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.

Herald
26th November 2009
By Robson Sharuko

PETER ROEBUCK — the Australian journalist whose description of the Zimbabwe Cricket leadership as a bunch of FRAUDSTERS, ABYSMAL THUGS AND NASTY CREATURES has torched a severe storm here — has travelled a journey blighted by controversy, including a suspended one-year jail term, for abusing a group of teenage boys.

The former captain of English county side Somerset, and 1988 Wisden Cricketer of The Year, has written a series of damning articles — published in Australian and South African newspapers in recent weeks — blasting the ZC leadership as a group of thugs and corrupt individuals.

Roebuck, who was born in England but has assumed Australian citizenship, described ZC chairman Peter Chingoka as a snake and a chameleon, in articles where he called for Zimbabwe’s isolation from the global cricket family, and criticised overtures made by those willing to help the game back on its feet.

The reports also heaped a lot of praise on those who are still stuck in the trenches, prolonging their battles to topple the ZC leadership, as men of honour and integrity who have rightly refused to be lured into the trap of the vipers.

The articles have torched a storm here — after the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart posted them on his official website — and exposed the frosty relationship that exists between the minister and the ZC leadership.

That the minister personally posted those reports on his official website has angered the ZC leadership, which believes that it suggests, to a certain extent, that their parent minister appears to agree with the contents of this stunning attack on their reputation.

The ZC authorities have described the reports as an insult and have questioned Coltart’s intentions, to use his official website as a medium to publicise such a sensational attack on their reputation, especially against a background of a healing process currently underway in the game.

A number of high-profile people, who had rebelled against the ZC leadership at the height of the stormy boardroom battles, have been lured back into the fold to play a part in the healing process whose results have already started to be seen on the field.

Coltart’s apparent fascination, with the views of a controversial cricket correspondent, who appears to have such a low opinion of those who are running cricket here, is what has torched the storm.

For Roebuck has always courted controversy.

From his time as Somerset captain when he vetoed the extension of the contracts of West Indies legend Viv Richards and Joel Garner, his sharp criticism of Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting to his brush with the law that ended with him getting a suspended one-year jail term.

The Suspended Jail Term

Roebuck was slapped with a suspended two-year jail term in his native England in 2001 after admitting that he had assaulted three teenage South African cricketers, under his care, whom he had offered to coach.

The court was told Roebuck had met the South African 19-year-olds — Keith Whiting, Reginald Keats and Henk Lindeque – while working abroad, and invited them to live in his home in England on the promise that he would coach them.

He had warned them he would use corporal punishment if they failed to obey his “house rules.”

Roebuck met the three young cricketers, Keith Whiting, Reginald Keats and Henk Lindeque, who were all 19 at the time of the offences, while working as a commentator abroad.

On separate occasions, between April 1 and May 31 1999, Roebuck caned the three terrified teenagers when they failed to achieve the standards he set at coaching sessions.

Afterwards he would confront the teenagers and demand to see the marks, caused by the assault, on their buttocks.

The offences came to light when one of the cricketers showed the marks Roebuck had caused to the secretary of Bishop’s Lydeard Cricket Club, who passed the matter to the police.

Sentencing Roebuck, Judge Graham Hume Jones, told him that he had abused his power and influence over the teenagers, who were far away from home and from their friends and families.

The judge said: “It was totally inappropriate to administer corporal punishment to boys of this age in circumstances such as these. I am not assisted by an expert in the field, but it does seem so unusual that it must have been done to satisfy some need in you, whatever that may have been.

“You used your position to abuse these boys and to humiliate them.”

Roebuck said his life had been “hell” since the offences came to light and had not detected any unhappiness among the boys at the time.

“Obviously I misjudged the mood and that was my mistake and my responsibility and I accept that.”

Paul Mendelle, for the defence, said Roebuck was a “complex man” who set high standards for himself and expected that from others and had used corporal punishment only to encourage the teenagers.

Roebuck was sentenced to four months in jail for each count, with the sentences suspended for two years, at Taunton Crown Court.

He was also ordered to pay £820 in costs.

Paul Mendelle, defending, said Roebuck was a “complex man” who set high standards for himself and expected them of others, and who had used corporal punishment only to encourage the teenagers.

The Viv Richards Storm

In 1986, at the end of his first season as Somerset captain, Roebuck was instrumental in the county’s decision not to renew the contracts of West Indies legend Viv Richards and bowler Joel Garner.

The two West Indies superstars had played key roles in helping Somerset to success in the previous eight years.

Roebuck’s group argued that Richards and Garner were both ageing and their contribution to the county’s cause had declined dramatically.

England star all-rounder Ian Botham, who was with Somerset, led the rebellion against the decision to offload Richards and Garner and left the county to join Worcestershire.

Years of bitterness followed at Somerset, torched by the fallout by the decision to offload the two Windies stars, and when Roebuck eventually left the county, Richards was honoured with the naming rights of a set of entry gates and a stand at the county in Taunton.

The scars of that fallout are still being felt right up to this day.

The Ponting Controversy

Following the row that erupted in Australia last year, in the wake of accusations that Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh had allegedly racially abused Andrew Symonds, Roebuck wrote a column calling for Aussie captain Ricky Ponting arrogant and demanding that he be sacked.

Symonds — a black Aussie cricketer – claimed that he was racially abused during the Sydney Test and, when his captain backed him, Roebuck turned his guns on Ponting and demanded that he be sacked from his job as leader of the team.

Roebuck fired a salvo at Ponting.

“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 past few days,” he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not packed their bags and gone home. Ponting has not provided the leadership expected from an Australian cricket captain and so must be sacked.”

This caused a furore in Australia and Ponting, who defended Symonds, hit back at both Roebuck, and the leadership of Cricket Australia, in his book — Captain’s Diary 2008 – A Season Of Tests, Turmoil and Twenty20.

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

“He was scathing in his criticism, which of course he is entitled to, but to me he was so far over the top it was ridiculous.

“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.

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

The Zimbabwe Cricket leadership — who have been branded a bunch of FRAUDSTERS, ABYSMAL THUGS AND NASTY CREATURES – by Australian journalist Peter Roebuck, don’t need to lose sleep over the stunning attack on their reputation. After all they are not alone in that line of fire. Even Australian captain Ricky Ponting has also been savaged following the row that erupted after the Sydney Test against India last year. But what does Ponting think about Roebuck, which could help us understand the man described by his lawyer “as complex” and what do the others also think of him? What do the inconsistencies, which can be detected in the same journalist, tell us about the man? We will carry all that, and much more, in tomorrow’s edition of this newspaper.

The Zimbabwe Times
November 25, 2009
By Jupiter Punungwe

ON October 29, the SADC Troika held a meeting attended by the major parties in Zimbabwe’s Government of National Unity (GNU). It was reported that the Troika directed that the major parties go and immediately negotiate on outstanding matters regarding the Global Political Agreement that gave rise to the GNU.

As we all know, this mini-summit had been precipitated by the urgency caused by the partial withdrawal of the MDC-T from the GNU. It was therefore natural to expect that the relevant negotiators would immediately and very urgently sit down to iron out the outstanding issues.

To our surprise things did not move. A snail would have lapped the negotiators several times given the speed with which they set upon the task of negotiating. The 15- day deadline reportedly set by the SADC Troika to start the negotiations, passed without the negotiators even bothering to sit down and just say ‘hello’ to each other.

The MDC-T’s negotiators were the first to demonstrate a lack of urgency on the matter. Soon after the troika meeting in Mozambique, they took a break in South Africa for a few days. It has not been quite explained what business they were attending to in South Africa. It couldn’t have been state business as we all know that they had disengaged from state activities.

When they came back, other negotiators who had pressing matters to do with state had to attend to that business. Even when they were back in Zimbabwe, the MDC-T negotiators were not available for another week. After they had finished attending to all their private matters, they were then ready to start the talks.

That is when all hell broke loose. Soon, the MDC-T started spewing accusations and insults, accusing the other parties of dragging their feet. Their own foot-shuffling was not even mentioned. I would say it is very arrogant, preposterous and condescending for MDC-T negotiators to expect everyone to abandon their serious business to attend to them when they had not been prepared to abandon their pleasures to attend to the matter.

From David Coltart’s explanation, the business that Professor Welshman Ncube and Priscilla Misihairabwi had to attend to was legitimate business which had been planned months in advance and the MDC-T knew about it. Surely they wouldn’t have expected them to cancel their attendance of the China-Africa summit merely upon the MDC-T’s last-minute whims. Nor would they have expected delegates to Brussels meeting to abandon their mission. Especially not after the MDC-T negotiators had not been prepared to abandon their holiday in South Africa. If the MDC-T expect the whole country to fawn to their every move, then Zimbabwe as a country will be in equal, if not worse trouble than we were with Zanu-PF.

On another note, the matter of how the MDC-M and its leaders came to be in the government is at this point irrelevant. They are there because of the GPA negotiated and signed by the MDC-T, presumably with their eyes wide open. If they had wanted to exclude party leaders without a national electoral mandate, they should have raised the issue at that time. Maybe David Coltart as the most senior elected MDC-M leader would have been deputy prime minister and believe me, our cabinet and country would have been so much the richer for it.

Coltart is so sensible, down to earth and people-focused. I am convinced he is the only one with his eye on the ball, while all the other politicians have their eyes on the power and prestige.

However, as I pointed out at the time, the MDC-T were not guided by matters of principle but were simply trying to make a beeline for maximum power and prestige.

Consequently they never even thought about matters of principle like respecting national electoral mandate. Even now they are not raising the issue out of principle, but rather because the individuals concerned are becoming an inconvenience in their quest to wrest more power and prestige from Zanu-PF.

It is childish, immature and utterly unprofessional for the MDC-T to be throwing insults at their GPA partners for something they [MDC-T] are wrong about in the first place. Let me repeat; they are the ones who first went on holiday, proving to all and sundry that the matter was not serious.

Another fact that needs to be carefully remembered by all is that neither the MDC-T nor Zanu-PF has a majority in parliament. The MDC-M control the swing votes and under normal circumstances it would have been possible for them to hold cabinet posts in alliance with one of the big parties, while the other had nothing at all. It is absolutely no use begrudging their status as a swing party.

We, as Zimbabweans, sorely need our politicians to grow up and simply be mature.

SW Radio Africa
By Alex Bell
25 November 2009

The Education Ministry has announced it does not have the extra money to pay special incentives to exam invigilators, as the 2009 exam period is set to get underway a month late, on Thursday.

The announcement was made by Education Minister David Coltart on Tuesday in Harare, where he urged teachers to make the necessary sacrifices to ensure the exam period runs smoothly. Teachers’ unions earlier this month said their members wanted compensation for the 14 ‘extra days’ they will be working, given exams will still be written after schools officially close on December 4. The public exams begin on Thursday and the final paper will be written on December 18.

Public examinations were originally scheduled for last month, but were postponed mainly due to a strike by workers at the exams council, ZIMSEC, who were demanding salary increases from US$115 to US$400. The strike was later called off after a meeting of ZIMSEC management and workers in which they were promised salary increases up to US$270 per month. The exams were finally rescheduled to start this week, more than a month late.

The Reserve Bank last year paid invigilators allowances as ‘incentives’ for them to supervise the writing of examinations, and this trend was widely believed to continue this year. Last week, the teachers wrote to the Education Ministry threatening to boycott invigilating examinations if no allowances were paid.

Minister Coltart explained to SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that such incentives cannot be paid by the Ministry, saying sacrifices ‘for the sake of the children’ will need to be made. He acknowledged that “this is not going to be a perfectly run process,” lamenting the already badly damaged public confidence in ZIMSEC and the education sector.

“We have been trying to restore confidence in ZIMSEC and our Ministry but that has been difficult with the numerous issues ZIMSEC has raised,” Coltart said.

He explained that only one teachers’ union, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), has so far agreed to ensure that invigilators are available through the exam period.

“I am quite hopeful that the other unions will follows suit, but I am waiting with baited breath,” Coltart said.

VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
25 November 2009

Zimbabwe’s two main teachers unions said Wednesday they will encourage members to oversee ordinary and advanced-level examinations expected to start Thursday, while they engage the government on payments.The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Teachers Association say they will seek eventual compensation.

Education Minister David Coltart said Tuesday that the government does not have enough money to pay teachers to invigilate examinations, urging teachers to perform this duty for the good of their students.

Zimbabwe Teachers Association Secretary General Richard Gundani told VOA Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that his members will oversee exams while continuing to discuss the question of compensation with the government.

In a related development, the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council was accused of failing to issue timely statements of entry to candidates sitting for this year’s ‘”O” and “A” level examinations, though officials in some schools reached by VOA said they received statements of entry Wednesday.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe President Takavafira Zhou told Jonga Kandemiiri his union will ask the government to credit teachers with additional days of work if they oversee examinations in this period.