Maths, English teachers have left country in droves

By David Coltart | Published August 16, 2009

Sunday Mail
16 August 2009

THE country has lost more than 20 000 teachers due to migration over the past two years with the majority of them being Mathematics and English teachers, while a bulk of the remaining teachers are threatening to strike, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Speaking before the House of Assembly Portfolio Committee on Education last week, the Minister of Education, Sports Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said Mathematics and English teachers were leaving in droves as their skills were the most sought-after in the region.

He said there was evidence of foreign recruiters going on head-hunting missions for teachers with Matabeleland South Province being the worst affected because of its proximity to South Africa and Botswana.

“We have lost over 20 000 teachers since 2007. In Matabeleland South, there is a shortage of Maths and English teachers,” said Senator Coltart, adding that it was necessary for parents to help the Government in giving incentives to teachers. He said he had approached the donor community for assistance without success, resulting in the Ministry being left with no option but to engage parents.
A number of teachers are already getting their incentives from levies that are being paid by parents. Sen Coltart said the incentives were meant to retain staff and match perks offered in regional countries.

“In South Africa, an entry teacher earns about R8 000, which does not commensurate with what local teachers are getting,’ said Senator Coltart. The committee, however, raised concern over the number of schools that are demanding exorbitant levies. The committee felt that parents were being left out in the crafting of levy structures, resulting in imposition of hefty amounts.

In response, Senator Coltart said it was a requirement for parents to be involved in determining levies. “We need now to enforce the law and see that parents themselves take charge,” he said.

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Minister in World Cup “Boob”

By David Coltart | Published August 16, 2009

The Standard
By Ndamu Sandu
16 August 2009

ZIMBABWE’S bid to host visiting teams for the 2010 soccer World Cup went up in smoke after the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture said there were no funds to host the Cosafa tourney seen as a dress rehearsal for next year’s showcase.

In June, Zimbabwe won the right to host the Cosafa Cup after a successful bidding by the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) who want to use the October tourney to test the country’s preparedness for 2010 soccer showpiece.

But in a new twist of events, the Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart wrote to Cosafa last month saying the country has doubts of hosting the event due to limited funds.

In a July 24, 2009, letter to Cosafa chief operations officer, Sue Destombes, Coltart said the Sports and Recreation Commission mandated to authorise national and international sporting activities was concerned about the cost involved in hosting the tournament.

“I noted in this regard, at the press conference attended by yourself and my colleague Minister Mzembi (Walter), Zifa stated that they hope to receive a sponsorship package of approximately US$700 000, and in addition, the Zimbabwean government will have to provide accommodation, transport and food for the participating teams on top of the sponsorship,” Coltart said.

The venues, Coltart said, will have to be rehabilitated “to a certain extent to make them suitable to host such a prestigious tournament” which means an extra cost to the government.

He said the Commission estimates that the Zimbabwean government would have to raise in this regard an additional US$2 million.

“With this in mind, and bearing in mind the fact that my ministry has very limited resources, I have written to the Minister of Finance to ascertain whether he is prepared to allocate the figure of US$3 million to cover this tournament,” he said.

“If the Minister of Finance does not have sufficient resources to cover the tournament, then we will regrettably be forced to decline your kind invitation.”

Walter Mzembi, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister told Standardbusiness Zimbabwe desperately needs Cosafa to test the state of preparedness.

“Cosafa is the only practical dress rehearsal. Without Cosafa anything we present to the nation is theoretical,” he said adding that they will put the tournament for consideration by Cabinet.

Mzembi said ZTA, SRC and Zifa will have to sit down and put a budget to be presented to the Ministerial Economic Committee that does due diligence on behalf of Cabinet.

Mzembi said the October tourney would test the commitment of Zimbabwe and is a “mock exam on the country’s systems”.

“If we can’t host Zambia, Malawi and the rest of the 14 member countries how can we say we are ready to host Brazil and England,” he asked.

But players in the tourism industry said Coltart had jumped the gun without consulting with the sector. They say he had seen Cosafa as a sporting event not as an avenue to market the country as a tourist destination following years of an economic meltdown.

Karikoga Kaseke, ZTA chief executive officer told Standardbusiness Cosafa would hype interest for 2010 but Coltart’s letter shows that the country has no capacity to accommodate teams for next year’s soccer extravaganza.

“In essence he (Coltart) is saying we are not ready for 2010. If we can’t host Cosafa how can we host Brazil versus Argentina in a friendly match?”

The Cosafa bungling by Coltart is not the only thing the tourism industry has to contend with, Standardbusiness was told.

While world soccer governing body, Fifa’s accommodation company, MATCH has signed up for facilities in the region, it is still to agree with operators in Zimbabwe after they said MATCH’s conditions were harsh. In May, the country’s tourism players rejected as unsustainable a proposal by Fifa to reserve 80% of the rooms stock in Victoria Falls without immediate payment for next year’s World Cup.

Tourism players said they are prepared to offer 300 rooms constituting 20% of the entire room stock in Victoria Falls.

Investigations also revealed that players are still to enjoy the fiscal incentives offered to the industry early this year due to “too much paper work”. In March, government exempted from duty capital goods used by registered tourism players and equipment for expansion.

The suspension runs up to February 28, 2011.

Operators told Standardbusiness, the process is taking longer to implement and some players have resorted to paying out duty as they race against time to spruce up their images.

In addition, a number of safari operators are haggling with ZTA over levy on trophy fees and the matter is before the Supreme Court. While the two parties wait for the Supreme Court to settle the matter, it means that safari operators cannot enjoy the fiscal incentives because they are not registered with ZTA.

But there is a silver lining after all with the Brazilian Football Federation saying they could consider Zimbabwe as their training ground if they qualify for 2010.

Zimbabwe’s tourism industry, whose image has been battered for the past years because of lawlessness and economic meltdown, is picking up the pieces and is touted to provide the quickest turnaround ahead of sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing in the new revival plan, Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme.

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SW Radio Africa transcript of an interview with Senator David Coltart

By David Coltart | Published August 14, 2009

SW Radio Africa
14th August 2009

SW RADIO AFRICA TRANSCRIPT

HOT SEAT: Education Minister and Khumalo Senator David Coltart was a guest on SW Radio Africa’s Hot Seat Programme. He tells interviewer Violet Gonda that his MDC party had to act against three rebel MPs who have been expelled for defying the party leadership. He also reveals why he believes Paul Themba Nyathi would have made “an outstanding Speaker of Parliament”.

Broadcast: 14 August 2009

VIOLET GONDA: Senator David Coltart, the Minister of Education, Sport, Art and Culture is my guest on the Hot Seat programme. In this two-part discussion the Minister talks about the crisis in the education sector, the in-fighting in his party and the progress of the coalition government. I started by asking Minister Coltart to give us his position on the issue of the targeted sanctions.

DAVID COLTART: Well our position is governed by the terms of the GPA. The GPA is very clear that sanctions should be lifted. However, and this is an important rider, you cannot look at any provision in the GPA in isolation, it has to be looked holistically and we have to look at it not just in the way it is implemented as to its letter but also as to its spirit and this is a real chicken and egg situation – which comes first and I think that we’ve got to see a couple of simultaneous acts taking place. We have to see good faith being demonstrated by all parties so it is up to the combined MDC to call for sanctions to be uplifted but at the same time, Zanu-PF needs to demonstrate good faith – so the governors should be sworn in, Roy Bennett should be sworn in, these prosecutions that appear to be done in a partisan fashion need to stop. We need to have a more objective process in deciding who should be prosecuted. Let me stress that I’m a lawyer, I believe in the constitution, I believe in the rule of law, I believe that if someone has committed a crime that person should be prosecuted but the trouble is that these prosecutions smack of partisanship, smack of subjectivity and the point I’m simply making, is that our calls for sanctions to be uplifted must be matched by acts of good faith demonstrated by Zanu-PF. And that’s not just in terms of our inter-personal relationship, it doesn’t matter how much we call for sanctions to be uplifted, those sanctions, in whatever form they are will not be uplifted by the countries that have imposed them unless those countries themselves believe that the GPA is being implemented in its full spirit. We can have as many trips as we like to Europe and America but, if whilst we are calling for sanctions to be uplifted, members of parliament from the MDC are being arrested and prosecuted left right and centre, our cries are going to fall on deaf ears. So the GPA is clear – we have to call for the uplifting of sanctions but we have to see this holistically and everyone has to act in good faith for sanctions actually to be uplifted at the end of the day.

GONDA: There are reports saying that MDC officials, like yourself, advocated for smart sanctions and ZIDERA – the Zimbabwe Democracy Economic and Recovery Act. What can you say about this?

COLTART: Well first of all I challenge anyone who can show that I advocated that ZIDERA to be implemented, but that’s another issue. All I have said in the past is that where there are clear violations of human rights being perpetrated by certain people, the dictates of justice have demanded that there be justice and if there cannot be domestic justice then there has to be international justice. But that is past, we are now committed to this new dispensation with all its flaws and in terms of this new dispensation we believe that the country should be given a chance for this peaceful method of achieving a transition to work and part of that, part of the demonstration of good faith is that whatever targeted sanctions were imposed on individuals should be lifted, but it is a matter of common sense that unless we can all, Zanu-PF and the combined MDC demonstrate that everyone is acting in good faith, it doesn’t matter what we say, other people are not going to listen to us.

GONDA: And of course the Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara reportedly told a meeting of the Commercial Farmers Union that the two MDC formations have no power to stop continued abuses of power by Zanu-PF and that he said the parties have no control in the unity government. Now as a government minister, what have been your observations, do you agree with this and to what extent is this coalition government working?

COLTART: If you go back to what I wrote on about the 15 th of September last year when the Agreement was first signed, I said it then that it was an imperfect agreement, it is a flawed agreement, it’s a compromise agreement and inevitably when you have a flawed agreement like that, it remains flawed and it follows that I have always had the very low expectations. Now that sounds a very negative statement, I don’t have low expectations in the sense that I believe it’s going to fail, I have low expectations in the sense that this is a process and it’s a long, tedious process. But having said that, I’m not negative about where the process is at. My expectations are being met, I think that we’ve made considerable progress in terms of restoring the rule of law, in terms of bringing back respect to the people, in terms of stabilising the economy and opening up certain sectors but things haven’t changed overnight and that is especially so when we look at the situation prevailing on the farms. And I agree with the Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara that in many respects at this juncture we are powerless. We don’t have the Minister of Agriculture, we don’t have the Minister of Lands, we don’t hold the office of Attorney General, we don’t hold the office of the Minister of Justice and these are all the parties who could make a major difference when it comes to the land issue.
However it doesn’t end there. The GPA stipulates that there has to be a land audit, it’s very clear about that and that the land audit has to be conducted urgently and we’ve taken the GPA provisions in that regard a step further in STERP. STERP acknowledges that the land audit must happen and when that land audit happens as it must if the GPA is to be respected, I think it is going to reveal that there are multiple farm holdings, that there are vast tracts of land lying fallow and that there are other farmers, qualified farmers who have the ability to farm those fallow lands. We have the other imperative and that is to restore the economy, to get foreign exchange flows back into the country and all of these practical concerns combined with our obligations are joint obligations in terms of the GPA and are ultimately going to address the issues that we cannot address at present because we don’t hold those other offices.
But of course it doesn’t deal with the here and now, it doesn’t deal with the terrible things that have happened since February with on-going violation of the Agreement in that regard, but we mustn’t just take this snapshot, we have to see this as a process, as a progression. If we are still in the same position this time next year then I think we’ll have very serious concerns because then it will be demonstrable that there’s been no progression but I think that as a nation we have to wait for this land audit to take place and see what that yields.
Another crucial factor in this regard is the issue of governors. As we know from the history of the last ten years, the governors have largely and have often been those responsible for the coordination of the implementation of Zanu-PF’s land reform programme and I think that it’s going to be a very interesting exercise to see what happens in those provinces which have MDC governors, to see whether these abuses will continue. I think that they will slow down if not stop altogether.

GONDA: What about SADC’s role in this? We saw the Prime Minister travelling to South Africa to complain about some of these unresolved issues that you mentioned, but when are we going to see movement from SADC?

COLTART: That is a perennial concern. We as a nation have wanted SADC to deal with this problem a lot quicker and that goes back to March 2007 and even beyond that but once again we need to be realistic about this. SADC is not a homogenous body; there are different points of view within SADC. There are some countries that have not seen any problem whatsoever with what has happened in Zimbabwe because quite frankly what goes on in their country is arguably as bad if not worse and for any SADC leader it is not a matter of simply issuing a statement until one has built a consensus and I think that whilst that has been very frustrating for us as Zimbabweans we need to understand that we live in that context and we just have to deal with that. But I think that if we look back at what SADC has done in the last couple of years, whilst it has been tedious and slow, SADC has in fact averted a civil war, has averted even greater bloodshed in our country and SADC should be given credit for that. The fact that we have stabilised the country, that we have dollarised, the schools are open, the cholera has ended, that peace prevails in most of the country at present, not everywhere but most of the country.
And I need to stress Violet that I get just as frustrated by the slow progress as other people but I recognise that SADC has achieved quite a lot and we need to continue giving SADC a chance to deliver on our remaining concerns. I have a lot of faith in President Zuma. I’ve taken a lot of encouragement from things that he’s done in South Africa in terms of the appointment of his cabinet. It seems to me that he’s a very practical politician who knows what he’s doing and I think that he will act in a very deliberate manner in resolving these issues and we need to give him a chance to do so. I don’t believe that he is ignoring our plight. I think what he’s trying to do is to ensure that this Agreement remains on track.

GONDA: Can you give us an insight into the fights within your party where several MPs have been expelled?

COLTART: Well what I will say is that the in-fighting is unfortunate. It’s hard to put any gloss on it, no matter what the rights and wrongs are; the fact remains that the public sees us bickering and it does not create a favourable impression of our party. I don’t propose to go into the rights and wrongs in this interview. I hope that we can resolve our differences and keep our party on track. I think that all true democrats will agree in multi party democracy, that even small parties with different views have the right to have their views expressed, have a right to participate in governments through proportional representation and other democratic measures. And I think that if people look at the role of the MDC objectively, and I believe that history will prove this to be the case, without the MDC -M’s involvement in the last couple of years I don’t believe that we would have had the Global Political Agreement. I think that we had these two protagonists in Zanu-PF and the MDC -T and it was very difficult to bridge that gulf and it took the small MDC -M party to bridge that gulf and any people as you know Violet, have been critical of the role that we played but somebody had to play that bridging role and we played that role very effectively in the negotiating process. We were accused of wanting to go into bed with Zanu-PF and that we were going to join the Zanu-PF government – all of those allegations have been proved to be false. That was never our intention. Our intention was to try to achieve a non-violent settlement to this great trauma that our country was going through. And I believe that we have a an on-going role even now, even in this transitional government and so to that extent I don’t think that people should smirk and be happy about the internal wranglings going on in our party but should be concerned because we are pivotal to the success of this agreement and it’s important that we stabilise the party so that we can make a useful contribution to ensure that the GPA lives out its life, that we get a new democratic constitution in place and then we go to the electorate and let the electorate decide who they want to govern them.

GONDA: But it’s the leadership that is firing the MPs so can you really afford to be firing MPs since you only have ten?

COLTART: Of course we can’t afford this, we’ve got very little political capital to spend and it’s a very difficult decision that the party has to make. The problem is that this wasn’t of our creation. We didn’t send colleagues to go to Gaborone to speak to Lovemore Moyo ( MDC -T Speaker of Parliament), it wasn’t our doing. We have not asked for our members to be attending political meetings with members of other political parties damning our leadership. To that extent I’m sympathetic to our leadership. Bear in mind that I’m not in the leadership. As you know, I on principle didn’t go to either MDC faction congress in 2006 because I was so concerned about the split of the old united MDC so I’m not in the leadership of the MDC -M but I’m sympathetic towards them. In many respects I believe they are between a rock and a hard place. We clearly have a cancer within our party and when you have cancer you have two choices – either you just don’t operate and let it spread throughout the whole body and it will kill you ultimately or you try and deal with the cancer and root out that cancer. It can still kill you after you have rooted out that cancer but at least you have a chance of survival.
Now my hope, having used that terminology, is that and I need to stress that I don’t refer to my colleagues like Abedinico Bhebhe as cancerous growths, these are people I have worked with, they are colleagues who I’ve had a great respect for in the past but some of their actions have been very damaging to the party. I hope that we can still encourage them to remain within the party but I think they need to make an election. We have leaders who were elected in a congress that they attended and voted at themselves, ironically which I didn’t attend or vote at and it is not time yet for our new congress and that leadership should be respected, that democratic process should be respected. If they believe that our party has deviated so fundamentally from our founding principles well then they have a democratic right to resign and join another political party and that is what they should do. But as long as they want to remain within the party, the right thing to do is to fight for those issues within the party, not to go publicly, not to side with people from other political parties in criticising our party but to conduct a vigorous constructive critical debate within the party to ensure that those issues are addressed.

GONDA: And of course you said just a short while ago that many had said that your party was in bed with Zanu-PF and that has been proved to be false, but has it really because you have your own colleagues like Job Sikhala saying that he is now trying to rescue the party from being auctioned off to Mugabe and Zanu-PF and that the party has lost direction under the leadership of Professor Mutambara, and just a few days ago, Sikhala claimed he’s the new president of the MDC . What can you say about this?

COLTART: Well Job Sikhala is one of my oldest friends in parliament. We were elected together in 2000 and I’ve always enjoyed his very colourful contributions to debate in parliament and this is a continuation of that tradition. He’s a very colourful politician but once again one needs to be grounded in reality. The fact of the matter is that he hasn’t been elected in any congress; he has no more right to declare himself as President of the MDC than I have to declare myself President of Zimbabwe. He has a democratic right to express his views but if he doesn’t like the party and where it is headed, well he has two choices. He should either conduct a vigorous, constructive, critical debate as I say within the party and try to get those issues resolved or he should resign and join another political party. Now I too have concerns about the way our party is run as I have concerns from the outside looking in to Zanu-PF and the MDC -T, but so long as a political party is made up of fallible human beings there will be problems associated with political parties. Ours is not a perfect political party but the correct thing to do is to work, it’s a bit like a family – you’re part of the family, you work as hard as you can within that family to correct the mistakes that have been made and clearly we have all made mistakes within the MDC -M as have people in other political parties. But until one has made that election, or that decision rather that ones efforts are not going to bear fruit, you’ve got to fight within. When you get to that position of deciding that you can’t go any further, well then your democratic right is to resign and join another political party.

GONDA: And you mentioned MP Abedinico Bhebhe we spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and he’s saying that he’s being victimised by the leadership because he was one of those MPs from the party who refused to go along to endorse the Zanu-PF candidate for Speaker of Parliament because the person was not the people’s choice.

COLTART: Well I think once again one needs to go back to the facts of the matter. This so-called Zanu-PF person for Speaker was none other than Paul Themba Nyathi. Now those of us within Zimbabwe who know Paul Themba Nyathi know that if there was ever a genuine democrat, a person genuinely committed to transparency and respect for human rights it is Paul Themba Nyathi. His track record speaks for itself, going back to Zimbabwe Project and all the work he did in the rehabilitation of ex-combatants and all of those people including Abedinico Bhebhe who know Paul well, know that he is a man of absolute integrity who would have made an outstanding speaker and by resolution in the MDC -M, not with Zanu-PF, we resolved that that person would be our candidate for Speaker. I’m not going to cast any aspersions against my other friend Lovemore Moyo but my own subjective view is that Paul Themba Nyathi would have made a better Speaker. Forget about any subjective considerations, think about this – had Paul been elected Speaker by choice, Lovemore Moyo would have retained his seat in Matobo. There would be no need for a potentially damaging by-election in Matobo, no need for the resurgence of violence and so I think that was has happened is that people have twisted the facts , they’ve distorted the history of this matter, they’ve tried to paint Paul Themba Nyathi as some devil and not recognising the quality of the man. And the fact that Zanu-PF were prepared to back Paul Themba Nyathi last year should not be seen as some negative thing, I think it should be seen as a very constructive development that they too recognised the need for someone who was going to settle parliament down, take us through this very difficult transition in an orderly fashion which I have no doubt that Paul Themba Nyathi would have done.

GONDA: We talked a bit about the election of leaders and you said you were not at the congress, but what are your thoughts on how your leaders have been chosen in the last few years, especially Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara as some reports say he was invited because Professor Welshman Ncube and others had accepted that no Ndebele person could ever lead Zimbabwe – and some are saying that if this is the case, then this is a fatal flaw left over from Zimbabwe’s history. What are your thoughts on this?

COLTART: Once again, people have got very selective memories. People conveniently forget that Arthur Mutambara for example was detained before Morgan Tsvangirai was detained way back in 1988 and in fact Morgan Tsvangirai was first detained when he protested about Arthur Mutambara’s detention. Those of us who recall the events of those years, of the late 1980s will recall that Arthur Mutambara was a strident student leader who demonstrated a great passion for his country and for human rights to be respected in Zimbabwe and he hasn’t changed. The fact that he went out of the country to further his education should not be held against him. In fact what is remarkable about Arthur Mutambara is that unlike so many people who have left the country, he was prepared to come back, face the music and put his shoulder to the wheel in terms of resuscitating Zimbabwe, so I just want to make this first point that I reject those people who say that Arthur Mutambara was parachuted into Zimbabwe, that he’s a political nonentity, people are simply disregarding history in that regard. Turning to another of your points and this notion of needing a Shona speaking person to lead the political party, well once again I stress I wasn’t at the congress, I wasn’t part of any of the discussions that brought Arthur Mutambara in so I don’t know whether that is true or not but let me say this, that once again we need to be rooted in the political reality of the country and there sadly are a few realities – let me take an easy one – one of the realities is that it would be entirely inappropriate to have a white person, so soon after independence run for the presidency of this country. Whilst that may seem a racist statement it is still too soon after the end of colonialism for this country to contemplate having a white ruler. That is just a political reality. And sadly, whilst it is not as strong a political reality as for example having a white leader, it remains a reality that the vast majority of Zimbabweans do not have Ndebele as their mother tongue and will gravitate towards a Shona speaking leader. That is a political reality that we simply cannot ignore and if that was the calculation, well it was a reasonable calculation but it wasn’t as if anyone was selected. Arthur Mutambara who had a long history of commitment to human rights and of courage was elected at a congress that was duly called, that people had the right to nominate others but he was elected by acclaim as part of a democratic, transparent process within that political party. And once again I just conclude by saying that that is a factual position, a political reality that people simply cannot ignore.

GONDA: How would you respond to people who say that Professor Mutambara talks like Robert Mugabe but walks like a reformer?

COLTART: Well Professor Mutambara ironically is criticised by all sides because he is very outspoken. As you may know, just last week in the Herald he was criticised for being too pro-west and on other occasions he is criticised because he is perceived as being anti-west. Now I don’t see how one can be a person who speaks like Robert Mugabe when the Herald as the government mouthpiece will say at the same time that he espouses views that are totally contradictory to what Robert Mugabe believes in. So once again I think that this generally comes from people who make subjective, partisan comments, who are not prepared to consider the truth and the factual reality. People who will perhaps take statements in isolation, out of context but who are not prepared to consider his statements in their full context and holistically. I think that when you look at Professor Mutambara’s comments regarding what the business community needs to do, his position on the Kariba Draft constitution, his position on land invasions you will see that he holds to positions that are completely at variance to what Robert Mugabe believes and speaks about. And so in essence those who allege that he is indistinguishable from Robert Mugabe are just ignoring the facts before them.

GONDA: What are the political parties or the political players thinking about Gibson Sibanda, your Deputy President, where is he now that he is no longer minister?

COLTART: Once again Gibson Sibanda is one of the politicians I respect the most in this country. I think that he is in many respects a father figure, not just within the MDC -M, within the MDC -T; I think he is deeply revered by many people and I think that his position is going to be rectified. I think that all people acknowledge especially in the context of this healing organ that he is pivotal to the success of that. I hope that that can be resolved through an MP standing aside to allow him to contest a seat so that he can take his rightful place in parliament and I look forward in the next few weeks to that issue being resolved. I think that we owe it to Gibson Sibanda to deal with this issue but I think as well that the time has come for the nation to realise that in Gibson Sibanda we literally have a national treasure. We have a rare politician who is not materialistic, he’s not corrupt, he’s the same person he was when he was the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions over a decade ago and to that extent it is incumbent upon all of us, on Zanu-PF, on the MDC -T and on the MDC -M to ensure that we create a position for him to make what I have no doubt will be one of the most meaningful contributions to the peaceful transition we are going through.

GONDA: That was Minister David Coltart on the programme Hot Seat. Next week we look at the fact that teachers’ unions say there are too many centres of power in the Education Ministry and that important decisions made by Minister Coltart are being ignored or reversed by his Permanent Secretary or the Public Service Commission. To what extent is Mr Coltart in control of his ministry? We also discuss the issue of youth militia in schools and ghost workers on the payroll.

Feedback can be sent to violet@swradioafrica.com

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Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh in 3rd Cricket ODI

By David Coltart | Published August 14, 2009

India Times
By Associated Press
14th August 2009

BULAWAYO: Hamilton Masakadza scored a maiden century and Brendan Taylor hit 94 runs to guide Zimbabwe to a 69-run victory over Bangladesh in the third cricket ODI on Friday.

Masakadza smashed four boundaries and two sixes to score 102 from 112 balls in his 71st ODI as Zimbabwe made 323/7. He was once was the youngest centurion on test debut after scoring 119 as a 17-year-old schoolboy against West Indies in Harare in 2001.

Medium-pace bowler Tawanda Mupariwa, playing for the first time on his home ground at the Queens Sports Club, and spinner Ray Price then took three wickets each as Bangladesh was bowled out for 254 runs in 44.2 overs.

Zimbabwe now trail 2-1 in the five-match series. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Masakadza said. “It’s always nice to get off the mark. I’ve been close a few times but today I finally came through. The greatest feeling is that I wanted to do well for the team and we won the game.”

Masakadza put on 142 for the fourth wicket with Taylor before playing across the line to be bowled by spinner Enamul Haque. Zimbabwe had gone from 60/3 in the 12th over to 202/4 in the 39th over.

Taylor, a batsman-wicketkeeper, and Elton Chigumbura then put on 90 in just over seven overs. Taylor, who was dropped in the deep by Haque on 57, was run out in the 48th over.

Chigumbura, who reached his half-century off just 26 balls, ended up 61 not out after hitting three boundaries and five sixes.

Raqibul Hassan top-scored for Bangladesh with 78 before being clean bowled by fuller ball from Masakadza’s slow seamers.

Bangladesh got off to the worst possible start when Mupariwa had Tamim Iqbal caught by Mark Vermeulen in the slips on the first ball of the innings.

Eight balls and eight runs later, opener Naeem Islam was bowled for 4 by an inswinging delivery from Chigumbura.

Mohammad Ashraful, who scored a century in the first match, was caught for 9 by Masakadza on the boundary off Mupariwa, and Bangladesh were 16/3 in the fifth over.

Mushfiqur Rahim added 33 off 39 balls before miscuing a ball from Price and being caught by Charles Coventry at deep extra cover.

No. 9 batsman Alam Mahbubul put up some resistance at the end with an entertaining 59, hitting part-time spinner Malcolm Waller for three straight sixes in one over. He added 55 runs with number with Mehrab Hossain, who made 25.

“We didn’t bowl well and we didn’t field well,” Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan said. “It was a very difficult day for us and hopefully we will come back in the next game.”

Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya said a meeting with Sports Minister David Coltart after losing Tuesday’s match had helped the team.

“The minister came and told us that he believed in us. It helped,” Utseya said. “He told the guys what it meant to be representing the country. It was very encouraging to have a Minister motivating us there in the changing room.”

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Livestock is fair trade for school fees

By David Coltart | Published August 14, 2009

SA Times
Moses Mudzwiti
August 14, 2009

ZIMBABWE Education Minister David Coltart said yesterday that poor villagers could continue to pay school fees with goats, chickens and other animals.

He was quizzed in Parliament on the government’s position on the acceptability of schools demanding fees in cash and kind.

Coltart said there was nothing wrong with such a system, provided parents agreed to it with school authorities.

He said his department needed US95-million to run smoothly, but the government had no money.
Zimbabwe generates only US70-million a month from duties and taxes.

Coltart said the money was essential if important school examinations were to be written on time and the results released on time.

Teachers have threatened strike action if their salaries are not improved.

Doctors and nurses at most hospitals are on strike and there is no likelihood of a return to work soon.

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Teachers union says too many centres of power in education ministry

By David Coltart | Published August 12, 2009

SW Radio Africa
By Violet Gonda
12 August 2009

The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has said too many centres of power in the education ministry are behind the problems bedevilling the sector at present. The PTUZ says it is very bitter because the government has still not addressed the challenges facing teachers, despite their many productive meetings with Minister David Coltart.

The PTUZ President Takavafira Zhou told SW Radio Africa that the Permanent Secretary, Dr Steven Mahere who is a former trade unionist, has been reversing decisions made by his Minister.

PTUZ Secretary General Raymond Majongwe alleged that the major problem is that while agreements are made with Coltart, Dr Mahere and others in the Public Service Commission refuse to follow instructions.

The group said when schools opened in March, Minister Coltart agreed with the unions to give amnesty to teachers who had failed to return to work during last year’s crippling strikes. But according to Zhou and Majongwe this has now been reversed by the Permanent Secretary, who is calling for a security vetting system. It is feared this will group the teachers who failed to return to work, along partisan lines, resulting in some of them losing their jobs forever.

The PTUZ also claims that the notorious youth militia are still being allowed to terrorise teachers, in spite of a letter written by Coltart calling for the removal of the youths from schools. Majongwe says there is still no movement on this and violence is continuing and the Border Gezi trained youths are still being allowed to teach ‘distorted history’ in many of the rural schools.

Last Friday the MDC sent out a statement saying soldiers and the youth militia living at Vhumbunu Primary School in Mutasa Central, were ‘harassing and torturing innocent villagers.’ Teachers at the school were allegedly being forced to share accommodation with the rowdy youths.

Majongwe asked: “Zimbabwe needs qualified teachers, why would we be stuffing our schools with unqualified and unemployable goons and youths who are bussed into our schools from training camps and torture camps as if we want to perpetuate the hegemony of violence on to our children, and yet we have qualified personnel?”

The outspoken Secretary General said this is a continuation of the disastrous political process that destroyed the education sector, but is still being repeated in spite of the formation of the inclusive government. He said the worst thing is that the Minister is not receiving support from his administrator, who has become the politician.

Majongwe said: “The sticking point is the Permanent Secretary Dr Steven Mahere, who treats himself as a larger than life character. He is obviously doing things his way. He is supposed to complement Minister Coltart but he is undoing everything else that the unions and the Minister have agreed upon.”
“And I think if there is any other reason that teachers are going to go on strike it is because of the conduct of Dr Steven Mahere and many other little Maheres who are found in district and provincial education offices – who think that it is only Mahere who can determine the pace and progress in the Ministry.”

We were not able to get a comment from Dr Mahere.

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Matabeleland South students turn to gold panning

By David Coltart | Published August 9, 2009

Sunday News
9th August 2009
By Lulu Brenda Harris

The number of boys enrolling for education after primary school is declining in Matabeleland South as most of them skip the border to neighbouring countries while others are going into gold panning, an official has said.

The Provincial Education Director (PED), Mrs Tumisang Thabela, told Sunday News at a World Vision medical and textbook handover ceremony at Filabusi Country Club in Insiza last week, that secondary schools in the province were recording less male pupils compared to those who would have completed primary school the previous year.

Mrs Thabela said she was concerned about the decline in the number of Form One boys in secondary schools. She said children needed to be looked after as they were key to the country’s recovery.
Mrs Thabela said in Bulilima, while there were 1 770 boys in Grade Seven classes in 2008, only 1 259 proceeded to Form One this year.

At the same time, in Beitbridge, there were 1 414 Grade Sevens, 1 259 students proceeded to Form One.In Insiza, there were 2 126 Grade Sevens in 2008 and only 1 606 proceeded to Form One this year.

She said the trend has been going on mostly in areas near border towns where boys move to the neighbouring countries.

However Mrs Thabela said the dropout was not as pronounced for girls compared to boys. She said there was need to address the issue of gender equality in schools as a recent survey showed that more boys were dropping out of school before they had the chance to attend high school.

“The Government came up with eight millennium development goals and they chose to specialise on three, three years ago. These were food security, alleviation of HIV/AIDS and gender equity. “What is of concern is that the boy child appears to be neglected. We have been going around the schools in Matabeleland South and we realised that in three areas of Beitbridge, Matobo and Bulilima and Mangwe there is reduced number of Form One boys enrolled at the schools,” she said.

Mrs Thabela said that she has been told that boys found the easy way across the border and others venture into gold panning.

Mrs Thabela emphasised that there was need for these issues to be addressed and education is one of them. “The government realises the future is vested in the children and there is a great need to invest in their education,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Matabeleland North PED, Mrs Buithelelo Mguni, said although she had no statistics on the trend in her province there were more girls who registered for the Ordinary Level examinations.
“In Chemistry there are 31 girls compared to two boys and there are more who registered for English, Mathematics and Ndebele, while there were more boys in Technical Graphics, Metal Work and Woodwork,” she said.

The Minister for Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said the drop in enrolment, as students move from primary school to secondary school was worrying. He said there was a huge gap between children at primary school and those enrolling at secondary school as parents were struggling to raise school fees.

“This applies to both boys and girls. In the past it used to be girls. It’s a very worrying development and that is why we have to make education affordable. For us another priority is to identify talented children so that they do not fall out of the system,” he said.

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Official Opening Speech of Senator David Coltart at 100th Anniversary celebrations of the Scouts Association of Zimbabwe

By David Coltart | Published August 8, 2009

Speech by Senator David Coltart
100th Anniversay of Scout Association of Zimbabwe
Gordon Park, Matopos
8th August 2009

Thank you once again for your kind introduction and thank you for inviting me to the 100th Anniversary of the Scout Association of Zimbabwe, an organization that is dear to my heart and dear to our country, to our communities, and to our youth. Although I was never a Scout I was a Cub for a few years in the late 1960s, first at 8th Hillside Group and then at Riverside. As I look around I see a lot of familiar faces of man and women who have spent a lifetime developing young people to become even better citizens of this country. The ’purpose of this movement is simple: It’s to build the character and integrity of Zimbabwe’s youth and prepare them to become responsible adults: adults who are leaders and adults who participate in society living according to the Scout Law and promise. The promise and Law are founded on trustworthiness, loyalty, and honesty, and on values that place others before one’s own desires.

What we are talking about today is more than just a big birthday party. It’s more than a celebration of your heritage as the nation’s largest service organization for Zimbabwe’s youth. We are celebrating a century of service to humanity, throughout this camp; you will be laying the groundwork to ensure Scouting’s next century is even stronger than its first. Indeed you will be creating a future for the next generation.

As you celebrate this occasion I would like to commit my ministry, and call upon all officials involved in the education of this country to not only support and nurture but in their own way get involved in Scouting.

The Scout movement gives us an opportunity to provide young people all over the world with a safe, structured, and nurturing environment. This environment fosters the initiative to learn and discover while instilling strong values and morals. While various activities and youth groups teach basic skills and promote teamwork, Scouting goes beyond that and encourages youth to achieve a deeper appreciation of others in their community.

Early in their Scouting experience, young people learn the value of serving others, for Scouting provides youth with a sense that they are important as individuals. It is communicated that those in the Scouting family care about what happens to them, regardless of whether a game is won or lost.
Finally, and perhaps most important, Scouting promotes activities that lead to personal responsibility and high self-esteem. As a result, when hard decisions have to be made, young people can resist peer pressure and make the right choice.

It is pleasing to note that over the years prominent academics, leaders, businessman and women have passed through this movement in the process learning life skills, which have helped in the development of our beautiful country.

Ladies and gentleman during this Heroes weekend we need to contemplate what the character of a true hero is. Our Nation has had a very difficult history over the last 5 decades and has seen a lot of violence. Our national definition of what a hero is has in many respects been moulded in that context and we have sometimes as a result defined heroes in a very superficial way. My own view is that the epitome of a hero is a person who understands and practices the notion of servant leadership. Leaders who make serious, genuine and long term sacrifices are genuine heroes. Leaders who follow the example of Christ who are prepared to sacrifice their comfort and indeed lives on behalf of others are genuine heroes. Sadly in Zimbabwe many leaders have deviated from the example of many of heroes of the past and concentrate their lives on self aggrandizement and self enrichment. There is an urgent need in our country to rebuild a new generation of servant leaders who will act in the national interest, who will lead sacrificially, and who will shun corruption and who constantly strive to act for the benefit of the Zimbabwean public rather than themselves. I see the Scout movement as having a major role to play as we strive to repair and restore the moral fabric of our great nation.

In the circumstances and I, closing it is appropriate that I leave you with the words of the founder of the Scout Movement Lord Baden Powell, “ the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. “Be Prepared” in this way, to live happy and to die happy – stick to your Scout promise always – even after you have ceased to be a boy – and God help you to do it.”

It is then my pleasure and singular honour to declare the 100th Anniversary camp officially open. I thank you.

Senator David Coltart
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture

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Herald retracts false story about MDC

By David Coltart | Published July 30, 2009

30 July 2009
The Herald

HARARE -The Herald newspaper was at the weekend forced to eat humble pie and retract a story in which it accused MDC ministers of absconding from official duty during the COMESA summit held early this month in Victoria Falls.

Nelson Chamisa: “We call for facts to be thoroughly checked.”

The paper carried an anonymously written retraction on Saturday apologising to the MDC for the falsehoods it published. The withdrawal served to fuel long-held suspicion that the paper is used by Zanu-PF officials to tarnish the image of the party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Herald had carried the story under the headline “MDC-T snubs Summit delegates”.

The retraction read: “We retract the story we published on June 8, 2009 under the headline ‘MDC-T snubs Summit delegates. It has since emerged that there was a communication breakdown with Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials.

“Any inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted.”

The withdrawal statement which was written by an unidentified person at the paper was tucked away on the second page of the paper’s Saturday issue, where it was much less prominent than the original story.
The MDC responded by saying the paper should henceforth desist from the practice of seeking to besmirch the character of it officials and carry out its public mandate in a professional manner.

“The retraction is consistent with the circumstances which were present when the summit took place.

Yes, there are some MDC officials who failed to attend the summit for various personal reasons but their failure was not a collective MDC position, therefore, we view the Herald story as a deliberate attempt to besmirch and tarnish the image of MDC officials in various positions in government,“ said Nelson Chamisa, MDC party spokesperson.

“We call for facts to be thoroughly checked before stories are published.”

In the story carried by The Herald, the impression was created that all MDC officials had absconded from performing their assigned duties at the COMESA (Common Market for East and Southern Africa) summit. According to the procedures of the COMESA summit, selected ministers were asked to act as guides for the heads of state who attended the summit. For example Zanu-PF’s Youth Secretary and Minister of Youth Saviour Kasukuwere was attached to the Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al Bashir.

Kasukuwere travelled with the International Criminal Court-blacklisted leader on his chartered Air Zimbabwe flight to Victoria Falls and back to Harare.

Despite Herald’s accusations, there were several MDC ministers at the summit in Victoria Falls. Ministers such as Henry Madzorera, Health and Child Welfare Minister, Jameson Timba, Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, Evelyn Masaiti, Deputy Minister of Women and Gender Affairs and David Coltart of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture were a permanent feature at the Victoria Falls Airport as they ushered the numerous heads of state who attended the COMESA summit in Victoria Falls.

The MDC has since the formation of the all-inclusive government complained about shoddy coverage of its activities by The Herald.

The most recent example of the negative coverage was the treatment of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s visit to Europe and the United States of America. The Herald routinely published articles aimed at tarnishing his image under headlines such as “Obama-Tsvangirai head for a clash’’, “Dutch snub Tsvangirai” and “Political goblins in driving seat.”

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Publish local books

By David Coltart | Published July 28, 2009

The Herald
28 July 2009

GOVERNMENT has called for local authorship of books following a decline in the publications written and published in local languages.

In a speech read on his behalf by Secretary for Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Dr Stephen Mahere at the official opening of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair Indaba yesterday, Minister David Coltart said the shortage of local publications has denied children the opportunity to enjoy books written in their mother language.

“Children have a right to enjoy what they read and what is read to them. I am therefore calling upon you to write novels, stories, poems and jingles for the Zimbabwean child,” he said.

Minister Coltart said it was also Government policy to enhance and increase capacity of individuals by using education materials locally produced in school curriculum.

“My ministry has been restructured to reconstitute and strengthen the curriculum development unit with a total of 35 materials production officers in languages, humanities, science and vocal technical subjects to encourage local authorship.”

He said the ministry was a major user of books when developing individuals.

“To this end, Government is in the process of resuscitating and strengthening the National Library and Documentation Services so that it can monitor the delivery services throughout the country,” he said.

Mr Coltart said a new council for the NLDS was appointed and has already started work.

He said Government, with a number of its social partners, embarked on a campaign to ensure that pupils have basic textbooks in the core subjects.

“This will create independent learners in pupils and enhance quality education delivery.”

The Zimbabwe International Book Fair which is an annual event draws its participants from local and international writers to promote dialogue and rights exchanges between writers.

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