s fitness for office following his suspension by Thabo Mbeki.

Pikoli came out of Ginwala’s inquiry unscathed, but others weren’t so lucky. The Public Service Commission had reportedly recommended that the Justice minister take disciplinary action against Simelane. But it later changed its mind and instead he was appointed to high office!

It is good to see our friends in the South African media exercising such robust vigilance over the appointment of unsuitable and partisan individuals to the top office in the prosecution service.
Ginwala slammed Simelane in her final report, calling him arrogant and condescending. She labelled his evidence before her inquiry as “contradictory and without basis in fact or in law” and blamed him for suppressing the disclosure of information, according to the M&G last week.

Constitutional expert Prof Pierre de Vos, the M&G notes, wrote in his blog that the NDPP must be a “fit and proper person” with due regard to his “experience, conscientiousness and integrity to be entrusted with the responsibilities of the office concerned”.

“Unfortunately we know from the report of the Ginwala inquiry that Simelane is not honest. Neither is he reliable, nor does he possess the necessary truthfulness and uprightness required by the (NPA) Act,” De Vos said.

When a country gets it wrong in appointing its chief law officers, we would add, it leaves the system open to manipulation and partisan interference. That in turn subverts public respect for the office which is crucial to its proper functioning. The South Africans will learn the hard way!
Simelane, by the way, went to Prince Edward School.

It was inevitable perhaps that the cowards who write for the Herald’s opinion columns should take pot shots at two genuine heroes of Zimbabwe’s struggle for democracy, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu.

These two Woza women were honoured in a ceremony at the White House for their courage and determination in exercising their right to demonstrate against injustice and tyranny.
President Barack Obama said the women of Woza had shown that they can “undermine their oppressors’ power with their own power, that they can sap a dictator’s strength with their own”.
Then we saw in the usual places occupied by the regime’s spokesmen statements that the duo didn’t really represent the women of Zimbabwe.

“Mahlangu and Williams, like the poor women they pay to march, are black faces to the white man’s agenda,” we were told by the all-too-familiar letter-writers’ club in Munhumutapa Building and other such spooky hideouts.

This disgraceful case of sour grapes, published last Friday, seeks to denigrate two incredibly brave women who have stood up for human rights and been treated abominably by a vicious state. And if their courage inspires nothing but spitting indignation from the cowards in our midst, let them spit and rant. It simply exposes them as the sore losers they are.

The visit of the World Cup to Harare last Thursday evening provided some amusing moments for those present or watching on TV. Zanu PF turned it into a party-political rally, waking up the poor old chiefs and requiring them to attend. The First Family was also present at what was clearly seen as a soccer highlight even though Zimbabwe had not actually scored.

Many ministers also thought it would be a good idea to attend although Sports Minister David Coltart had difficulty getting himself noticed.

Walter Mzembi certainly got noticed with his funny little joke about the Victoria Falls. He was often asked which country the Falls belonged to, he said. It was like a beautiful woman asleep, he suggested. Her backside was in Zambia and her front in Zimbabwe.

Well, this was clearly the funniest joke the president had ever heard. He threw back his head and roared uncontrollably with laughter. Grace was equally amused.

At risk of sounding prudish, Muckraker thought the joke a tad off-colour and that Mzembi was at risk telling it, especially with the first kids present. But it went down so well nobody could complain. In fact Mzembi could well find himself promoted in the next cabinet reshuffle, especially after all that praise-singing he managed to squeeze in!

We hope Happison Muchechetere was listening to the national anthem. It was totally ruined by ZTV’s poor sound control. In fact the technical side of the broadcast was a disaster. And this came after Muchechetere’s indignant claims of professionalism recently in response to criticism from the MDC-T.
Please Happison, it is now 30 years you have been getting technical help from the Germans, the Iranians and everybody else. Can’t you do a simple outside broadcast? What we need is less Zanu PF propaganda and more elementary journalism and broadcasting skills.

Last Friday the Herald carried a headline entitled “PSC to weed out parallel appointees”. It was based on a statement by PSC chairman Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwah. It was clearly aimed at the MDC-T.
Shouldn’t the heading have read “PSC to weed out partisan, unprofessional appointees”? That includes those advertising their credentials in the Herald.

There are so many of them this may take a while. One of these unprofessional appointees was telling Herald readers that “ministers, as political figureheads, had no authority to recruit their own staff”.
It hadn’t occurred to this ubiquitous spokesman that the MDC-T was only forced to cast its net wider because the existing pool of senior officials was so badly contaminated with people like him!

The Zimbabwean
By Paul Ndlovu
Monday, 30 November 2009

THE Ministry of Education Arts Sport and Culture is bidding for US $1 billion in next year’s national budget to improve the country’s education system which has been plagued by a myriad of problems.

The budget will be presented to Parliament in Harare by the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti this week.
The Minister of Education, Arts, Sport and Culture Senator David Coltart, said his ministry needed the staggering US$1 billion because the services and infrastructure in most schools were in a chaotic condition.

He urged Minister Biti to give priority to the education sector in his budget.

Sen. Coltart said if allocated the money his ministry would use it in consolidating as well as improving the achievements it has scored so far.

“As I’m speaking we have already forwarded our expectations to the Finance Minister and we hope he will look into it with critically analysis of our sector which I feel has remained fragile for a certain period of time.

Therefore our expectations for this budget amounts to over a Billion United States dollars,” he said.
Senator Coltart said his ministry has been vigorously lobbying for the allocation of this money in the national budget.

Contacted for comment, Minister Biti said he could not reveal how much he allocated Sen Coltart’s ministry arguing that he did not want to pre-empty his presentation.

Sen. Coltart said if the Minister of Finance approved their bid, he was confident that they would make great strides in improving the education sector.

He said the sector under his guidance was slowly recovering pointing out that he had scored several achievements.

Sen. Coltart said since the formation of the Inclusive Government in February this year, a lot has been achieved pertaining improving education.

“I am quit confident to say that we have worked extremely hard to try and restore confidence in our schools by our people,” he said.

Sen. Coltart said amongst the things he had achieved was establishing mutual relations between the ministry, teachers and the unions.

The Standard
By Vusumuzi Sifile
29th November 2009

THOUSANDS of “O” Level and “A” Level students have found solace in the more expensive Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) system after frustration with the perennial bungling by the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec). Almost all trust schools and private colleges have for a while been using Cambridge which charges US$40 for an “O”- Level subject and US$70 for an “A”- Level subject.

But the interest in Cambridge has spread to other students outside trust schools and private colleges prompting the British Council to open centres in Bulawayo, Mutare and Harare to conduct the examinations.

British Council director Rajiv Bendre on Friday said in the October/November examinations, more than 800 students sat for the examinations at the centres. “For the first time since the inception of the council in Zimbabwe, we are running the General Certificate of Education (GCE) exams for Cambridge. We are just trying to help,” Bendre said.

Joseph Fushayi, the Examinations Manager at the council said by offering Cambridge, they were “by no means undermining Zimsec”.

“All we are doing is just providing an alternative. For us the most important thing is affordability of the exams to ordinary Zimbabweans,” Fushayi said.

Bendre said they were exploring opportunities for initiating co-operation between Zimsec and Cambridge, which at some point positioned local exams among the best in Africa.

“When Zimsec was set up, there was lots of co-operation with Cambridge,” Bendre said.

“The thinking was that since Zimsec was experiencing challenges, Cambridge could come in with some technical assistance.

“On our part, we helped rejuvenate that relationship between Zimsec and Cambridge.

“In August we facilitated a visit to Zimsec by two officials from the CIE, and they came up with a list of needs for Zimsec, which were then discussed.”

This caused the current slump in the number of candidates who registered for local examinations, which started on Thursday.

While the understanding has for all along been that most students failed to raise enough money to pay Zimsec examination fees, it has since emerged that a significant number of them actually opted to take the CIE.

The CIE replaced the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, which Zimbabwe used until the late 1990s.

“Most of them registered for Cambridge after uncertainty continued to shroud the Zimsec process,” said an official close to the operations of Zimsec.

“And when Zimsec started registering candidates, they were charging almost the same amounts as those institutions running Cambridge examinations, so many candidates did not see the use of writing through Zimsec.”

Over the last two weeks the chaos at Zimsec has been so glaring after officials failed to respond to questions on the examination process, raising concerns they were running out of options — and answers — to restore credibility to the public exam system.

The institution’s director Happy Ndanga’s mobile phone went unanswered.

Spokesperson Ezekiel Pasipamire was also not in a position to comment, saying he would “never talk to The Standard again”, without giving reasons.

He is still to respond to questions he requested to be faxed to him over a week ago.

But the Minister of Education, Senator David Coltart insisted the situation was under control, although a lot still needs to be done.

“We are not going to restore the credibility of Zimsec overnight, it’s a process,” he said.

“Next year, we will do a curriculum review, subject to money being available. We need to restore public confidence in Zimsec.”

Coltart said he did not see anything wrong with pupils opting for Cambridge examinations, saying it was just a sign parents were exercising their freedom of choice.

“I believe that parents should have freedom of choice.

“Those who want Cambridge and can afford to do so — they are free to do so.

“But those who cannot afford Cambridge should also have a good alternative,” Coltart said.

In September, the National Educational Advisory Board (NEAB) released a report that encouraged the government to “support the revamping of the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council urgently”.

Sources at Zimsec said at the moment the situation was so chaotic it was “impossible” for the process – which includes the setting, writing and marking of examinations – to be completed on time because of issues of remuneration for invigilators and markers, as well as logistical challenges like the availability of space and transport.

But Coltart was adamant on Friday that marking would be completed in January.

Last week he pleaded with teachers to donate their services as invigilators during the examinations.

Zimsec charges US$10 for an “O” — Level subject and US$20 for an “A” Level subject.

Telegraph
By Graham Boynton
28 November 2009

Today in Trinidad the Commonwealth leaders will for the first time in some years discuss whether or not they should allow their delinquent outcast – Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe – back into the 53-member club.

That this debate is actually taking place while the 85-year-old Mugabe is still president of the country he has ruined so dramatically is testimony both to the Commonwealth’s ability to forgive and forget and equally to the wily dictator’s instinct for survival. (Mugabe withdrew Zimbabwe’s membership in December 2003, in protest at its continued suspension for rigging the country’s elections.)

Despite setting new standards of tyrannical rule, socio-economic destruction and spectacular accumulation of personal wealth on a continent whose political leaders have cornered the market in such political malfeasance, Mugabe has managed not only to hang onto power but now appears to be a candidate for rehabilitation.
The Commonwealth caveat is that readmission will be linked to the reforms that Mugabe promised when he signed the so-called Global Political Agreement more than a year ago. The GPA was intended to be a power-sharing agreement that would lead to the completion of a new constitution by August 2010, followed by free and fair elections. Human rights abuses, state control of the media, illegal farm invasions and other undemocratic behaviour that has become the norm under Mugabe’s ZANU-PF regime for the past ten years was also to be abandoned with the forming of a new coalition government.

Although Mugabe reluctantly swore in his old enemy Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister in February, there have been problems in the coalition government from the outset, and Mugabe’s ongoing autocratic behaviour offered sceptics evidence that he was using Tsvangirai and the illusion of power-sharing as a way of re-establishing himself on the world stage as an elder statesman rather than his current status of power-mad pariah. Insiders say that the travel sanctions imposed by the EU on Mugabe and many of his inner circle are a key factor in his show of democratisation. “Mugabe and his wife want to go shopping in Bond Street and the Rue Faubourg again. It’s as simple as that,” said one insider this week.

Kate Hoey, the Labour MP an outspoken anti-Mugabe campaigner who made a number of clandestine trips to Zimbabwe before travelling there this year for the first time at the invitation of Tsvangirai’s MDC, says Mugabe “will be thrilled and delighted that the Commonwealth is talking about Zimbabwe coming back. But even though on the surface things appear a bit better inside Zimbabwe, the underlying problems are all still there -and Mugabe ignores international opinion anyway. Gordon Brown should use this Commonwealth conference to put pressure on the other African leaders.”

A vivid example of the dysfunctional nature of the coalition government occurred last month when Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, arrived in Harare with his team at the invitation of Tsvangirai and was denied entry on the orders of Mugabe. Nowak and his team spent the night at Harare airport’s VIP lounge while mediators attempted to negotiate his entry into the country but at dawn Mugabe’s will prevailed and they were put on the first flight out of the country.
An angry Mr Nowak said he had never been treated more rudely by any government and that “it is for me an alarming signal in relation to the non working of the unity government. If the prime minister can invite a UN representative and is not able to get clearance from his ZANU PF colleagues, this sheds light on where the power lies at the moment.”

However, this week Morgan Tsvangirai said that he welcomed the move by the Commonwealth leaders as “a sign of confidence in the new coalition government despite the problems we are facing with the rule of law and the restoration of basic freedoms. Although the process is slow, it is an experiment in peaceful transition in Africa and Zimbabweans should be proud of what we have achieved so far.”

The South African political commentator Allister Sparks agrees that Tsvangirai faces “a daily uphill battle as Mugabe and his people are systematically violating all the GPA agreements.” However, Sparks says, there has been “some progress, most notably, in the sense that Tsvangirai and his finance minister Tendai Biti, by abandoning the country’s worthless currency and dollarizing the economy, have been able to bypass the Reserve Bank, which has until now served as the piggy bank of the Mugabe regime. The economy seems to be slowly starting up again and there are now goods back on the shelves.”

This week I spoke to a Bulawayo businessman who agreed that “the economy is just starting to wake up again.” However, this was from a very low base, he said, as businesses in the country’s second city had all but closed down for more than a year. “In this place the only activity has been from NGOs who are here sorting out cholera, dealing with water filtration and all the other social problems caused by a collapsed economy.”

It was then that the businessman, who asked not to be identified, revealed that two weeks earlier an intruder had broken into his house and stabbed him 20 times, leaving him for dead on his living room floor. A typically phlegmatic white Zimbabwean, he said it was sad that things had come to this in Bulawayo, once a sleepy town that was a model of law and order, “but these guys are driven to crime because there have been no jobs, no food on their families’ tables and no prospects. But we are just, in the last few months, getting the sense that there is a change.”

Many Zimbabweans now believe there is a change, a sense of momentum that, despite the obduracy of Mugabe and the ZANU PF old guard, suggests the corner has been turned. It is for this reason that Senator David Coltart, the education minister in the new coalition government, says that a return to the Commonwealth is vital for the long-term rehabilitation of the country. “While I understand the Commonwealth’s concerns about issues of governance, I have no doubt that being inside the Commonwealth will help us solve our problems. We always knew that the ZANU-PF hardliners would do everything to undermine and destroy the (GPA) agreement. People who don’t want us back in the Commonwealth are playing into the hands of those hardliners.”

Meanwhile, inside Zimbabwe Mugabe is, as always, planning for the future. Earlier this month he was photographed inspecting a passing out parade of the latest graduates of his “Green Bombers” youth league, an indoctrination programme that costs an estimated $6 million a year. The Green Bombers are the enforcers of ZANU PF’s hardline policies, deployed in opposition strongholds and in the rural areas far beyond of the reach of the international media, terrorising ordinary citizens and suppressing by force any dissent.

If Mugabe does live long enough to contest another election – the one that, according to the GPA, will be free and fair – Zimbabweans fear it will be preceded by another campaign of killing, kidnapping and torture at the hands of the Green Bombers.

Zimbabwe has a long way to go to regain its liberation.

The Herald
Comment
By Mabasa Sasa
28th November 2009

On December 2, 2009, Biti will present his first real budget as a Minister of Finance.

While he did stand up in Parliament and announce allocations earlier this year, one can’t really say he presented his own budget.

Chinamasa had done the hard bit and he simply worked with what was already there.

Secondly, the presentation he made then was to subsist for about eight months.

But on December 2 he will be blooded and announce his very own budget.

However, this very well could also turn out to be his last budget because, frankly speaking, an election is more or less likely next year and only God knows if he will still be in an office from which he can throw potshots at Gono.

The GPA has its timeframes and despite the country being behind schedule on a lot of issues, all indications are that our politicians will not hesitate to go back to the polls when the first opportunity presents itself.

This is why Tsvangirai can “disengage” his party when he pleases, while Zanu-PF carries on working and making Cabinet decisions such as instituting inputs subsidy schemes . . . but more of that later.

Back to the matter at hand — the 2010 national budget.

There is a real danger, and a damning irony, that Biti’s very presentation of the budget on the third of December will result in the collapse of the inclusive Government and conceivably result in him never making any national appropriations ever again.

Re-assigning power with budgets

Still waters run deep, we are told, and much has been happening these past few weeks despite the façade of budgetary preparations going along smoothly as in every other year.

A few weeks ago Tsvangirai and company “disengaged” and Zanu-PF took them back in like the patient husband married to the woman with a wandering eye.

In that time that MDC-T was in the lonely wilderness of “partially pulling out”, Biti was supposed to have been hard at work preparing a national budget. On his return he immediately started busying himself with things that should have long finalised.

Grain Bills were issued so late in the season, letters were sent to the IMF for the release of money he had never trusted anyone else to get within an inch of and Government departments were asked to lobby for budget votes.

Every department did as required. Every minister and permanent secretary knuckled down and made sure they presented their cases solidly — some more convincingly than others.

And Biti went through the documentation.

But somehow in all this some departments’ submissions disappeared, a case in point being the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity.

Everyone knows the contention around this portfolio, which Chamisa no doubt believes is more “key” to national development than — for instance — the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

Everyone also knows that all efforts to bottle that ministry inside MDC-T failed and Webster Shamu, who is very Zanu-PF, continues to run that brief.

Everyone also by now knows that Information has re-emerged on MDC-T’s radar as an “outstanding issue” in present inter-party political talks.

Is it any coincidence then that the Ministry of Information almost suddenly found itself cut out of the 2010 national budget?

Are we supposed to believe that budgetary vote submissions made by Shamu conveniently did not reach certain officers in the Ministry of Finance?

In essence, the omission — whether deliberate or just one of those many errors found in any bureaucratic machine — is tantamount to a single ministry deciding to dissolve another ministry.

If it was deliberate it means there are people in influential positions who are prepared to trigger an election at any moment by re-apportioning the division of Cabinet posts through the use of budgetary allocations.

Where has the money gone?

On March 17 of this year, Biti allocated about US$1,6 million to the Ministry of Information for the year ending December 31, 2009.

Would he care to tell us how much of this money was actually released to the ministry?

At the same time, he set aside nearly half that, US$779 500 for the Ministry of Information Communication Technology.

Would he care to tell us how much the ICT Ministry has actually received from Treasury this year?

While he is at it, maybe he could also explain how much money has gone to ensure the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe remains functional.

Tsvangirai can help him answer this question because this writer knows he has documentation in which it seems not a single cent has gone to the RBZ at a time it hasn’t been making any money because of the nature of the gold trade right now.

Right now the RBZ is facing numerous lawsuits because Treasury has basically refused to release money for goods and services already provided for various Government departments.

The general public might not be aware of it, but right now a lot of Government property has been attached by the Sheriff of the High Court because of what is almost certainly a personal battle between Biti and Gono.

As things stand, the RBZ cannot carry out its function as a lender of last resort, something that constrains the functionality of the money market.

It is not inconceivable that soon, and quite soon at that, SWIFT, RTGS and ETS will all collapse and Zimbabwe will no longer have a national payment system.

Surely that cannot be something that tallies with all the publicly stated claims of uniting for economic turnaround.

The fact is, whether anyone likes it or not, any collapse of the RBZ — whether contrived, out of ignorance of its centrality to economic growth and development, or out of genuine error — will result in a similar collapse of Government, in this case the inclusive Government.

Again the end point is the same: there will be an election and we do not need to talk about what elections in Zimbabwe can be like.

Even Mudede is not spared

As we wait for the 2010 National Budget, this would be as good a time as any for Biti to explain exactly what happened to about US$5 million that went to the Ministry of Finance’s consolidated account from the Registrar-General’s Department.

Maybe when this is explained we will all understand why right now the RG is on the verge of failing to produce a single new passport and yet hundreds of them have already been paid for in greenbacks. A person is innocent until proven guilty — or until he/she proves himself incapable of said innocence — and Biti as a public servant would put a lot of minds at ease, not least the RG’s, by explaining what is really going on.

The new farmer should fail

The rains are falling and as they sink into our rich soils, so do our hopes of salvaging anything really meaningful from this summer cropping season. Inputs distribution has been shrouded in mystery; support for commercial farmers, who need active assistance considering they are coming from a Zim dollar economy, is at an all time low, and in all this we continue to claim that ours is an agro-based economy. Where is the commitment to turnaround?

Why is it that Government does not seem keen to ensure a reasonable harvest?

And why is it that there are people in Cabinet who were fuming when after their “disengagement” they found an inputs subsidy scheme in place? The reaction by some in MDC-T to the decision to subsidise inputs puts a lot of things in perspective.

There is no need to explain the centrality of land in Zimbabwe’s historical, contemporary and future socio-political discourse and the wish to see the new farmer fail says much about where the hearts of some of our politicians lie.

In charge of our children’s minds

There is a chap we call the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture who goes by the moniker David Coltart.

Much has been said about how he recently posted on his website an article by British-born and Australian-based child abuser Peter Roebuck.

That Roebuck is in Australia is not surprising. Britain for centuries summarily dispatched its criminals to that country and they just as summarily executed the original inhabitants of Australia to found a nation of ex-convicts.

I don’t care about Roebuck.

He can stuff himself for all I care.

The problem is when a Minister of Education posts on his website a racist article that poses to be about cricket.

Cricket has always claimed to be a gentlemen’s game and if Roebuck is the kind of gent Coltart wants to be when he grows up then we are in trouble.

Our Sports Editor Robson Sharuko has been quite active in trying to draw some remorse from Coltart over his outlandish e-behaviour.

And perhaps as a gentleman who truly wants to see the gentleman’s game develop he has been firm but polite in his analysis of the situation.

I shall not pretend to be a gentleman and will state quite openly that these are some of the things we get when we make BSAP men custodians of education, sports, arts and culture.

l mabasa.sasa@zimpapers.co.zw

New Zimbabwe.Com
By Lebo Nkatazo
27th November 2009

ZIMBABWE hosted the World Cup with dance and celebration on Thursday.

President Robert Mugabe joked he was tempted to keep the gold trophy which is being paraded in all 53 African countries before its final journey to South Africa, the first African hosts of the World Cup next June.

“Britain does not have any gold, neither does Germany. I am tempted to think that it came from Africa, and from Zimbabwe, and was taken away by adventurers who shaped it into this Cup,” Mugabe said to laughter at a ceremony attended by government officials, football fans and journalists to receive the trophy at the Harare International Airport.

“When I hold the Cup, I know all of you will have the urge that I should not let it go because this could be our gold.”

Dozens of cheering football fans greeted the trophy’s arrival on a chartered Coca-Cola flight at the airport.

Traditional chiefs in ceremonial garb received the 18 carat gold trophy with a malachite base, first used at the 1974 finals.

The trophy – which arrived from Madagascar — never left the airport. A welcome function was held at the domestic flights terminal which had been prepared for the ceremony.

Mugabe, his wife Grace, their footy-mad sons Chatunga and Robert Jnr, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, ZIFA officials and Sports Minister David Coltart were all on hand to receive the trophy designed by Italian Silvio Gazzaniga and crafted by trophy and medal manufacturer, GDE Bertoni.

The officials took turns to admire and pose for photographs with the trophy which Zimbabwe cannot win next year after failing to qualify for the finals.

Turning to Coltart, President Mugabe remarked: “We must also qualify to play for it and Senator Coltart, the job is yours. Let’s support the youngsters.”

Mugabe said his government and the people of Zimbabwe felt “greatly honoured” to host the trophy “as it makes this historic journey on our continent”.

He added: “We are indebted to Fifa and Coca-Cola for affording Zimbabwean soccer followers this lifetime opportunity.

“It (football) has had a long journey, growing from a spontaneous social event into the world’s most popular sport, whose climax is the Fifa World Cup.
“Football, symbolised by this Fifa World Cup Trophy on display, has turned into a vehicle for the socio-economic and political transformation of societies.

“Never keen to promote racial, sexual, spiritual or any further form of segregation, football has scaled the social order, perching itself at a position that promotes growth and development.”

Mugabe also used the event to launch a fresh appeal for World Cup teams to consider camping or training in Zimbabwe enroute to the finals.

Tourism officials have travelled to Brazil, England and Spain trying to entice those countries to visit Zimbabwe.

Officials are also drawing plans to make it easy for football fans from around the world to visit the country, and may waiver visa requirements under a fast-track immigration facility known as 2010 Fan Embassy.

“Zimbabwe looks forward to, indeed, extends an open invitation to top football nations and their multitude of fans who will enjoy the hospitality of Zimbabwe and her people through the 2010 Fan Embassy that will be co-ordinated by Zifa and the Ministry of Tourism,” Mugabe said.

The Cup will arrive in South Africa on December 3, the day of the draw for the finals.

The Herald
By Augustine Hwata
27th November 2009

President Mugabe last night challenged the Warriors to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil as Zimbabwe celebrated the arrival of the iconic World Cup Trophy, on its soil, with a colourful function at the Harare International Airport.

The World Cup Trophy is on a tour of Africa ahead of the 2010 World Cup finals, which would be held in South Africa — the first time that the global football showcase will be hosted in Africa.

President Mugabe, accompanied by the First Lady Amai Mugabe and members of the First Family, led the nation last night in welcoming the World Cup Trophy to Zimbabwe.

The President urged the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, to ensure that the Warriors would also take part at the 2014 World Cup showcase in Brazil.

For that to happen, President Mugabe said it was imperative that Zifa should be given all the support to ensure that the Warriors get the best preparations to be able to compete with the best and qualify for the 2014 World Cup show.

“We are giving this World Cup the respect it deserves,” said President Mugabe.

“But we must also qualify to play for it and Senator Coltart the job is yours. Let’s support the youngsters.”

President Mugabe lifted the World Cup Trophy, an iconic symbol of the ultimate triumph in football, which has — until now — been performed only by some of the world’s greatest players like Pele.

Yesterday marked the first time that this 36,8 centimetre high and 6,175 grammes of 18-carat gold trophy has come to Zimbabwe. It’s on a 53-nation tour of Africa that began on September 21 and will end in South Africa just hours before the 2010 draw on December 3.

Hundreds of people from across the political, economic and cultural backgrounds, thronged the domestic terminal at the airport last night to welcome the Fifa World Cup Trophy, the real gem that has been given to the world champions since 1974.

It was a colourful ceremony that combined a traditional Zimbabwean welcoming ceremony, usually reserved for brides, and the grandeur of the latest technology and décor.

Fans started arriving as early as 4pm while there was a section reserved for VIPs and guests.

The trophy was in Madagascar earlier in the day before it made its way to Zimbabwe in the specially branded Coca- Cola/Fifa World Cup chartered plane.

The plane carrying the cup arrived at 7:30pm, but it was not until 8:20pm that the formal proceedings got underway with the crowd jostling to get a glimpse of the cup.

The event was beamed live on national television while the domestic terminal at the airport had been specially prepared for this event.

Addressing the crowd, President Mugabe said Zimbabwe was happy to be hosting such an historic event.

“Zimbabwe today happily joins the family of football enthusiasts in welcoming the world’s most prestigious sports trophy, the Fifa World Cup.

“On behalf of the inclusive Government and people of Zimbabwe, I feel greatly honoured to host the Fifa World Cup as it makes this historic journey on our continent, whose final is in South Africa,” he said.

President Mugabe chronicled how football has evolved from being a village pastime centuries ago to what it is today, with universally accepted rules, and a proven unifying factor of all the people across the world.

“Football, symbolised by this Fifa World Cup Trophy on display, has turned into a vehicle for socio-economic and political transformation of societies,” he said.

The President said the United Nations had used sport, in general, and football, in particular, to promote awareness on HIV and Aids, to combat poverty, killer diseases and civil strife.

“Football has demonstrated its might by successfully promoting the idea of fair play, protection of children’s and women’s rights, tolerance, democracy and fellowship,” he said. President Mugabe said the coming of the World Cup Trophy will leave a lasting impression in Zimbabwe and the whole of Africa.

He urged Zimbabweans to take advantage of the platform, set by the coming of the World Cup Trophy last night, to forge a positive stance in marketing Zimbabwe.

“Zimbabwe looks forward to, and indeed extends an open invitation to top football-playing nations as well as the multitudes of fans who will enjoy the hospitality of Zimbabwe and her people through the 2010 Fan Embassy that will be co-ordinated by Zifa and the Ministry of Tourism,” he said.

President Mugabe had the gathering in stitches when he said he felt that the gold used to make the World Cup probably came from Zimbabwe.

“Britain does not have any gold. Neither does Germany have any gold. I am tempted to think that it came from Africa, and from Zimbabwe, and was taken away by adventurers who shaped it into this cup.

“When I hold the cup, I know all of you will have the urge that I should not let it go because this could be our gold,” he said. Fifa representative Heidi Hanel said Zimbabwe should cherish the great moment in hosting the World Cup Trophy on its African tour.

At exactly 9:15pm, Hanel unveiled the trophy, and then handed it over to President Mugabe who then hoisted it high in an emotional moment. After unveiling the trophy, President Mugabe and the First Family were the first to have their photos taken with the trophy before Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, Cabinet ministers, chiefs and Delta and Coca-Cola representatives followed suit. Delta Zimbabwe chief executive Joe Mutizwa said his team was happy to welcome the trophy.

In presenting the Coca-Cola speech, Mutizwa said Zimbabwe was the focus of global attention.

Senator Coltart thanked Fifa and Coca-Cola for including Zimbabwe on the tour. He was hopeful that the tour would help to improve the image of Zimbabwe that has been battered in the last 10 years.

Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi also supported the use of sport and tourism to market Zimbabwe.

The rest of Zimbabwe will have a chance to have a photo session at the Harare International Conference Centre today where the trophy will be viewed. A gig will be staged at the HICC before the trophy leaves for Malawi this evening.

The Herald
Editorial
27th November 2009

WHEN controversial Australian journalist Peter Roebuck decided to describe the Zimbabwe Cricket leadership as a bunch of fraudsters, abysmal thugs and nasty creatures — in reports in newspapers Down Under and South Africa — we felt that he was entitled to his opinion, foolish as it might appear.

When the same journalist called for the isolation of Zimbabwe from the international cricket family, in his series of damning reports, we also felt that he was — in a global democracy — also entitled to his opinion, stupid as it might appear.

When Roebuck attacked all those men who are seeing the light and returning to their fatherland, to try and play a part in lifting cricket back on its feet after years of paralysis fanned by such media hounds, we also felt that he was also entitled to his flawed opinion.

When the same journalist hailed those who are still stuck in the trenches, fighting the ZC leadership and prolonging their battle to try and destroy domestic cricket, we also felt that the British-born journalist, who turned himself into an Aussie, was entitled to his view.

It might have hurt us, to read our fellow Zimbabweans, in particular, and national sports leaders — for that matter — being branded thugs and nasty creatures but, in a world pregnant with diverse views, we grudgingly accepted that such is the nature of life. Even when Roebuck decided to call ZC chairman Peter Chingoka a snake and a chameleon, we felt that — to quote Aussie cricket captain Ricky Ponting — it was ridiculous and way over the top but we accepted that our world is, indeed, a sticky wicket.

After all we have travelled on this path before — the dosage of vitriol aimed at our cricket leadership over the years, questions about their credibility, questions about their accountability and all the sort of nonsense that goes with such drama.

However, we got worried when we realised that such hogwash, as spat by racist lunatics like Roebuck, actually found its way onto the personal and official website of the minister who is responsible for the welfare of sport in this country.

We acknowledge that we have no business telling the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, what to put and what not to put on his personal and official website.

What we have a problem with is when that website, being part of the public domain, is used as a medium to publish the crazy views of such lunatics like Roebuck — especially the part where he describes a bona-fide national sports leader as a snake and a chameleon.

Our problem with Coltart, who personally posted those reports on his official website, is related to the grand question of what he intended to achieve by using his personal medium to publish such inane and crazy views that add nothing to the value of our game?

Was Coltart trying to ensure that the local people, who probably don’t read the Australian and South African newspapers where these reports were first published, would also get a platform from where they could read what Roebuck thinks about Chingoka and his crew?

If so, what was the ultimate objective, and would the ZC leadership be wrong to assume that the minister carries a hidden agenda against them and is just waiting for the right moment to strike as and when it fits his agenda?

What do Zimbabwean readers, in particular, have to gain from reading the views of a deranged Australian journalist — on the website of the minister responsible for local sport — who believes that Prosper Utseya and his troops should be isolated from international cricket so that the game dies here?

What do Zimbabwean readers have to gain, from reading the silly views of a sick man — on the website of the minister responsible for their sport — who criticises those who have accepted the olive branch extended by the ZC leadership and have come back to work for the good of the game? Are we wrong to believe that, by giving such crazy views on his official website and, to make it worse, personally posting them there, Coltart appears to believe every word that Roebuck wrote and wanted more people to get access to such racist rhetoric?

We know that relations between Coltart and the ZC leadership have been tricky, to say the least, because of a background of lack of trust emanating from that dark past when some of the cricket leaders believed he was on the side of the rebels who walked out on the system.

But, even if Coltart was on the side of the rebels, which he was entitled to in a global democracy, it was then — a period of turmoil — and he didn’t have any official or national responsibilities that stopped him from standing in their corner.

Now, thanks to the inclusive Government, things have changed and he is now the parent minister in charge of sport and that means also extending an olive branch to those who might have been on the other side during the dark period of turmoil.

Chingoka and his administrative crew might not be angels in the eyes of a lot of their critics but you can’t take away the fact that they fought for a cause, which was right, to take cricket away from the hands of just a few white men so that the boy in Gokwe could also fancy his chances of playing for his national team one day.

They were accused of being fraudsters but an International Olympic Committee investigations into their accounts cleared them much to the anger of those who have been preaching the gospel that Chingoka and his team were looting Zimbabwe cricket.

If the ICC says that there is no anomaly with their accounts then who are we to question their accountability?

Today Zimbabwe Cricket is slowly taking steps back to its place in the Test arena and it needs the support of everyone and that is why we salute Heath Streak, Dave Houghton, Alistair Campbell and all those who have returned to their fatherland to try and help the game.

We salute Chingoka and his troops for extending that olive branch and letting bygones be bygones where they put the interests of the game ahead of their personal interests.

We have shown, in recent weeks, that we are better than Kenya, as good as Bangladesh which is playing Test cricket and we played so well, in the first ODI against South Africa, the world stood and noticed our qualities.

Domestic cricket is finding its way back to life and not even the stupid attacks from such people like Roebuck — and the unfortunate of the accommodation of their views in an official website of the minister responsible for sport here — can stop that march.

The best that Coltart should do, if he hasn’t done that privately already, is to call Chingoka and apologise for this mess.

The Herald
By Robson Sharuko
27th November 2009

PETER ROEBUCK — the controversial Australian journalist whose description of the Zimbabwe Cricket leadership a bunch of FRAUDSTERS, ABYSMAL THUGS AND NASTY CREATURES has torched a storm here — struggles to bowl a consistent line, in terms of his analysis, to the extent of bordering on hypocrisy.

The former Somerset skipper — in damning reports that have appeared in Australian and South African newspapers — has been calling for the isolation of Zimbabwe from the global cricket family and slamming overtures made recently by those willing to help the game back on its feet.

Roebuck describes ZC chairman Peter Chingoka as a snake, chameleon and a corrupt leader and heaps a lot of praise on those who are still stuck in the trenches, prolonging the battles to try and topple the domestic cricket leadership, as men of integrity and honour.

The reports have created a storm here after they were posted by the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, on his official website with the ZC leadership questioning the intentions of their parent minister and wondering whether it’s a sign that he agrees with their contents.

But should the ZC leadership lose sleep over an international cricket commentator who appears to change his spots, like a chameleon, when it suits him?

Maybe a quick call to Australian national cricket team skipper Ricky Ponting might enable the ZC leadership get a better and deeper appreciation of the man who believes they are just a group of thugs and fraudsters.

Branding Ponting arrogant, and calling for his dismissal, Roebuck blasted the Aussie skipper with so much vitriol that it left the master batsman in shock wondering whether he had done something that had just triggered the world’s third global war.

In the aftermath of the row that followed allegations that Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh had racially abused black Australian cricketer, Andrew Symonds, during the Sydney Test last year, Roebuck aimed all his missiles at Ponting and left him battered and bruised.

Roebuck claimed that Ponting’s antics in that game brought shame upon the honourable tradition of all those who had worn the Aussie baggy green cap.

Roebuck’s Attack On Arrogant Ponting

“Ricky Ponting must be sacked as captain of the Australian cricket team,” wrote Roebuck in a scathing column that was published in many newspapers, including the front page of The Age in Australia.

“If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players in the past few days.

“It was the ugliest performance by an Australian side for 20 years. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not already packed and gone home.

“That the senior players in the Australian team are oblivious to the fury they raised, among many followers of the game in this country and beyond its shores, merely confirms their own narrow and self-obsessed viewpoint.

“Pained past players called to express their private disgust. It was a wretched and ill-mannered display and not to be endured from any side let alone an international outfit representing a proud sporting nation.

“Make no mistake, it is not only the reputation of these cricketers that has suffered — Australia itself has been embarrassed.

“THE NOTION THAT PONTING CAN HEREAFTER TAKE THE AUSTRALIAN TEAM TO INDIA IS PREPOSTEROUS. HE HAS SHOWN NOT THE SLIGHTEST INTEREST IN THE WELL-BEING OF THE GAME, NOT THE SLIGHTEST SIGN OF DIPLOMATIC SKILL, NOT A SINGLE MARK OF RESPECT FOR HIS ACCOMPLISHED AND WIDELY ADMIRED OPPONENTS.

“IN THE PAST FEW DAYS, THE AUSTRALIAN CAPTAIN HAS PRESIDED OVER A PERFORMANCE THAT DRAGGED THE GAME INTO THE PITS.

“HE TURNED A GROUP OF PROFESSIONAL CRICKETERS INTO A PACK OF WILD DOGS. IF CRICKET AUSTRALIA CARES A FIG FOR THE TATTERED REPUTATION OF OUR NATIONAL TEAM IN OUR NATIONAL SPORT, IT WILL NOT FOR A MOMENT LONGER TOLERATE THE SORT OF ARROGANT AND ABRASIVE CONDUCT SEEN FROM THE CAPTAIN AND HIS SENIOR PLAYERS OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS.

“PONTING HAS NOT PROVIDED THE LEADERSHIP EXPECTED FROM AN AUSTRALIAN CRICKET CAPTAIN AND SO MUST BE SACKED.”

Roebuck On Ponting This August As Australia Stood On Brink Of Winning Ashes“Ponting has come a long way in a few months. HE HAS EMERGED AS A FINE LEADER, THOUGH NOT YET AN ASTUTE TACTICIAN,” he wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald, adding that the team’s future was secure under the leadership of its captain.

“CLEARLY HE HAS THE RESPECT OF HIS PLAYERS AND IS RELISHING THE OPPORTUNITY TO CAPTAIN A BRIGHT YOUNG SIDE.

“IF 2008 WAS HIS WORST YEAR, 2009 HAS BEEN HIS BEST.

“NOW HE STANDS ON THE EDGE OF A SUBSTANTIAL ACHIEVEMENT. HOLDING THE ASHES MIGHT NOT SEEM MUCH OF A FEAT. NOT SO LONG AGO AUSTRALIA BEAT THIS MOB 5-0.

“Moreover the opposing side has lost its two best players BUT AUSTRALIA HAVE ENDURED NUMEROUS SETBACKS AND STILL HEADS HAVE NOT DROPPED. NOR HAD CONDUCT DESTERIORATED.

“WHETHER IT WINS OR LOSES AT THE OVAL, AUSTRALIANS HAVE BEEN HONOURABLY REPRESNTED. THROUGHOUT THE FOURTH TEST THE TOURISTS PLAYED WITH VIGOUR BUT WITHOUT ACRID POSTURING.

“AT THE END OF 2008, AUSTRALIA DICTED AN AGEING SIDE AND PONTING DITCHED HIS STUBBORN STREAK. HE TOOK A NEW TEAM TO AFRICA AND PROMPTLY TOOK THE SPOILS. NOW HE HAS BROUGHT A HOTCHPOTCH OF A SIDE TO ENGLAND AND SURVIVED A DISAPPOINTMENT AND A DEFEAT TO PRODUCE A STIRRING FIGHTBACK.”

Talk about hypocrisy at its worst.

Ponting On Roebuck Criticism

The Australian captain, writing in his book Captain’s Diary 2008 — A Season of Tests, Turmoil and Twenty20 — revealed that he was shocked about the severity of the criticism he felt it was over the top.

“Peter Roebuck . . . had written a lengthy piece that demanded that I be sacked. The message in page one was loud and emphatic — Ponting Must Go,” the Aussie skipper wrote.

“He (Roebuck) was scathing in his criticism, which of course, he is entitled to, but to me he was far over the top it was ridiculous. IT WAS AS IF WE’D STARTED WORLD WAR III.

“He suggested that the entire cricket community was ‘disgusted’ and ‘distressed’ by our performance, but that was hardly the feedback I was getting.

“WE MADE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT THOSE CLOSEST TO US WOULD AUTOMATICALLY BACK US AND REALISE THAT OUR CAUSE WAS NOBLE. WHEN WE DIDN’T GET THAT SUPPORT, WE WERE ANGRY AND FELT TOTALLY LET DOWN.

“I guess there was a certain naivety on my part in all of this (and) next time, I’ll want to be just as sure about my convictions as I was this time, but I’ll also want to be certain that the game is as committed to justice, as I am, before I put my reputation, and the reputation of my team-mates, on the line.

“There is a part of me that says in future I should steer clear of ‘cricket politics’ . . . but l don’t want to run away from my responsibilities. I couldn’t then, and I wouldn’t in future. Trust me.”

Glen Mitchell, Australia Broadcasting Corporation Commentator, on the Roebuck/Ponting Row

Glen Mitchell, who joined ABC Sport in January 1990, worked with Roebuck as part of the station’s Grandstand commentary team. Unlike his companion, Mitchell took a sober look at the issue and, to some extent, questioned part of his colleague’s inconsistency.

“A week is a long time in politics. And believe me, Ricky Ponting can certainly attest to that,” wrote Mitchell on his blog last year.

“During the first week of the New Year, in some people’s eyes he (Ponting) has transformed himself from saint to sinner. Fellow Grandstand commentator, and leading cricket journalist, Peter Roebuck has his own website – peterroebuck.com.

“Many of Peter’s articles are archived there, as well as other pieces penned by his website editor, Callum Twomey. The latter posted an article on 2 January, the first day of the controversy-charged second Test. It was titled, ‘Ponting graduates to top of the class.’

“It was a piece that extolled the virtues of the current Australian skipper. In part it stated that, ‘Ponting has been the perfect captaincy choice.’

“Yet, just six days later, the same website carried the Roebuck article that has led to a mixture of praise and condemnation. It appeared in the Fairfax press under the headline, “Ponting must be sacked.”

“According to peterroebuck.com, Ponting had gone from peacock to feather duster in less than a week. Are we, at times, too quick on the draw in our judgments?

“The history of cricket is littered with moments of infamy, many involving the game’s greats. Most of us don’t suffer the glare of public scrutiny, and our mistakes and foibles go largely unnoticed.

“If they were reported upon with the same intensity as our sports stars, I wonder how we would cope. They live in a fish bowl where every error in judgment is met with microscopic analysis. In the intensity of competition, at times, things go awry.

“It is foolhardy to believe otherwise. But the important thing is that the individual or team learn from their indiscretions and are allowed to atone for their behaviour. Merely erecting gallows each time someone falls from grace may not be the most appropriate solution.”

Aussie Fan Steve Contributing On the Debate On ABC Grandstand

“Interesting article and one that should have been written earlier instead of allowing the poisonous rubbish from Roebuck to hold centre stage so long. Of course most of us realise that very few cricketers from any country have had a career free of controversy, or not behaved stupidly on the odd occasion.

“No wonder the players wonder if they’ll have a home to go back to when they lose a game! Talk about fanning the flames Roebuck.”

Other Opinions In The Sydney Morning Herald
Ponting may have been rude, even arrogant. But at least he had the courage to stand up against racism in cricket. If only Roebuck had the same kind of courage instead of the petty cowardice his column displays — Michael Richardson, Frenchs Forest.

Peter Roebuck’s opinion defies belief — Mark Byron, Cooge.

In his self-righteous fury, Peter Roebuck has missed the point. The game I love dearly has survived tens of thousands of lousy umpiring decisions, and hundreds of captains who were more scoundrels than angel.

These are part of the texture and history of the game, and contribute greatly to its story. This was, supremely, an ‘I was there’ Test. But cricket may not survive respected commentators who forget themselves and who fan the flames in the media. Steve Bucknor and Ricky Ponting messed up, pure and simple but Roebuck has transformed their mess into a conspiracy, and his words are kerosene on simmering embers — Mark Donohoe, Mosman.

The laughable hypocrisy penned by Peter Roebuck is quickly evidenced by a glance at his bumptious website. “Ponting has been the perfect captaincy choice,” it trumpets. “Ricky Ponting has risen to be a man in control of every facet of his life.” — John Smeaton, Newcastle.

What did Ponting do wrong? He reported an example of racism — as captains have been asked to. His team celebrated an unlikely victory. I must have been watching a different match to Roebuck. I did not see a “pack of wild dogs” nor people who looked as though they were on drugs. These are disturbing metaphors to use about anyone. — Mark O’Sullivan Rosemeadow.

The headline above Roebuck’s article demands the sacking of Ricky Ponting “for the sake of our integrity”. Throughout the Test, the ABC radio commentary team, of which Roebuck is a member, constantly praised the quality of the cricket. Roebuck now proclaims that “in the past few days Ponting has presided over a performance that dragged the game into the pits”. Whose integrity is really at stake? Who should really be sacked? — Robert Radley, Springwood.