Bulawayo News24

30th July 2017

Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi’s political stock is rising amid indications that neutrals in the do-or-die Zanu-PF war to succeed President Robert Mugabe are pushing for his elevation to occupy the top office in the event that the incumbent retires or gets incapacitated, the Daily News can exclusively report.

This comes as influential First Lady Grace Mugabe has stunningly challenged her long-ruling husband, aged 93, to name his preferred successor without delay, amid escalating factional fights centred on the unresolved succession issue.

Impeccable Zanu-PF insiders told the Daily News this week that the contestation for power has reached its zenith so much that Mugabe is about to give in to demands that he anoints his successor before the party’s December conference so that the ruling party could go for make-or-break elections next year as a united force.

If Mugabe’s recent remarks are anything to go by, his instincts seem to be radiating farther from Zanu-PF bigwigs long touted to be the frontrunners in the succession race on account of their attempts to rope in the military to settle the succession debate, without involving its commander-in-chief, who happens to be Mugabe himself.

The Zanu-PF insiders said while the race remains wide open, it was quite clear that the Swedish-trained medical doctor — Sekeramayi — could be surging ahead at the moment unless something dramatic happens.

The Defence minister has the distinction of being the only remaining Cabinet minister ever-present since Zanu-PF came to power in 1980, having presided over some of the most key ministries in Mugabe’s successive governments — including being Defence minister and State Security minister three times each in the two portfolios.

He has never been demoted.

He has the added advantage of being one of the few politicians less tainted by allegations of corruption and has never lost an election since 1980, when Mugabe’s party swept into power after a brutal liberation war.

Mugabe has consistently said that it was up to the party, and not him, to name his successor. Nonetheless, pressure has been brought to bear on him to anoint a successor, with his wife adding her voice to the calls.

In potentially revealing recent remarks, Mugabe rubbished claims by some within the Team Lacoste faction, which is campaigning for Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed him that it was now time for Karangas to also “eat”, as Zezurus had dominated the State since 1980.

Mnangagwa is of the Karanga tribe, while Mugabe belongs to the Zezuru tribe, which provided the bulk of the fighting forces and military leaders who fought the successful 1972-1980 Chimurenga war that secured independence and black majority rule.

Mugabe’s remarks at a rally in Marondera came after Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo publicly criticised Mnangagwa’s alleged presidential aspirations at a lecture in Harare, where he also made a not-so-subtle announcement of Sekeramayi as a serious contender for the presidency.

Moyo effusively played up Sekeramayi’s “consensus-style of leadership, political experience, unquestionable stature and his humility” that he contrasted with Mnangagwa’s alleged “arrogance” and “sense of entitlement”.

And speaking in his annual interview with the ZBCTV in February, ahead of his 93rd birthday, Mugabe also appeared to rule out the chances of Mnangagwa succeeding him when he said he would soldier on in power — notwithstanding his advanced age and declining health.

“The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, a successor who to them is acceptable . . . as acceptable as I am,” Mugabe said.

On Thursday, Mugabe — an intellectual with several degrees who allegedly did not do any fighting – insisted that the “gun cannot lead the politics”.

Political scientist Eldred Masunungure told the Daily News: “Well, he (Sekeramayi) has always been a hidden dark horse, suspected for a long time in uninformed circles to be the president’s blue-eyed boy. It’s feasible that he is surging ahead; he has always had a close relationship with the president, not as public as the other contenders, he has been in the shadows.

“He is coming out of the shadows, out of his shell, projecting himself as the most likely candidate. I would buy the story of him being leading candidate in Mugabe’s eyes.”

Masunugure said Mugabe will have to be around to anoint Sekeramayi.

“He will have to be around long enough, beyond 2018. Sekeramayi’s chances are brighter than any of the contending candidates. He is definitely a leading candidate, look at his demeanour, he has liberation credentials, he is electable, he has won in his home province.

“Well, his strength does not lie in his electability, he is very close to the president, he is the president’s confidante, he is not a megaphone, he is media-shy. He has what it takes for Mugabe to anoint him, but there are so many factors at play, so many variables,” Masunugure said.

But some critics have sledged Sekeramayi as “not assertive enough to lead”, while others say just like Mnangagwa he is also tainted by the role he played in his capacity as Defence minister at the time, when the Gukurahundi massacres took place mainly in Matabeleland and Midlands between 1983 and 1987.

United Kingdom-based legal expert Alex Magaisa recently expounded on this fact in an opinion piece on his blog.

“The pair (Sekeramayi and Mnangagwa) were Mugabe’s reliable water carriers during the early 1980s, probably the dirtiest period on account of Gukurahundi.

“It is therefore hard for most people in Matabeleland, to reconcile the man described by Moyo and the man who performed a key role during this dark patch of Zimbabwe’s history.

“If one of Mnangagwa’s darkest spots in his long political career is his alleged role in Gukurahundi, it is hard to see how the other half of the pair, Sekeramayi, can escape the same charge,” Magaisa said.

Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, noted the “endless speculation” about Mugabe’s succession yesterday.

“Sekeramayi is 73, only one year younger than Mnangagwa. Either way, Zimbabwe would not be blessed by youthful leadership. In this sense, both men would be transitional presidents as few live as long as Mr Mugabe,” Chan told the Daily News.

Zanu-PF has for the past two decades been deeply divided over Mugabe’s succession. Recently, a faction led by the party’s young Turks, Generation 40, has been locked in a life-and-death tussle with Mnangagwa’s backers, Team Lacoste over the succession riddle.

Many observers and Zanu-PF insiders have consistently said Mugabe’s failure to groom and name a successor was fuelling the ugly fights in the ruling party.

But Mugabe has so far refused to name his successor, arguing that the Zanu-PF constitution does not allow him as it leaves that role to the party to decide who succeeds him, via a congress.

Meanwhile, disgruntled war veterans have repeatedly said Mnangagwa should take over from Mugabe when he leaves office, and at one time warned ominously that blood could be shed if the Midlands godfather does not succeed the veteran leader.

Mugabe and Mnangagwa share a close relationship that dates back to the days of the liberation struggle when the latter was the former’s aide.

Mugabe first met Mnangagwa ,74, when he was working as a teacher in Mapanzure, a remote rural village in Zvishavane from where his deputy hails.

Earlier this year, when there was frenzied speculation within Zanu-PF that Mnangagwa’s mooted presidential aspirations were dead in the water, after Mugabe’s birthday interview with the ZBC in which he said there was no one fit to succeed him, former ruling party spokesperson and Cabinet minister, Rugare Gumbo, said the Midlands godfather could not be written off.

Gumbo — who worked with both Mugabe and Mnangagwa for many decades, before and after Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980 — also said it was “folly” to assume that Mugabe had shut the door on his deputy succeeding him.

He also said it could not be ruled out that Mnangagwa himself was “playing a game of hide-and-seek” with the nonagenarian, adding that the two men had a strong bond and long-standing relationship which was “only fully understood by them”.

“Mugabe has always been a slippery character because of all things he always wanted power the most. While many other liberation movements had a succession plan, Mugabe long decided against coming up with one.

“Still, I wouldn’t say Mnangagwa has been blocked out. However, what I know is that Mugabe and Mnangagwa vakateyanirana mariva (the have set traps for each other). They are playing each other and only time will tell who will win,” he said.

In December, a respected British magazine, New Statesman, portrayed Mnangagwa as a firm favourite to succeed Mugabe.

It also argued that a Mnangagwa presidency could extricate the country from its current economic rot — going on to highlight his profile rather glowingly.

“He (Mnangagwa) is sharp, organised and business-savvy, more pragmatic and less ideological than Mugabe. And, unlike the president (Mugabe), he understands the urgent need for reform, if only so that he can pay the security forces and fill the trough at which his Zanu-PF comrades guzzle,” the New Statesman said.

Former Cabinet minister David Coltart also told the same magazine that Mnangagwa had a better understanding of the economy than most of his Zanu-PF colleagues, including Mugabe.

“For all his historical problems he (Mnangagwa) understands the running of the economy better than Mugabe, better than most Zanu-PF politicians,” he was quoted saying.

News24

27th July 2017

Prominent Zimbabweans Wednesday took to social media to slam a vote by MPs from President Robert Mugabe’s party to change the constitution, just four years after the country adopted the new charter.

The Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.1) Bill, which gives the president the power to handpick top judges, is seen as a blow to the independence of the judiciary.’

“Another dark day in the dark and tormented history of this country. I trust the Butcher is feeling proud of himself,” wrote former finance minister Tendai Biti on Twitter, using his nickname for Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who pushed for the amendment.

On Tuesday, after hours of stormy debate, 182 Zanu-PF MPs voted for the amendment, more than enough to get it passed.

“The ruining party has been consistent in its 37 years of misrule – it has always acted to strip away basic rights of the #Zimbabwe people,” wrote former education minister, David Coltart.

Constitutional lawyer and aspiring independent MP, Fadzayi Mahere tweeted: “Instead of amending laws to align them to the Constitution, Zanu is amending the Constitution to align it with its selfish ends. Yuck.”

Mnangagwa ally

A new chief justice, Luke Malaba, was appointed in March under the current constitutional system of public interviews, though High Court Judge President George Chiweshe was seen as Mnangagwa’s preferred candidate. Analysts say that Chiweshe may now be promoted to deputy chief justice courtesy of this constitutional amendment.

Veteran human rights lawyer Irene Petras, responding to a video of Zanu-PF MPs celebrating in the National Assembly on Tuesday evening after the passage of the bill tweeted, with a large dash of irony: “Dear Zimbos, This is what your reps think of your “new” Constitution. Please vote them in again in 2018. Sincerely, Constitutionalism.”

The Chronicle

By Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter

26th July 2017

PRIVATE schools in the country are facing hard times with some of them coming up with drastic measures to save their institutions from collapse due to financial challenges.

Petra Schools Trust in Bulawayo has integrated and remodeled the primary and secondary schools into one institution in an effort to survive the economic hardships.

Former Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Minister Mr David Coltart, who is the chairman of Petra Schools Trust, announced the decisions to parents during a meeting on Monday evening, urging them to accept changes at the two schools, one primary and the other one a high school.

“Most private schools are in a dire financial crisis which is a reflection of the economic hardships faced by the country. These schools, including Petra, are trying to find balance to maintain their status.

“The economic crisis facing the nation has generated an extreme reduction in enrolment at private schools because parents are failing to pay the required school fees,” said Mr Coltart.

According to Mr Coltart, the two schools will be integrated into one institution to build a single team for all aspects of school life, with effect from January 1 next year.

One name which refers to both schools will be given to the institution delivering education from early childhood development (ECD) to Upper Six.

Mr Coltart urged parents to understand the strategic decisions he announced during the meeting, saying this was a model they were adopting from other schools throughout the world.

“Petra will move to a centralised model of administration, grounds, development and finance. There will be one set of accounts and one audit for Petra.

Under the single name there will be two schools, the junior and senior schools respectively, each with one head.

“The integration of the campus will require a staff member with the time and capacity to professionally develop teachers and oversee the implementation of the integration process, which person could be named either principal or executive head of Petra,” said Mr Coltart.

“There will be one fee structure for both schools and all children moving into the senior phase from the junior will have automatic admission, only undertaking testing for streaming as and when appropriate. We hope that the entire parental body will embrace these changes.”

Petra’s new structure comes at a time when other elite schools are also employing different strategies to survive.

Falcon College in Esigodini, which has been a boys’ school since its inception, started enrolling girls from Form One to Six early this year.

Newsday

18th July 2017

By Nqobani Ndlovu

FORMER Education minister David Coltart has urged opposition parties to drag Zanu PF to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to seek a ruling ordering the ruling party to stop holding its meetings and rallies at schools.

However, Coltart conceded that it was difficult to stop Zanu PF from holding its meetings and rallies at schools, owing to the lack of an enabling Act.

“There is nothing opposition parties can do to stop Zanu PF from using school facilities and abusing children in this way,” he said.

“There is nothing in the Education Act, which bars schools being used in this way.”

In spite of the lack of an enabling Act, Coltart said he was convinced that a ConCourt challenge would stop Zanu PF from holding meetings at schools.

“When I barred all schools from being used for political meetings, that was merely a policy directive, not something made into law,” he said.

“Although Section 19(2)(c) of the Constitution compels the State to adopt policies that protect children from ‘any form of abuse’, it is difficult to enforce this provision.

“However, there is no doubt in my mind that the ruining party [Zanu PF] is in violation of this section of the Constitution and a more robust Constitutional Court would rule against Zanu PF and in favour of children.”

Of late, President Robert Mugabe has been holding provincial youth rallies, amid claims that the ruling party commandeers school children to attend, disrupting their learning in the process.

On Friday, the 93-year-old Zanu PF leader is scheduled to address a similar campaign rally in Lupane, amid fears that all pupils from the province would be forced to attend the meeting.