Zimbabwe’s parliament to vote on Mugabe impeachment

By David Coltart | Published November 20, 2017

Gulf Times

20th November 2017

Members of Zimbabwe’s parliament will vote on whether to impeach President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday, the ruling Zanu-PF party said, after he failed to obey its ultimatum to step down.

“The party has instructed the chief whip to proceed with impeachment proceedings against [Robert Gabriel] Mugabe as it has not received the anticipated confirmation of his resignation from the speaker of parliament,” Zanu-PF said in a statement on Monday. “The motion of proceedings is expected to be tabled before parliament when it [sits] on Tuesday.”

The midday deadline set for President Robert Mugabe to resign passed on Monday with no word from the 93-year-old leader.

“We want all systems ready when we get into Parliament on Tuesday that is why we have asked all MPs to come and get familiar with the process,” Zanu-PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke told DPA.

Zanu PF central committee member Paul Mangwana said the process could take as little as 48 hours. However Lovemore Madhuku, a law professor at University of Zimbabwe, told DPA that the impeachment proceedings could last anywhere between 72 hours and several months. “There are three stages involved. The motion would be moved. Then a committee would be set to investigate the charges, and both the houses, the parliament and senate will vote,” Mangwana explained.

Earlier, Zanu-PF released details of its proposed motion against Mugabe.

“We are gravely concerned that the president has become the country’s source of instability by his indiscriminate and continuous dismissal of members of his cabinet – including two vice presidents in the past four years on allegations of plotting to assassinate him and forcibly
take over power,” the motion reads.

The expelled vice presidents referred to are Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa.

It also mentions Mugabe’s poor management of the economy and his abrogation of “his constitutional mandate to his wife” Grace.

David Coltart, a prominent opposition leader and former minister, said a two-thirds majority was needed to impeach the nonagenarian.

Douglas Mwonzora from Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) also said the party would support Mugabe’s impeachment. “We have the numbers in parliament and will support any democratic process to have Mugabe impeached,” he said.

House arrest

Mugabe has been under house arrest since a military takeover last week. In a live televised address to the nation on Sunday night, the president of almost four decades had been expected to resign, but instead promised to lead a Zanu-PF party conference in December.

With the generals responsible seated next to him, Mugabe gave a lengthy speech acknowledging some problems with the economy and the Zanu-PF party – from which he was ousted earlier in the day – but made no mention of leaving office. Shocked Zimbabweans took to Twitter to express their outrage, and on Monday the powerful war veterans’ association held a press conference calling for mass protests on Wednesday.

“I hope that 37 years into [his] rule he doesn’t want another 37 seconds of rule,” said war veterans’ leader Chris Mutsvangwa.

On Sunday, Mugabe was sacked as Zanu-PF party leader and replaced by one-time comrade turned arch-rival Mnangagwa. “Arrogant Mugabe disregards Zanu-PF,” screamed Monday’s headline in local newspaper the Daily News.

In an unprecedented outpouring, tens of thousands of Zimbabweans had taken to the streets on Saturday to express support for the military and call on Mugabe to leave power immediately.

University students have joined calls for Mugabe to step down, with protests at the main university in Harare. The students are also demanding that a doctorate given to first lady Grace Mugabe be revoked.

“Mugabe should resign now because he has returned our education to Stone Age era. We also want our degree, which Grace stole,” said student leader Steven Tsikirai.

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Much of our current euphoria in Zimbabwe is misplaced – statement by Senator David Coltart

By David Coltart | Published November 19, 2017

Daily Maverick

19th November 2017

Opinion by David Coltart

The message to the Zimbabwe Defence Force must now be – thank you for cleaning up the mess you created but you must now return to your barracks as soon as possible and never again get involved in the electoral process.

As I have reflected about the amazing scenes across Zimbabwe on Saturday when people turned out in their hundreds of thousands I am left with much disquiet. I marched yesterday to celebrate the end of Robert Mugabe’s rule, not to thank the military for removing Mugabe. In all of our euphoria we must never become so intoxicated as to forget that it was the same Generals who allowed Mugabe to come to power in 2008 and 2013.

We must never forget how the military and war veterans spearheaded the violence which followed the March 2008 elections to ensure that Mugabe got back into power. They were behind the abduction and murder of hundreds of MDC activists that year. Without their intervention Mugabe would never have won the run off election.

We must never forget how the military engineered the election victory of Mugabe in 2013. Although they did not engage in violence that year, I remember the long lines of soldiers (dressed in civilian clothes) in my constituency who voted early and often. At the time I commented how Mugabe was elected through the military discipline of our armed forces who played an integral role. We must never forget how soldiers were seconded to the bodies involved in the election. Once again Mugabe would never have been elected without their involvement.

So all the military have done this week is clean up their own mess. That is the truth and whilst we celebrate that they have done to remove Mugabe, it is also important that we all, especially the church and civic groups, remind the military that their role should NEVER be either to secure the election OR removal of any President. That job belongs to the electorate and no one else.

So our message to the military must now be – thank you for cleaning up the mess you created but you must now return to your barracks as soon as possible and never again get involved in the electoral process. The real danger of the current situation is that having got their new preferred candidate into State House, the military will want to keep him or her there, no matter what the electorate wills. We have a general election coming which must be held before the 22 July 2018. We, and the international community, must make it loud and clear to the military that they have no role to play in that election, other than assisting the police to keep the peace.

There is one other disturbing aspect of Saturday’s euphoria and that relates to the silence around those people who have been detained by the military. Because people like Jonathan Moyo are so detested by so many we have chosen to remain silent about them. But the fact is that the military has no business in deciding who is a criminal, or who is corrupt. That is the role of the prosecutorial authorities and the police – and no-one else. And even here the military are cleaning up the mess they have turned a blind eye to for the last 37 years. Corruption and criminal activity in Zimbabwe has not suddenly begun this year. The ZANU-PF regime has been riddled with corruption and criminals for decades and the military have done nothing about it. Indeed if the truth be told there has been much corruption and criminal behaviour within the military itself.

So we must all now demand that those detained by the military be released immediately. If there is strong evidence that those detained have committed crimes then they can be handed over to the police for investigation and prosecution. But once again the military have no constitutional right to arrest and detain civilians in the manner they have and are still doing. If we as citizens remain silent about this we will be complicit in setting a dreadful precedent for the future.

I hope that all Zimbabwean patriots would think about these things soberly. We must unite in demanding that the military now step back. If Mugabe refuses to resign then Parliament must play its role in impeaching Mugabe. We don’t need the military to do that. Then whatever civilian government which emerges from that process must be allowed to govern and prepare for the next election without any interference from the military. Anything less than this will mean that the real power in Zimbabwe, to determine who governs us, remains with the military, not the electorate.

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“An opportunity for Zimbabwe to embrace democracy” – op ed by David Coltart

By David Coltart | Published November 17, 2017

The Telegraph

17th November 2017

Op ed by David Coltart

For the last eighteen months I have been warning of a gathering perfect storm in Zimbabwe – the unique convergence of several factors including Robert Mugabe’s frailty, his inability to hold his own party together, disunity in the opposition, a collapsing economy, a region distracted by its own domestic problems and an international community focused on Isil terrorism and Brexit. The de facto take over by the Zimbabwean military is its inevitable result.

The military have been at pains to argue that this is not a coup d’etat and that they are acting within the constitution. Their announcements still recognise Mugabe as president. They have reassured all concerned that their focus is on ZANU-PF – which they feel has been hijacked by a cabal around Grace Mugabe. It is clear that their intention is to ensure that former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa takes over, and in so doing prevent a Mugabe dynasty.

Yet this is clearly a coup. Mugabe has been effectively under house arrest since Tuesday. The constitution makes it clear that troops can only be deployed “with the authority of the President”. The military have arrested Cabinet Ministers, a power solely reserved for the Attorney General and police. By law, this is treason writ large. But the main reason the Generals are so anxious that this not be described as a coup is because they know that both the African Union and Southern African Development Community will not recognise any government which emerges from a coup. Given the calamitous plunge of the Zimbabwean economy the Generals understand that they cannot keep a restive population at bay if they don’t stabilise the economy quickly; and to do that they need international support.

Undoubtedly they have calculated that there is such distaste for a Mugabe dynasty that the world will look the other way. There are indeed many who are quietly celebrating the Mugabes’ political demise. In my view that is foolhardy. Aside from the obvious illegality, which no democrat can rejoice in, there is a more fundamental concern. Some of the coup’s Generals participated in the genocide which occurred in the 1980s in Matabeleland, in the gross violence perpetrated against the opposition MDC in the last 17 years and the subversion of the 2013 general election. Accordingly there is a danger that the intention of the Generals is not to move Zimbabwe towards democracy, but to ensure that one of their own remains in control of ZANU PF and the country.

So while the end of Mugabe’s ruinous tenure is welcome, that must not blind Zimbabweans and the international community to the need to respect the constitution. Although the military action is a fait accompli, it must be made clear that their actions will not be ignored unless there is a rapid return to civilian rule and strict compliance with the constitution in the lead up to the elections scheduled for next year. If Mugabe is forced to resign from office, that should not automatically result in any successor being recognised as legitimate. A resignation induced by coercion is as illegal as a president being deposed.

However we cannot avoid the need for a practical solution to the legal and political quandary Zimbabwe is now placed in. That solution will be found in the formation of a transitional civilian government and the holding of elections next year which fully comply with the letter and spirit of the constitution. This includes the state controlled media being opened up to all parties, all Zimbabwean citizens being enabled to register and vote (including citizens in the diaspora) and the Electoral Commission being run by non-partisan technocrats.

Anything less than this will simply perpetuate Zimbabwe’s problems. The current situation provides an opportunity for our country to embrace democracy, which in turn is the key prerequisite for long term stability and economic development. Britain has an important role to play in this regard. It has the economic strength and historical interest to rally financial support to stabilise the Zimbabwean economy and assist in attracting desperately needed investment. But it needs to exercise this leverage judiciously. It must act in concert with regional powers, particularly South Africa, to insist on an irreversible process towards free and fair elections.

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Zimbabwe faces a grave constitutional crisis – op ed by David Coltart

By David Coltart | Published November 16, 2017

Daily Maverick

16th November 2017

By David Coltart

Zimbabwe faces a grave constitutional crisis. For all the ambiguity in General Constantine Chiwenga’s statement this week it challenges President Robert Mugabe either to turn his back on his wife and other members of the G40 faction or to face the wrath of the military. In reality however it provides Mugabe with little choice – because the thought of Mugabe turning his back on his wife at his age, and in his state of dependence, is unthinkable.

It would also be a grave mistake to think that this comes from a small or weak faction of the military. It is a significant fact that the Commander of the Army, General Philip Sibanda sat next to Chiwenga and reporters at the press conference have said that there were about 90 senior officers present. It appears that the only significant officers not present were Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri and Airforce Commander Perence Shiri (who I am told is ill). The presence of General Sibanda in particular demonstrates that at the very least a significant portion of the military oppose what is going on within ZANU-PF, and consequently the decisions taken recently by President Mugabe.

So although General Chiwenga did not overtly threaten a coup, and although he swore allegiance to President Mugabe, in reality the military have demanded that Mugabe reverse his various decisions or else there will be consequences. It is hard to see Mugabe backing down on the decisions he has taken, and therein lies the growing crisis – or the vortex of the perfect storm I have been speaking and writing about for 18 months.

A critical question to be asked is what stance democratic forces and leaders of the opposition in Zimbabwe should adopt? There is a grave danger that some may delight in the crisis and rub their hands in glee at the dilemma President Mugabe has been placed in. That would be wrong in my view. Zimbabwe simply cannot afford to have a de jure or de facto coup; once any change of power in any nation comes through a means other than the strict fulfilment of the constitution, in letter and spirit, a dangerous precedent is set which is hard to reverse. It is important therefore that the opposition speaks with one unequivocal voice that the military needs to stay out of politics and be confined to barracks.

However that will not deal with the crisis our nation faces, made worse now by this statement of discontent by the military. What then is the constitutional way out of this mess?

I believe it is found in Sections 96 and 97 of the constitution. If President Mugabe finds that his position has become untenable then he can resign in terms of section 96. Of course that is highly unlikely, and in that case the only remaining lawful and constitutional method is for President Mugabe to be removed from office in terms of section 97 of the constitution.

Section 97 states that where a simple majority of the Senate and National Assembly believe that the president should be removed from office because of serious misconduct, his failure to uphold the constitution or his inability to perform the functions of office they are entitled to set up a committee representing all the parties in parliament to investigate the president’s removal. If that committee recommends that the president be removed from office, then a joint resolution of the Senate and House of Assembly may vote to remove the president from office. If two-thirds vote in favour then the president ceases to hold office.

If that were to happen in this instance then section 14(4) and (5) of the Sixth Schedule will apply in selecting the president’s replacement. These sections mandate that the person who was last acting president shall take office for a period of 90 days while, in this case, ZANU-PF selects a replacement from its own ranks to see out the term of office. That person would then be president until the next election scheduled to be held next year.

In my view if President Mugabe refuses to accede to the military’s demands this is the only lawful means for those within ZANU-PF, who are annoyed by President Mugabe’s recent decisions, to address the situation.

The opposition of course will play a vital role in this if it indicates that it will support any resolution brought by ZANU-PF members to remove President Mugabe from office. It seems to me that it will be relatively easy to get the initial simple majority in parliament to start the impeachment process. Furthermore I suspect that if all MDC T, MDC and independent MPs and senators joined forces with disaffected ZANU PF MPs and senators (who quietly support both Mnangagwa or even Joice Mujuru) it may be possible for them to achieve the required two-thirds majority to remove President Mugabe from office.

Beyond this it would be unwise for the opposition to support any threat, veiled or otherwise, to violate the constitution. That is a perilous path which our beloved Zimbabwe cannot afford to follow. DM

David Coltart, MDC Senator, has been a human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe since his return to the country in 1983. He was first elected to represent the Bulawayo South House of Assembly constituency in June 2000, and was re-elected in March 2005. In March 2008 he was elected as a senator to represent the Khumalo Senatorial constituency in Bulawayo. Senator Coltart was sworn in as Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in February 2009

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‘Zimbabwe’s succession race is far from over’

By David Coltart | Published November 8, 2017

The Zimbabwe Mail

8th November 2017

On Monday, President Robert Mugabe fired his vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, sending shock waves through Zimbabwe’s political establishment. “I think that this is one of the most significant political events since independence,” said David Coltart, a prominent opposition leader and former education minister.

Of course, over nearly four decades in power, Mugabe has seen off more than his fair share of potential rivals. But Mnangagwa was supposed to be different. For a start, Mugabe and Mnangagwa shared a long personal history of working together, dating all the way back to 1977, during the liberation struggle, when Mnangagwa was drafted in by Mugabe as his assistant in Mozambique.

But far more significant than that were Mnangagwa’s alleged links to Zimbabwe’s influential security establishment, including the military, the police and the ruling party’s military veterans association. According to conventional wisdom, this made Mnangagwa simply too powerful to be fired.

Once again, however, Mugabe proved himself immune to conventional wisdom.

“Mnangagwa more than anyone else has been Mugabe’s right-hand man. He has been Mugabe’s go-to person on a range of issues, from Gukurahundi to the response to the 2008 election to the organisation of the 2013 election. At the very least, Mugabe has broken with the person who has got all that intelligence about how they have done things. And that situation is compounded by the fact that Mnangagwa clearly has the support of a significant segment of war veterans who have done most of the campaigning for Mugabe in the past… I see this as a desperate move by Mugabe with high potential political cost,” said Coltart.

In the short term, Mnangagwa’s fall looks likely to pave the way for even greater political prominence for the president’s wife, Grace Mugabe, who leads the Generation 40 (G40) faction within the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF). The G40, which includes heavyweights such as Education Minister Jonathan Moyo and State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, has now all but vanquished the rival Lacoste faction headed by Mnangagwa.

This does not mean, however, that the long-running and increasingly bitter race to succeed Mugabe is over. Far from it.

“I think that the Zimbabwean succession race has been unpredictable. It’s easy for us to look with the benefit of hindsight and say it all falls into place, but the reality is when (former vice-president) Joice Mujuru was at the top, we all thought she was destined for the presidency. When Emmerson Mnangagwa took over many of us thought he was the one. Now we have Grace, I don’t think we should fall into the same trap as thinking it is all locked up,” said Alex Magaisa, a political analyst.

“I do think she is in a stronger position than she was before… but there’s no reason to believe that G40 is a homogenous entity. There will be people within G40 who have their own big ambitions and have found Grace useful to this point.” In other words, Grace may not be useful for much longer for any other pretenders to the throne.

Ibbo Mandaza, director of the Harare-based Southern African Political Economy Series Trust think tank, is not even sure that Grace really wants the top job.

“I don’t think it will be Grace. I think the media are misreading. If Grace wanted to be president, she would not have said to Mugabe at the Chinhoyi rally (in late July}, and I quote: ‘Tell us which horse to back’ – ie, choose the successor to be, and we will run with it. She wasn’t saying put me there. She was saying identify a successor and we, including myself as first lady, will back that person to the hilt,” said Mandaza.

Although Mandaza can’t be certain who else among the Zanu-PF leadership may end up succeeding Mugabe, he is clear on one thing: the presidency is likely to remain in the party following the presidential election scheduled for next year.

“I think given what I’ve described (previously) as an obliging and complicit opposition in the form of the (Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai) MDC-T in particular and all the others represented in Parliament, Zanu-PF is hardly threatened. Clearly they appear more prepared for elections than the opposition. Zanu-PF appear to be in control, if not total control, of the electoral process, so much so that for me elections are a mere formality,” he said.

Derek Matyszak, a Zimbabwe expert with the Institute for Security Studies, agrees. “There is a big difference between the preparations by the ruling Zanu-PF party for the polls and those of the myriad opposition parties. While Zanu-PF has already been campaigning – suggesting that it will use its parliamentary majority to call elections early – and distributing patronage to secure votes, the opposition parties, including the MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai, are still fumbling in their attempts to form a united front against Mugabe. They are beset with leadership problems and are totally unprepared.”

As the dust settles following Mnangagwa’s enforced departure, attention turns now to the extraordinary Zanu-PF party conference scheduled for 12-17 December. The appointments made here, including a new vice-president, should provide a clearer picture of Zanu-PF’s internal dynamics – and therefore a window into the future of Zimbabwe as a whole.

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Mugabe’s axing of his deputy might be the first gusts of the ‘perfect storm’

By David Coltart | Published November 7, 2017

The Daily Maverick

By PETER FABRICIUS

7th November 2017

Zimbabweans and the region are holding their breath to see if Emmerson Mnangagwa’s powerful supporters in the military will accept what is widely regarded as Robert Mugabe’s rash decision to fire his erstwhile trusted henchman.

Shades of Salome. On Monday President Robert Mugabe indulged his wayward wife Grace by presenting her with vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s head on a platter.

Now Zimbabweans and the region are holding their breath to see if Mnangagwa’s powerful supporters in the military will accept what is widely regarded as Mugabe’s rash decision to fire his erstwhile trusted henchman.

Rumours are swirling in the country and on social media that the military chiefs are planning a coup and that Mnangagwa has fled the country, fearing arrest.

Opposition senator David Coltart said he was worried Mugabe’s axing of his deputy might be the first gusts of the “perfect storm” he has been forecasting for his country for some time.

The South African government said on Tuesday it was not expecting a coup but it was nevertheless watching its troubled northern neighbour closely for any signs of instability. Official sources in Pretoria said they thought it more likely that Mnangagwa would leave the ruling ZanuPF to form a new political party, rather than taking the military route.

Coltart said it was clear that Mugabe, 93, had fired Mnangagwa at the behest of Grace after the vice-president’s supporters booed her loudly at a Zanu PF youth wing rally in Bulawayo. She openly blamed Mnangagwa for the humiliation and demanded he be fired. Two days later her husband obliged. Grace Mugabe and Mnangagwa head opposing factions within the ruling ZanuPF party that have been becoming increasingly embroiled in a bitter fight to succeed Mugabe.

Coltart said from Bulawayo on Tuesday he had been unable to confirm the rumours that Mnangagwa had caught a private aircraft out of Buffalo Range Airfield at Chiredzi in south-eastern Zimbabwe. And clearly much of the reporting on social media about the generals refusing to accept the decision, are speculation or deliberate fake news and disinformation.

But Coltart did not completely rule out the possibility of a big section of the military top brass refusing to accept Mnangagwa’s firing – though he thought it unlikely. He said the head of the Zimbabwe Defence Force General Constantine Chiwenga had clearly revealed his support for Mnangagwa in the past and that most of the rest of the military top brass also supported him. The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association was also clearly behind Mnangagwa, he said. Both these powerful factions would have been “appalled” at the axing of the vice president.

Coltart said Mugabe’s move against Mnangagwa had been building up for some time as the rivalry between him and the First Lady grew more bitter. The spark had been the booing of Grace Mugabe the Bulawayo rally.

He said he had been warning for some time against a “perfect storm” brewing in Zimbabwe because of an unprecedented convergence of several factors, including the ailing Mugabe’s inability to hold together the fragmenting ZanuPF, the economic collapse of the country and the fact that the region was distracted by its own internal issues. The ANC, in particular, was entirely preoccupied with its vital party leadership conference in December. Western governments were also distracted by internal issues.

Coltart said he was sure the politically astute Mugabe would not have axed Mnangagwe without his wife’s insistence. The move had demonstrated her power over him.

It was an unwise move politically, not only because of the strong support Mnangagwa had in the military but also his political support in ZanuPF and his ability and readiness to do Mugabe’s political dirty work. “He was Mugabe’s point man in Gukurahundi,” he said, referring to the slaughter of thousands of residents of the province of Matabeleland in the early 1980s which destroyed Zanu’s rival party, Zapu, largely representing the second tribe, the Ndebele.

Coltart said Mnangagwa had also saved Mugabe in the 2008 elections when Mugabe lost the first round of the presidential poll against Morgan Tsvangirai, whose Movement for Democratic Change also beat ZanuPF in the parliamentary election.

Mnangagwa then mobilised the ZanuPF thugs who battered Tsvangirai’s supporters into submission in the second round and forced him to withdraw from the race.

Coltart said that although he could not rule out the military intervening on behalf of Mnangagwa now, he thought it unlikely they would, as that would turn the region against them.

“And certainly we need the military to stay in their barracks. A coup would be disastrous for the country.”

The South African government believes that Grace Mugabe’s strategy is to replace Mnangagwa as first vice-president to serve defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi who is being groomed to succeed Mugabe as president.

South African officials were struck by the amount of praise which Mugabe heaped on Sekeramayi when the two governments met for the Bi-National Commission between them in Pretoria last month.

But Coltart said after seeing just how much power Grace Mugabe has over her husband, he was now wondering if her next move would be to persuade him to put her in the top job directly.

Coltart added he was sure that Western powers would be disappointed at the axing of Mnangagwa. Britain and other countries were widely believed to have been backing him as the best ZanuPF leader to succeed Mugabe, as he was considered the most business friendly.

His ally Patrick Chinamasa had been trying hard, as finance minister, to normalise Zimbabwe’s shattered economy and to negotiate the resumption of badly-needed credit from international financial institutions like the IMF, before Mugabe shunted him out of the key portfolio last month.

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Zimbabwe Cricket board praised by ex-minister

By David Coltart | Published October 29, 2017

Sunday News

By Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter

29th October 2017

FORMER Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, David Coltart has praised the Tavengwa Mukuhlani led Zimbabwe Cricket board for doing a superb job of turning around the fortunes of the sport in the country.

Coltart, a personal friend of former ZC chairman, Wilson Manase said he was sceptical of Mukuhlani when the Bulawayo-based pharmacist was elected in August 2015 but he has been proven wrong so far. Coltart was speaking during a dinner organised for the national cricket team at the Old Mutual Heath Streak Academy last Thursday.

“We need to pay tribute this evening to the new chairman of the board of Zimbabwe Cricket, who has done a magnificent job which I have to confess when he first took over I was sceptical of him and I am pleased, I am delighted to have been proved wrong. He has made, with his colleagues on the board, the right decisions and we are now seeing the fruit of that before our very own eyes,’’ Coltart said.

One of the things Coltart feels the ZC did right was to appoint former national team captain, Tatenda Taibu as the convener of the selection panel.

During his last few days in office as minister, Coltart fought hard without success to ensure that the national selection panel was led by someone with Test cricket experience. Coltart said he has belief in Taibu, that he will be fair and he has the ability to identify talented players.

“I argued that we needed someone with international cricket experience as convener of selectors, the one thing I knew is that it took an understanding of Test cricket to identify people who didn’t just have the technical ability but the mental strength and you needed someone who had been there before so I am delighted that the chairman and the board appointed Tatenda and I think he has done a magnificent job in selecting based on merit, we are seeing it on the field,’’ Coltart said.

Turning to the players, Coltart said he has always had belief in their talent and all they needed was an administrative structure and a sense of permanence, sense of order and that of fairness to achieve their full potential.

“We are so delighted as a nation to see the improvements just in the last few months, my heart was swelling with pride when I saw you guys in Sri Lanka, it’s just fantastic,’’ Coltart said.

He went on to give his thoughts on how the coach Heath Streak and his players should approach the second Test against West Indies which gets underway at Queens Sports Club this morning.

“From my very inexperienced perspective, can I just give a few tips to the coach and the players for the game that’s coming up. When there are any opposition players anywhere certainly before you get to 50, please I don’t want to see any air between the ball and ground after its left the bat for quite a considerably period,’’ he said.

Former captain, Brendan Taylor was run out for 73 in the second innings of the first Test and Coltart said while the cricketer might have his first name beginning with the same letter as that of the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, he was not the quickest when it comes to running in between the wickets.

“Please just be a bit conservative with those reverse sweeps as well, we delight in them when they come off but when they don’t come off. To BT in particular, your first name shares the same letter as the fastest man on the planet, Usain Bolt but unfortunately this despite your incredible talent you are not as fast as him wicket to wicket,’’ he said, amid laughter from the crowd.

Old Mutual Heath Streak Academy chief executive officer and executive director, Joseph Rego said the event was meant to celebrate the recent spate of victories as well as good performances of the Zimbabwe national cricket team and to wish them well in the forthcoming International Cricket Council World Cup Qualifier to be held in the country in March next year.

“Congratulations Tavengwa Mukuhlani, chairman and Faisal Hasnain, managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket for sparing no efforts in obtaining the rights from ICC to host such a prestigious event in Zimbabwe,’’ Rego said.

Streak, his players, ZC board member Vumindaba Moyo as well as staff attended the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Mukuhlani yesterday briefed the ZC board on the ICC meetings outcomes which had some positives conclusions for Zimbabwe. The ZC board meeting took place at Queens Sports Club. The ICC board gatherings, held in New Zealand saw Zimbabwe being awarded the rights to host next year’s World Cup Qualifier. On top of that, the country will also host an ICC board meeting to be staged in Victoria Falls in April next year.

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Robert Mugabe’s twilight years – an interview on ABC radio

By David Coltart | Published October 25, 2017

ABC

25th October 2017

Interview by Phillip Adams

Pundits have been predicting Robert Mugabe’s death for years. At 93 Zimbabwe’s leader shows no signs of dying or leaving office, but meanwhile the battle over who will replace him pits his wife, Grace Mugabe, against his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man they call ‘The Crocodile’. Neither choice will be welcome to Zimbabwe’s beleaguered voters.

The following is the link to an interview conducted by ABC’s Phillip Adams with David Coltart on the 25th October 2017.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/robert-mugabes-twilight-years/9085434

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Zimbabwe’s Education Minister Dokora on new curriculum

By David Coltart | Published October 16, 2017

Newsday

Monday 16th October 2017

BY VANESSA GONYE

PRIMARY and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora has courted controversy since 2013 when he took over from David Coltart, introducing a raft of changes within a short space of time much to the chagrin of parents and pupils, who felt he was on a mission to take the country’s once-revered education system down the drain.

Besides launching a new curriculum, Dokora introduced the National Pledge and many other policy changes, with a view to make the education system remain relevant to fast-changing international trends.

NewsDay reporter, Vanessa Gonye (ND) recently spoke to Dokora (LD), to get an understanding of the ministry’s position, as well as progress regarding the new curriculum and many other policy changes that he has introduced.

ND: Your ministry this year introduced a new curriculum. With this new system of education are several reforms and a cause for concern is that this year Grade 7 students had an agriculture paper in their exams. Can we say they had ample time to learn the basics?

LD: Agriculture has never been a new area in the primary level curriculum. We just took it out of general paper, as a proper salience to agricultural sciences. General Paper, if you must know, encompassed many fields including agriculture.

ND: With every transition comes a great need for resources; are these adequate to register a huge and positive success in a short period?

LD: The new curriculum is based on a framework with five pillars namely professional standards, infrastructure, teachers’ capacity development, establishment of an institute for research, as well as legal and regulatory reforms. I will explain the pillars in detail.

We have been able to secure some support for the infrastructure and we are already in the process of constructing 17 schools.

These schools are modern and they correspond to the new designs. Also, bilateral arrangements between the school and parent communities, as well as triple Ps (public, private partnerships) with government sectors, as well as private entities are in place as we are determined to ensure that adequate resources to keep the curriculum going are in place.

Teacher capacity development targeting 3 000 teachers is ongoing with 400 graduating last year, others completing this year. The teacher capacity programme was launched in July of 2014 by his Excellency, President Robert Mugabe.

Establishment of an institute for research meant to enable further enhancement of skills to teachers. A number of universities will be approached in line with this pillar as we already have the seed funding to establish the institution.

ND: Can we then say the curriculum is meant to separate or enhance talent?

LD: Please get me right, a person who is astute in the use of their hands is not disengaging in intellect, so the new curriculum embraces everyone and not in the mode of saying that those oriented in the hands skills must not be regarded as intellectual and academic, not at all. But one and the same person is stimulated to be innovative because they are handling the medium as they learn so for us we cannot make such a distinction.

If persons were sent to school and they ideally learnt theoretical knowledge forms, those theoretical knowledge forms cannot bring bread to the table. This is where we are coming from, where thousands say I have 7 A’s at O level, and none of them speaks to technical skills that they can utilise.

That then tells you that the commission of inquiry into education and training long sounded the warning bell that our system was too academic and in need of review and fine tuning to make sure that it constitutes a form of empowerment.

ND: Are you working with other ministries and departments so that students are assured of work placements soon after school?

LD: Remember we are the basic education ministry; any of our graduates on the new platform should be good news to higher and tertiary, youth ministry, women affairs ministry, in any sector actually because they will not only appreciate the environment that they will be completely at home where discipline and work ethics are concerned and they are skilful at something as well as being willing learners.

The habit of willingness to work is what we have lost in some very key sectors of our economy. People want shortcuts to wealth where they earn where they have not worked.

I would not like to go into another zone where they are encouraged by some fortuitous intervention that it will happen, without their lifting a finger. Suddenly your field is filled with crops, and you have not worked, I would not eat those crops, I would run away because tinofanira kudya zveziya.

In 2015 we had people who claimed to be in some of those churches who said that there were anointed pens and when I said we should denounce that there were others who said no, but it’s true that if you want to pass Zimsec examinations or any other examinations you must study and go through the algorithm.

To believe that a pen sold to you at an exorbitant $10 is somehow anointed and that you will somehow use it and pass certainly is not in the spirit of a scientific outlook to life.

ND: How far are you in terms of implementing the new curriculum?

LD: As you know, it is already in effect and we are making steady progress.

ND: There are students who may have the capacity and are able to exceed the said 10 subject limit at Ordinary Level, how will they be considered?

LD: They can go as far as they want, but if you follow the new curriculum in its true depth and breath, we don’t know how many would want to get to the numbers they were getting to in the past. In the past, there were no tasks to undertake, it was just theoretical, Some kids can be smart and memorise things. In the past we had a kid with 17 disciplines, is that still learning or its regurgitation?

ND: It has been noted that the authors of new curriculum books on indigenous languages are mainly white foreigners, is it a shortage of indigenous/local writers?

LD: That decision does not rest with the ministry but on the publishers so I wouldn’t know the criteria they use in selecting authors. The ministry’s role is assessing teaching learning materials while the publisher is responsible for the authors.

ND: Are private schools also abiding by the new curriculum?

LD: There is only one national curriculum for the Republic of Zimbabwe. Have you ever heard of other republics within a republic? (Laughs).

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Biti’s PDP dismisses cabinet reshuffle

By David Coltart | Published October 10, 2017

The Zimbabwean

10th October 2017

The People’s Democratic Party led by former finance minister Tendai Biti has dismissed President Robert Mugabe’s cabinet reshuffle, saying the nonagenarian seems to be “running around a roundabout that will take him to nowhere.”

Mugabe on Monday announced a sudden reshuffle where he dropped three ministers and re-assigned 10 others as he clipped under-fire Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wings. The portfolio previously occupied by the embattled VP, accused by Mugabe’s wife of being impatient to take over power from her husband, was given to Central Intelligence Organisation director-general Happyton Bonyongwe.

In an interview with The Zimbabwean, PDP’s spokesperson, Jacob Mafume, said the cabinet reshuffle would not take Zimbabwe anywhere. “The cabinet reshuffle shows that Mugabe is running around a roundabout to nowhere,” he said.

Mafume, a practising lawyer, added that Mugabe placed priority on loyalty to himself by the ministers rather than the need to turnaround the country’s economic fortunes and deliver Zimbabweans out of poverty. “He has destroyed the country. All he worries about is loyalty to himself and nothing for the country,” said Mafume.

Writting on his twitter-handle, Zimbabwean lawyer, Christian leader and politician, David Coltart, also lambasted Mugabe’s cabinet reshuffle: “The old man appears to have totally lost the plot – as bad as Finance Minister Chinamasa was, to replace him with Chombo is sheer lunacy.”

Mugabe is due to contest next year’s election, with his main challenger being veteran opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The soon-to-be- 94 leader has been in power since independence in 1980.

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