The Standard

4 October 2015

HIGHER and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo has stirred a hornet’s nest by declaring that secondary school students who fail maths and science will not be allowed to enrol at local universities.

Moyo made the announcement in Masvingo last week during one of his consultative meetings with tertiary institutions in the country, declaring that soon learners would not be allowed to proceed to A’ Level as long as they did not pass mathematics and science at O’Level.

He said the education curriculum should emphasise on mathematics and science from an early level.

Moyo said the curriculum should be anchored on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, if Zimbabwe was to transform its economy.

The pronouncements sparked heated debate on social media, with most critics accusing Moyo of trying to exclude disadvantaged Zimbabweans from tertiary education.
Former Education minister David Coltart said while the idea was noble, the Zanu PF government had no capacity to transform the education sector because of its misplaced priorities.

He said the government was underfunding education as it prioritised institutions that entrenched President Robert Mugabe’s power.

“The root cause can only be addressed if resources are shifted away from defence, the Central Intelligence Organisation, police, the size of Cabinet, the President’s Office and the allocation of the money saved to education,” said Coltart.

“Countries with the strongest economies have children with very high maths and science knowledge.

“However, the problem lies in the fact that we have grave shortages of good maths and science teachers, so unless that issue is addressed, this will place impossible requirements on children.”

Coltart said Moyo’s proposals would address the symptoms instead of the real problems facing Zimbabwe’s education sector.

“At the bottom of this is that Zanu PF has got its funding priorities wrong,” he said.

“We have to start with a huge increase in our investment in primary and secondary education, including the payment of teachers so that we can attract good maths and science teachers.

“But this process won’t happen overnight, it has taken Finland five decades to get their education system where it is and we have lost two decades, save for the GNU [government of national unity] period.

“If this policy is implemented in this vacuum, it will have catastrophic consequences because there simply will not be sufficient numbers of children who have a sound knowledge of maths and science.”

United Kingdom-based lawyer Alex Magaisa, said most rural schools in Zimbabwe were poorly equipped to teach science subjects.

“Trouble is most rural schools don’t even have a beaker or Bunsen burner,” Magaisa said on Twitter.

Academic Ibbo Mandaza said the government wanted to punish Zimbabweans for its mistakes as the policy Moyo was proposing existed in the past.

“It is nothing new,” Mandaza said. “The thing is government must explain whose mischief it was to scrap it in the first place.

“In my time, both as a learner and teacher, one would have to repeat if they failed mathematics or science.
“You would never proceed to A’ Level without the two subjects.

“It is a British system that is still in place in England under the General Certificate of Education [GCE].

David Dzatsunga, the Zimbabwe College Lecturers’ Association president, said the government had no capacity to enforce the proposed policy, which he said was wrongly premised.

“It is a pipe dream given government’s well-documented capacity issues,” he said.

“We need to interrogate the theory that academia is a matter of natural inclination.

“Some students might naturally be brilliant in mathematics and science but very poor in social sciences and vice-versa. There should not be an attitude that the arts are not essential.

University of Zimbabwe lecturer Fred Zindi was more scathing, saying the government was relapsing into the Rhodesian thinking where access to education was a privilege of the elite.

“It is like going back to the Rhodesian era where education becomes a privilege for the selected,” he said.
“It becomes selective because while I think maths and science are essential subjects, not everybody is oriented towards them.

“The fact that there are other alternatives then means people will have a career choice on what to follow without necessarily being bottle-necked into a particular area.”

Veteran educationist Caiphas Nziramasanga, who inspired the government’s latest curriculum review, refused to comment, saying he first wanted to see an official document on Moyo’s proposals.

Nziramasanga has recommended that the government scrap Grade 7 and O’Level examinations, arguing that the school leaving tests were introduced by the colonial regime to prevent blacks from reaching tertiary education.

Moyo also revealed that from 2017, Zimbabwean universities would not hire lecturers without Doctor of Philosophy Degrees (PhD) to help improve standards.

However, Coltart said although the intervention was noble, it would be hard to implement in a depressed economy.

“The issue of college lecturers having PhDs did not start with Moyo. It is something that has always been there and at the University of Zimbabwe, there are certain programmes we are not offering now because there has been an unwritten rule from authorities that they can only be taught by people who hold PhDs,” he said.

“The fear is that those who will fail to gain the PhDs might be forced to migrate to countries or institutions that will allow people of their experience to teach without PHDs, which means another form of brain drain that we should be working hard to contain,” he said.

“In theory, it is a good idea but he clearly either hasn’t thought it through, or doesn’t understand the difficulties in implementing such a policy. PhDs — proper ones that is — take at least 18 months to two years to acquire,” Coltart added.

“They are expensive to get. Lecturers will need time off from their current jobs; universities themselves will need additional qualified staff to oversee the PhD programmes.

“The question then is, who is going to pay for all of this? Who is going to provide the lecturers with the scholarships they will need to undertake PhDs?

“Who is going to provide our universities [which are already short of qualified staff] with the money needed to hire highly qualified staff who can supervise the PhDs?

“Moyo needs to get a grip on reality,” said Coltart.

The government has been accused of eroding gains made in the education sector after independence through chronic underfunding of the sector, leading to a brain drain and a high school dropout rate.

The Standard

4 October 2015

Former Education minister David Coltart is a victim of Zanu PF politician Jonathan Moyo’s acerbic rants on social media, which always have racial undertones.

President Robert Mugabe does not hide his disdain for people like Coltart and once encouraged his supporters “to drive fear into the white man’s heart”.

The MDC secretary for legal affairs has also been repeatedly accused by Moyo of being a former member of the infamous Selous Scouts, or a Rhodie, as part of crass tactics to silence him.

Yet Coltart remains one of the most vocal opposition politicians in Zimbabwe as he uses social media to speak truth to power.

He is one of the few still standing after the likes of former MDC-T treasurer-general Roy Bennett were driven into exile through persecution by Mugabe’s government.

Coltart said he had been able to stand the heat because of his love for Zimbabwe.
“It is quite simple really,” he said. “First of all, I was born in Zimbabwe and have lived here my entire life, so I know nothing else.

“Secondly, I have a deep passion for Zimbabwe which enables me to put up with a lot of abuse.

“Thirdly, I get so much encouragement from all Zimbabweans, right across the racial spectrum, that enables me to put Jonathan’s vitriol in perspective — he represents a tiny minority of embittered men.”

The former Senator has a proud track record in post Zimbabwean politics after representing members of late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo’s Zapu at the height of the Gukurahundi atrocities in Matabeleland and Midlands in the 1980s.

Former National Healing minister Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, who is also a Zipra war veteran, said the reason Coltart remained relevant in local politics was because he was above race.

“The best I would say of him is he has his head screwed in the right place over his shoulders, he is an honest, frank and forthright human being who points out people’s mistakes, not because they are black or white, but because such things have to be said,” Mzila-Ndlovu said.

“He stuck his neck out at a time when the environment was extremely hostile to white Zimbabweans and here was a Rhodesian who was saying he accepted the new order but wanted the authorities to stick to their side of the bargain under the call for national reconciliation,” Mzila-Ndlovu said.

“His activities with the CCJP [Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace] and representing a lot of people who were being persecuted by Mugabe under the emergence measurers adopted from Ian Smith impressed me most.

“He has been called all sorts of names, even by his own kith and kin, but has refused to be drawn into racial fights — maybe because of his Christian upbringing and legal background.”

CCJP was instrumental in documenting the Gukurahundi atrocities, where an estimated 20 000 civilians were killed by the Fifth Brigade.

Mzila-Ndlovu said despite his track record in fighting for the down-trodden, Coltart had been abused by fellow opposition figures, especially during the 2005 split of the MDC. Coltart then joined the faction led by Welshman Ncube.

“Even white colleagues were not happy with his stance against [Morgan] Tsvangirai’s [MDC-T leader] excesses and move to overrule the national council over participation in senatorial elections,” Mzila-Ndlovu said.

“Some whites wanted to smuggle into the MDC struggle their supremacist agenda, but Coltart stood his ground on principle and said there would be no reason to oppose Mugabe, if we were to allow Tsvangirai to ride roughshod over collective and electoral decisions even within the party.”

Coltart’s struggles mirror those of other white politicians that have remained active in Zimbabwe’s political terrain.

Former Mutare mayor, Brian James, who was singled out by Zanu PF officials because of his skin colour, said he was fighting for a Zimbabwe that does not discriminate people because of their race.

“Home is home and one always wants to positively help to the development of their country. It is a belief in doing the right things that drives me and being fair to the ordinary people,” James said.

“The abuse, as you might have noted, takes different tones but we continue to do what we can to make sure the rights of the people are observed without regard to their colour.”

James bemoaned MDC’s failure to stand up for Bennett as he was hounded out of the country for daring to challenge Zanu PF misrule.

He revealed that the former Chimanimani legislator was a bitter man.

“Roy is basically in exile along with at least four million others, but they remain as Zimbabwean as you and me,” he said.

“They hanker for home and country of birth. Bennett has lost an enormous amount of money and is as disappointed as I am.

“He is disappointed at the way he was treated within the party.

“He believes the party did not do enough when he was jailed for kicking out at Didymus Mutasa and the scuffle that involved [Finance minister] Patrick Chinamasa,” James added.

“He is also of the belief that not enough was done by the MDC-T to fight for him when Tsvangirai had nominated him to be his choice of deputy Agriculture minister and Mugabe rejected the proposal.”

Mugabe refused to appoint Bennett into his Cabinet after the formation of the inclusive government and never gave reasons.

In the run-up to the 2000 elections, Bennett — popularly known as Pachedu — was dispossessed of his thriving coffee farm before he was jailed for eight months following a brawl in Parliament.

Former Marondera MP Ian Kay, who has also been targeted by Zanu PF because of his race, said his political career was based on principle.

He said some white Zimbabweans were forced to support Zanu PF because of persecution, instead of principle.

“Those who are in Zanu PF are in there for the money, they are allowed to operate and in a round-about way make money out of the party. They therefore get preferential treatment from those in power,” Kay said.

His wife Kerry, a former top MDC-T official, said she had also suffered at the hands of fellow opposition activists.
“At the height of the splits in the MDC-T, mainly due to leadership challenges, yes, I did take flak from some members which was disappointing, but that is to be expected,” she said.

“As for insults from Zanu PF people, yes, there are individuals who were racist and derogatory about whites, but that is their well-known rhetoric.

“One has to rise above such insults. I have never been racist — unfortunately racism is mostly only seen as white against black, but it works both ways.”

She does not regret her 14 years of commitment to the MDC-T cause and fighting for democratic change, but is not happy with the way the party treated her.

“In the final analysis we are all Zimbabweans. My husband was born here, speaks Shona better than most black Shonas, so there is no reason we cannot take part in the governance of the country. He is indigenous.

“I don’t care if whites want to join Zanu PF, it’s their democratic right.

“However, I feel that it is as a means to their own selfish ends because they are benefitting by keeping their land and homes, making money and basically being a part of the ongoing cycle of corruption and beneficiation.”

A few white Zimbabweans such as Timothy Stamps have remained in Mugabe’s corner despite his rhetoric about their race.

The Chronicle

2 October 2015

PROPERTY magnate Philip Chiyangwa is “angry” after the former Education Minister David Coltart blamed him for causing the demise of Bulawayo industries. Chiyangwa took over the running of several companies in Bulawayo after he bought them for a combined Z$30 million from Tirzah Group of Companies Investments in May 1998, a transaction which Coltart facilitated as a liquidator.

Among the companies was G & D Shoes, Belmont Leather as well as property companies that included Express Investments, Zimdelta (Pvt) Ltd, M&C Swiel and FFT Private Ltd. In the face of viability constraints since the turn of the millennium, most of these companies shut down and rendered scores of workers jobless.

Annoyed by Coltart’s sentiments in an article published in a private weekly, Chiyangwa yesterday blasted the Bulawayo-based lawyer and former MDC senator accusing him of bringing his name into disrepute and “misleading” the nation. In a June 26 article, Coltart accused Chiyangwa of “enriching himself at the expense of Zimbabwe’s working class”.

Said Coltart: “I’ve no problem when wealth is made as a result of innovation, hard work and ingenuity. However, most of Zimbabwe’s millionaires have made their money off the back of the working class, through plunder, asset stripping and corruption.

“I don’t know how Chiyangwa made his money save for what he did to a variety of Bulawayo-based companies that he took over and drove into the ground.

“I also have a concern when Zimbabwe’s wealth and precious foreign currency is spent on very expensive imports such as Bentleys, Rolls Royces and the like. Surely our foreign currency would be better spent on vehicles made either in Zimbabwe or at least South Africa, which is on the African continent.”

In a written response seen by The Chronicle yesterday, Chiyangwa turned the sword on Coltart for peddling “spurious allegations” that he said cannot be supported with facts. The prominent businessman said the demise of Bulawayo industries, while it is a national crisis, cannot be blamed on the collapse of a single individual.

“I’ve never bought a single operating company in Bulawayo in the sense of a going concern. What I simply participated in was public auctions of the disposal of assets of dead companies through the Master of the High Court, through the active direction of liquidators,” he said. “What David Coltart is selectively failing to inform the public is that these companies had been severely stripped and run-down by their former owners, mostly the Jewish friends of Coltart who controlled the industry in Bulawayo,” he blasted.

“For the record, I simply picked up assets way after some core and critical pieces had been cherry picked and sold away. Coltart doesn’t want the world to know of his role in getting without going to tender a contract with the National Railway of Zimbabwe (NRZ), which is for 80 years, and they’re still getting payments. His role in destroying NRZ needs to be publicly interrogated.”

Coltart together with Barbra Lunga and Robert Michael McIndoe represented Tirzah Group in their capacity as provisional liquidators while Chiyangwa represented Native Investment Africa as purchaser on May 5, 1998. Yesterday, Coltart stuck by his words, insisting that Chiyangwa could have done better to keep the Bulawayo companies running.

“He took over the company, which is now dead. As I recall, him and others took over companies which are now shells, go to G & D now and see. What he says is his point of view but he needs to speak to two or three people and see if they’ll agree with him,” said Coltart.

“He (Chiyangwa) had access to finance, which is what those firms needed at the time – access to capital and removal of red tape. No doubt the companies were in trouble but he could have helped.” Coltart confirmed he was a liquidator in Chiyangwa’s purchase of the companies “conscious of the fact that it was a difficult business environment” but insists Chiyangwa could have done better.

“He never made an effort to make the companies viable despite the links he had with political power,” said Coltart. Chiyangwa is accusing Coltart of dragging his name into the mud for political expediency. He said Coltart and his partners should have purchased the properties in their own right after “they made good money by presiding over the liquidation of the outlined properties”.

Chiyangwa later sold off the businesses to an investment concern of former attorney general, Sobusa Gula Ndebele. – See more at: http://www.bulawayo24.com/News/Local/75138#sthash.V0o6XPzA.dpuf

New Zimbabwe.Com

2 October 2015

ZANU PF politician and flamboyant tycoon Philip Chiyangwa has angrily rejected charges that he is responsible for destroying companies in Bulawayo – once the country’s industrial heartland.

Through his Native Investment Africa group, Chiyangwa became a huge player in Bulawayo beginning 1998 when he bought companies such as G & D Shoes, Belmont Leather as well as the listed Zeco Holdings.

Most of the companies have since closed with Zeco, which was founded in 1964, in mortal decline.

The former engineering behemoth once supplied rail wagons to the NRZ locally as well as regionally to countries such as Ethiopia Kenya, Mozambique, and Zambia.

AS of Friday, Zeco’s market capitalisation stood at US$46,000; its share price 0.01 US cents on the local bourse.

Cue Bulawayo opposition politician and top city lawyer, David Coltart, who was the liquidator when Chiyangwa bought most of the companies in 1998.

“I don’t know how Chiyangwa made his money save for what he did to a variety of Bulawayo-based companies that he took over and drove into the ground,” wrote Coltart in a recent article.

“I also have a concern when Zimbabwe’s wealth and precious foreign currency is spent on very expensive imports such as Bentleys, Rolls Royces and the like.

“Surely our foreign currency would be better spent on vehicles made either in Zimbabwe or at least South Africa, which is on the African continent.”

He added: “I’ve no problem when wealth is made as a result of innovation, hard work and ingenuity.

“However, most of Zimbabwe’s millionaires have made their money off the back of the working class, through plunder, asset stripping and corruption.”

Not best pleased, Chiyangwa hit back.

“I’ve never bought a single operating company in Bulawayo in the sense of a going concern,” he said.

“What I simply participated in was public auctions of the disposal of assets of dead companies through the Master of the High Court, through the active direction of liquidators.

“What David Coltart is selectively failing to inform the public is that these companies had been severely stripped and run-down by their former owners, mostly the Jewish friends of Coltart who controlled the industry in Bulawayo.”

The businessman added: “For the record, I simply picked up assets way after some core and critical pieces had been cherry picked and sold away.

“Coltart doesn’t want the world to know of his role in getting without going to tender a contract with the National Railway of Zimbabwe (NRZ), which is for 80 years, and they’re still getting payments. His role in destroying NRZ needs to be publicly interrogated.”

Chiyangwa also accused Coltart of profiting from the troubled companies saying “they made good money by presiding over the liquidation of the outlined properties”.

In response, Coltart insisted that Chiyangwa could have done a better job of recapitalising and reviving the companies.

“He (Chiyangwa) took over the company, which is now dead,” said the opposition politician.

“As I recall, him and others took over companies which are now shells, go to G & D now and see. What he says is his point of view but he needs to speak to two or three people and see if they’ll agree with him.

“(Chiyangwa) had access to finance, which is what those firms needed at the time – access to capital and removal of red tape. No doubt the companies were in trouble but he could have helped.

“He never made an effort to make the companies viable despite the links he had with political power.”

Southern Eye

29 September 2015

POLITICAL analysts yesterday gave the thumps-up to former Education minister David Coltart’s assertion that white Zimbabweans had an equally crucial role to play in shaping the country’s politics just like other races.

In an interview with Southern Eye on Sunday, Coltart spoke strongly against racial discrimination, describing politicians who always raised the race card as divisive elements.

His assertion, however, stirred a hornet’s nest with some top Zanu PF officials labelling him an “intolerable Rhodie” who had “nothing to offer but hate”, but analysts interviewed by Southern Eye described the ex-minister’s statement as spot-on.

“This @DavidColtart is full of intolerable Rhodie hate against Zimbabwe’s independence. Nothing to offer but hate,” said Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo, a staunch Coltart critic.

President Robert Mugabe has often publicly chastised whites citing their ill-treatment of blacks during the colonial era.

Analysts, however, said it was wrong to approach politics with racial lenses, saying every Zimbabwean had a democratic right to participate in national politics.

“Every Zimbabwean, whether black or white, has a democratic right to be involved in politics, our Constitution is clear on who is a Zimbabwean,” analyst Blessing Vava said.

“Mugabe is not sincere in his remarks because there are many white people who served both in his party and Cabinet before, Denis Norman and Timothy Stamps being examples.” Stamps is currently Health Advisor in Mugabe’s office.

South Africa-based media scholar Trust Matsilele said Mugabe was living in the past.

“It’s embarrassing for a President to try and divide the country across whatever line — race, tribe, ethnic, gender or region — but Mugabe has unfortunately done that unabated. He is caught up in the pre-1980 era if not 1890.

“He has also been divisive first through regional politics, tribal politics, ethnic politics, racial politics and even went as far as dividing the nation through religious, cultural and class lines,” Matsilele said.

Mugabe, as the then Prime Minister, offered a hand of reconciliation to white minority former colonisers after the liberation struggle in 1980, saying oppression by any race was unacceptable.

Southern Eye

28 September 2015

FORMER Education Minister, David Coltart, has said the white community has a role to play in the country’s politics despite their public ridicule by President Robert Mugabe.

In an interview with Southern Eye, Coltart described politicians who always raised the racial card during campaigns as misguided and divisive elements.

“Race and ethnicity is always used by unscrupulous politicians to promote their own support — so I just disregard those comments,” Coltart said.

“I remain involved in politics because I am a Zimbabwean, born and bred here, and love this country and all her people. I can’t speak for others, but that is why I am involved.”

Coltart said whites have a role to play in Zimbabwe’s politics, just like any other citizen.

“Whites have a role to play – every citizen has a role to play – in the politics of Zimbabwe, so long as we remember the role that we have played in creating the bitterness that exists in the country. In other words whites who have an agenda of re-creating Rhodesia belong to another age and cannot make a useful contribution to politics.”

“Whilst they have a constitutional right to pursue their own agenda — so I am not saying they can’t — that sort of involvement is not constructive. However, those whites who have a vision for a tolerant, multi-racial, democratic and free Zimbabwe have an important role to play,” he added.

During his lavish 91 birthday celebrations in Victoria Falls early this year, Mugabe threatened to kick out the remaining white conservationists from game parks, saying he will only allow them to own animal sanctuaries if the United States unconditionally lifts sanctions imposed on his family and members of his inner circle.

In 2000, Mugabe allowed Zanu PF supporters to grab white-owned farms as part of his government’s land reform programme to “correct colonial imbalances that condemned blacks to poor soils”.

Newsday

25 September 2015

Data released by the United Nations (UN) shows that Zimbabwe has the highest, if not the best, ratio of school books per student, a feat achieved despite incredible odds and often controversial methods used by private citizens to make sure children stay in school.

The dusty Hatcliffe Extension suburb boasts a controversial history. It’s at this place that thousands of families were forcibly relocated to during the 2005 urban clean up called Operation Murambatsvina.

The plastic tents have made way to brick houses, children make their way to not-so ordinary schools.

Dozens of unregistered schools have sprouted up to meet the needs of a minority group.

Learners at these schools make up the 6% of primary school-goers, who haven’t been able to enrol in formal schools.

Authorities are trying to encourage the schools to register with the Education ministry.

On the other hand, the United Nations says despite the social challenges caused by an economic crisis over the last decade, Zimbabwe has not only met the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)regarding access to primary education, but also remains Africa’s education flagship.

According to UN resident co-ordinator, Bishow Parajuli in terms of enrolment, Zimbabwe boasts almost 95% and for text book availability, he thinks the country has the highest ratio in Africa, following former Education Minister David Coltart’s successful Education Transition Fund textbook programme.

The UN attributes the achievement to significant government spending on education in the early years and aggressive overseas development aid in the latter years. Zimbabweans have also been commended for valuing education highly.

Schools say in their small unrecognised way they too have contributed to the MDGs. They maintain that they have given parents an option and kept children in school, those who might otherwise have dropped out.

Financial Gazette

24 September 2015

Teaching is one of those very noble professions that are, unfortunately, losing their prestige. Many of the country’s educators have gone for months without being paid their wages.

Those who have had their salaries withdrawn, were victims of a spirited government witch hunt to flush out ghost workers in the civil service. The ghost workers have principally been blamed for bleeding State coffers.

Earning a salary of US$350 per month, which is way below the country’s US$495 poverty datum line, teachers have always threatened to go on strike at the beginning of each term, hoping that their employer could become sympathetic to their plight and increase their wages.

But negotiations between government and teachers unions have failed to yield positive results.

To compound the teacher’s plight, government in April this year embarked on the civil service audit in an effort to establish the size of its workforce and weed out ghost workers. The audit has been criticised, by many, for targeting teachers and not the rest of the civil service.

An audit conducted in 2011 revealed that there were more than 75 000 ghost workers in the civil service. Interestingly, the current campaign would give an indication that all the ghost workers were from the teaching profession where reportedly hordes of ZANU-PF militia and supporters were strategically placed to draw a salary from government without raising suspicion.

However, instead of weeding out the real ghost workers, the head count, which most teachers described as a witch-hunt, saw genuine teachers being targeted and forcing them to go unpaid for the past three months after government froze their salaries arguing that the teachers were the ghost workers the government was looking for.

Most of those affected had been on leave of sanctioned absence when the audit took place.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general, Raymond Majongwe, said government was unlikely to offer the struggling teachers anything after failing to commit itself to solving the myriad of challenges they faced.

“The head count has physically and mentally drained teachers, who feel intimidated by the whole process. Their employer has not been committed to solving the challenges currently bedevilling the profession yet they expect results from the system in which they have repeatedly failed to invest in,” Majongwe said.

“Shoddy planning by government has had a negative impact on innocent teachers who were on study leave, maternity leave, vacation and sick leave, after communicating with their superiors. The same employer approved these leave days, yet they froze their salaries.”

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general, Raymond Majongwe

Majongwe also claimed that as one of the teacher’s representatives, the union was yet to see the audit report by the Public Service Commission (PSC).

“If there is nothing to hide why make the report a secret? This means these people have a hidden agenda. If this whole exercise had no clandestine motives why was the Minister of Education not engaged?” Majongwe questioned.

At the beginning of the third term, government launched a teacher-pupils ratio count at different schools as part of efforts to flush out more ghost teachers.

Teacher unions reported that some teachers had already lost their jobs through the new process.

“When government launched the (second) audit, the ghost workers disappeared. These dubious characters that would only surface on pay days were nowhere to be found. Government should come out clean and explain because it is responsible for placing these people in schools in the first place,” said Majongwe.

The exercise meant to help contain the huge wage bill gobbling more than 80 percent of the budget will not only affect the teachers but the whole education system.

Former Minister of Education, David Coltart, said while there was need for government to conduct the civil service audit, the manner in which it was conducted damaged the education sector.

“We need to understand that we have a shortage of qualified teachers, especially in certain disciplines such as maths and science. So any audit should not be looking at mere numbers but specific needs. As I understand it, if teachers were found not to be at their posts they were taken off the payroll, effectively fired, without any regard to their particular soil set. If that is correct, it is going to have deleterious consequences.

“There is a shortage of qualified teachers in Zimbabwe, especially in rural schools and particularly in remote areas like Binga where there are high numbers of unqualified teachers. No qualified teacher should be laid off in my view. They need to be identified and moved to areas where there are few qualified teachers,” Coltart said.

During his tenure as education minister, to ensure that there were enough qualified teachers in the country. Coltart initiated a US$26 million teacher re-training programme designed, in part, to help unqualified teachers become qualified.

“We need to identify our best unqualified teachers and ensure they are not fired but included in these training programmes,” Coltart advised.

Reports by teacher unions show that the audit and spot checks by the PSC were characterised by threats and harassment. In Bulawayo there were reports of auditors conducting a roll call during the school holidays and any teacher not present was deemed absent without official leave.

“We have been informed from Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Midlands, Matabeleland North, Harare and Manicaland that for the past few days teachers are holed at their station including those on legitimate authorised leave. Several school heads are reported to be tightening screws on their staff members. Reports are saying the same PSC officers are instructing heads to compile lists of all ‘troublesome’ teachers and hand them over to the district offices. Our own investigations have proved that some heads are using this opportunity to abuse their own teachers and get even with those who always stand up for their rights. The elderly heads are also being intimidated by the so-called ‘forced retirement’ while intimidating their staff as well,” said a report by PTUZ.

The audit is indicative of a desperate government, which is unable to meet its salary bill and so is acting in panic to reduce that bill.

“I question why teachers are being targeted. Although they constitute almost two thirds of the civil service that is an insufficient ground to want to fire them? Education should be our absolute priority; if we are to secure our future then we have no choice but to protect education and the most important element of any education sector is its body of teachers. I question why for example the military, CIO or police have not been targeted in a similar way. Most of our police seem to spend their days manning roadblocks surely it should be higher national priority to ensure that our children’s education is protected than manning roadblocks. Likewise there is no threat of war so why are we keeping the number of soldiers so high? How much money could be saved if we cut back in those areas?” Coltart asked.