www.zimeye.org

By Dumisani Ndlovu

1st March 2013

The Zanu PF district leadership in Shurugwi is reportedly fanning terror in ward 21 of Shrurugwi South Constituency forcing teachers to formulate local liberation party structures.

Kashambe primary, Dorset primary and secondary schools are said to be the most affected. The move has brought hyper-critics from local leaders describing it as a desperate move to regain the political grip.

Teachers who spoke to this reporter complained that militias had descended on their school, forcing the professionals to put up party structures.

“I am deeply worried about the development, which obviously is a direct violation of our political choice right. Teachers at two schools were forcibly grouped into one Zanu PF structure. All this was done by senior district party leadership against our will. They are now selling their political party cards in local schools, targeting teachers and students with identity documents. The incident has sent a wave of shock and fear in the locality,’’ complained a teacher who prayed for anonymity citing possible victimisation.

MDC ward 21 chairperson, NkosanaDube, condemned the act.

“Honestly Zanu PF is showing its highest degree of desperation. We received reports that they are secretly moving into schools selling their party cards’ ” said Dube.

He added that the targeted schools administration staff could not refuse, fearing unspecified action from the party, whose leader has previously boasted of degrees in violence.

Other villagers who spoke to ZimEye have called upon the Joint Operations and Monitoring Committee (JOMIC) to return, intervene and save them from the marauding Zanu (PF) leaders, saying that the police were reluctant on the issue.

“I understand JOMIC was established to monitor the political situation. What we want is a change in approach so that Zanu (PF) will be exposed,” said a Thembani Moyo, a local villager.

The political commissariat Patrick Mbiba and local youth’s militia are said to be spearheading the terror.

“We have suffered violence from Zanu (PF) supporters; they claimed they won during last year’s elections then why are they troubling us,’’ said another villager.

Former Minister of Education, David Coltart, during the inclusive government said school premises should not be used for political meetings. He however said the ban does not apply to private schools.

The Zimbabwean

26th February 2014

By Thomas Madhuku

Sixteen-year-old Mariah Myambo had always dreamt of getting a degree, finding a good job and then marrying someone she loved. THOMAS MADHUKU hears how many young girls are being denied the future they so desperately wanted.

The death of Mariah’s parents in 2011 changed everything for the young girl. She was emotionally adrift, without love or guidance, and forced to relocate from Harare with her brothers and sisters.

In rural Chipinge, they came face to face with humiliating poverty. Mariah stopped attending school and had to become a grown-up virtually overnight.

With little or no choice, Mariah was forced to marry a kombi driver in a bid to support her siblings.

“After the death of our father we moved to Chipinge as our mother could not afford the rent in town,” says Mariah. “Then our mother also passed away leaving us in the hands of irresponsible relatives who abandoned us and even grabbed our father’s piece of land.”

Being the eldest child, she found herself having to fend for her siblings, and this meant that she had to drop out of school to do menial jobs in the village, including cultivating people’s fields.

It was only after Mariah found out she was pregnant that she also discovered the father of her child already had a wife.

“I was forced into marriage by circumstances and my reason was to escape poverty, but the situation has not changed because my husband’s first wife controls all the money. My siblings, who still look up to me, are at risk of falling into the same mistakes I made,” she says.

Mariah’s case is one of many cases of early child marriages.

A few weeks ago, a daily paper reported that an elderly couple in the southern part of Zimbabwe had allegedly married off their 15-year-old granddaughter so they could get a bag of mealie-meal and R500.

A community elder in Chisumbanje, Mudikani Chauke, believes that early marriages are ruining the future of young girls’ future and are a stumbling block towards the eradication of poverty in society.

“When a child is married without a qualification, it means the cycle of poverty continues, so we need to break that by encouraging children to prioritise education before marriage,” he says.

Chauke singled out families headed by children and those economically impoverished as the most vulnerable, and called for government intervention through education support programmes.

Artwell Sithole, another villager, also blames poverty, saying it is the chief driving factor to all the ills facing rural communities.

He says the government needs to establish more schools to make them more within reach of children, who often have to travel long distances.

‘In some cases, students have to walk more than 12km to get to school and this has resulted in countless cases of drop-outs,” he says.

Sithole adds that those students who live far from schools often opt to rent rooms in the nearby villages.

“This has its own problems as they end up indulging in reckless behaviour and sexual activities that lead to early pregnancies,” he says.

Child experts say child marriage is a violation of human rights that compromises the development of girls and often results in early pregnancy and social isolation.

They say young married girls face onerous domestic burdens, constrained decision-making and reduced life choices.

Caleb Mtandwa, a child rights activist with the Harare-based Justice for Children, says religion, culture and poverty are fuelling child marriages in the country.

“Poverty is forcing children from poor families to get married to escape their circumstances,” he says.

He says age-based discrimination towards girls takes place in the form of child marriages, where the minimum age for marriage in terms of the Marriage Act is 16 for girls and 18 for boys.

“The Customary Marriages Act Chapter 5:07 does not set a minimum age of marriage for girls,” says Mtwanda.

“Besides exacerbating the problem of child marriage, there is discrimination between those girls governed by general law and customary law. Young girls are frequently married off on the pretext that custom allows that.

“We now want the government to take steps to address these causes and align the laws to the new constitution, which describes a child as a person below 18 years and calls for protection of children from all forms of abuse.”

Says Grace Chirenje of the Zimbabwe Young Women’s Network for Peace-Building: “With the prevailing harsh economic times it is clear that parents are also mortgaging their daughters to cushion themselves against difficulties.”

Developing alternative income generating strategies for parents and even for children themselves, she suggests, may be one way to solve the child marriage problem.

A number of demographic and household surveys have been done in the country to determine the prevalence of child marriages and the causes, and to make recommendations.

In its 2011 report titled, Married Too Soon: Child Marriage in Zimbabwe, a local research organisation, Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) noted that early marriages were caused by poverty, beliefs, religion, impunity, tradition and teenage sex.

Another study conducted by Médecins Sans Frontières Belgium-Zimbabwe mission and the University of Zimbabwe’s Centre for Applied Social Sciences also established that poverty made young girls and women more vulnerable.

In 2012, the then minister of education, sports, arts and culture, David Coltart, said that more than 50 per cent of young girls in secondary schools were being forced to drop out. Chief among the reasons was the lack of funds and societal preference to educate boys.

Between 2011 and 2020, more than 140m girls will become child brides, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Of those, 50m will be under the age of 15. It further says that, if current levels of child marriages hold, 14.2m girls a year will marry too young.

“Child marriage is an appalling violation of human rights and robs girls of their education, health and long-term prospects,” says Babatunde Osotimehin, the executive director of the UNFPA.

“A girl who is married as a child is one whose potential will not be fulfilled. Since many parents and communities also want the very best for their daughters, we must work together to end child marriage.”

Zimbabwe Independent

21st February 2014

By Wongai Zhangazha

Ordinary ‘O’ Level results have always generated a lot of interest and inevitably debate over the pass rates which largely reflect the health of the sector.

In the current results the top 10 schools were mostly mission ones with Monte Cassino Secondary school (100%) leading the pack, followed by Anderson Secondary school (97,1%), Zimbabwe Republic Police High School (96,58 %), John Tallach Secondary School (96,15%), Nyanga High School, the best performer in 2012 (96%), St Ignatius College (95,95%), Nyazura Adventist (94,63%), Regina Mundi Secondary School (93,75%), St Dominics (Chishawasha) Secondary (93,26%) and Kriste Mambo Secondary School (92,31%).

This has raised questions about the standards and what determines the grading system as well as how much the results reflect on the quality of education. The overall pass rate for November 2013 is 20,72% — a 2,32% increase from the 2012 results and the highest in the last 14 years. Out of 173 856 candidates who sat for five subjects, only 36 031 passed five subjects or more with a grade C or better.

While Zimbabwe had made tremendous progress in education since 1980 — achieving the highest literacy rate in Africa — there are concerns standards are collapsing and institutions are now producing generations of mediocrity.

According to a report, The Commonwealth and the State of Education in Zimbabwe 2011, written by ex-education minister David Coltart, since 2000 the political crisis and precipitous economic decline induced shocks and pressures that left many sectors, including education, on the verge of collapse.

“Evidence on the ground suggests that the country’s education system is now also facing a crisis — one of the most serious in its history. Government, with support from development partners and other key stakeholders, invested heavily in the sector over the two-and-a-half decades following independence in 1980,” Coltart wrote in a report which still largely reflects the current situation.

“By 1990, the country had met the original Education for All target of universal primary access, and was able to report among the highest adult literacy rates in Africa well into the last decade.

Primary schools and their pupil numbers increased from 2 410 and 820 266 in 1979 to 5 560 and 2 445 516 in 2006 respectively. The country attained a near-universal access to basic education while simultaneously maintaining high levels of quality and equity. And yet, today, the education system is in crisis.”

Coltart said the capacity of government to deliver quality education had been seriously compromised.

“A significant number of schools are now unsafe and structurally unsound, and there is a severe shortage of toilet facilities, which poses a grave health risk,” he said.

Since 2000, Zimbabwe has had to confront multiple and complex challenges that had been partly due to the country’s social and political instability. Reaching a peak in 2008, the meltdown left everything, including education, in tatters.

“Poor examination results suggest that the combined shortage of infrastructure, high pupil ratios, and lack of teaching and learning materials have had an adverse effect on the quality of learning,” Coltart said.

“Textbook supplies, which had been largely financed by parents from levies and their own household income, have dropped to a record low. Unicef estimates that there are 15 children for each textbook in the core subjects in primary schools, while a recent survey showed that at least 12% cent of secondary schools had no maths textbooks at all in 2009.

“Decreasing government expenditure on education has forced schools to increasingly rely on tuition fees and levies. The consequent rise in fees and levies has been a serious obstacle to educational access and completion for many school children. Lack of resources disproportionately affects the marginalised, especially girls. The use of student levies and fees to supplement salaries and retain teachers has exacerbated inequalities between students who can afford higher supplements and those from poor socioeconomic backgrounds.”

Zimbabwean journalist based in Namibia Wonder Guchu, in a report titled Figures Don’t Lie — The State of Our Education, described the ‘O’ results as a fiasco, which damages Zimbabwe’s much-celebrated education system.

“Figures like pictures do not lie and in this regard, the true picture of the state of our education is reflected in the statistics which show massive decline over the years,” he said. “These frightening figures make it imperative to implement the recommendations made by the Nziramasanga Commission on Education of 1999.”

The commission was appointed by President Robert Mugabe in 1998 to look into the problems in education. The commission took a swipe at poor administration and irrelevant curricula, recommending vocationalised education. It also recommended that the teaching methods should be changed to focus on skills, while reducing the focus on examinations.

Guchu said Zanu PF adopted the Nziramasanga report last year, while problems identified in it had persisted unabated. “It means that a whole generation — 2 693 898 was lost — humanity broken,” he said.
However, Coltart this week told the Zimbabwe Independent the results were improving.

“Zimsec ‘O’ levels have been set at a very high standard and educationalists will tell you that they have been designed for an anticipated pass rate of about 24%. In other words one can lower the standard and get a higher pass rate but then that amounts to a lowering of our overall educational standard,” he said.

Coltart, who pointed out that it was not pass rates that were planned but standards, said he “deliberately instructed Zimsec not to lower standards or to meddle with the pass rate during my tenure”.

“What is of concern is that so few children get a secondary school qualification but the solution does not lie in lowering ‘O’ level standards,” he said. “Our Zimsec ‘O’ levels are primarily academically-orientated and herein lies the rub. The solution lies in broadening our curriculum to include far more vocational or practical subjects to accommodate those children who are not academically talented but who have enormous practical talents.”

Zimsec acting public relations manager Tryfine Dzvukutu said: “The 2013 Ordinary Level results were not adjusted at all. Please remember that the Ordinary Level standard is an international standard and during grading we always benchmark with other examination boards whose representatives attend our grading meetings.

“There was no adjustment made to the results. The results issued out represent the assessed performance of candidates at the ZGCE Ordinary Level. An increase in pass rate means an improvement in performance by the candidates hence Zimsec can only say the pass rate is indicative of an improvement on last year’s performance.”

Godfrey Museka, an educationist with a local university, said the results were a “true reflection of the mental aptitude of children in Zimbabwe”.

The Mercury

By Peta Thornycroft

20th February 2014

As he turns 90, Zimbabwe’s plundering president is still adept at feathering his family nest, writes Peta Thornycroft.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turns 90 on Friday is busy with two matters close to his heart: his daughter’s wedding, and the game he has played all his political life: ensuring those most likely to succeed him are at each other’s throats. That game is proving a tad more troubling than usual.

His daughter Bona’s wedding early next month will be lavish and important for his family.

So Mugabe flicked a switch at the Harare municipality to ensure all potholes on the way to the residence where the wedding reception will be held are filled.

The garden at the Mugabes’ mansion is huge and lovely, with two lakes. An army of civil servants maintains it. It is surrounded by kilometres of high wall, with a stripe at the top painted in Grace’s favourite colour, turquoise.

Zimbabweans learnt about this “palace”, as it is known in the streets, in 2003. An architect’s bill of quantities showed it cost more than Mugabe has officially earned since independence.

This was the first real inkling Zimbabweans had that Mugabe, a self-proclaimed socialist, was wealthier than should have been possible, even with canny investing.

There was hardly any formal opposition to Mugabe and his Zanu-PF until 2000 when the nine-month-old Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) came within a whisker of defeating Zanu-PF at parliamentary elections.

Mugabe was caught off guard and turned to what had worked for him before. After independence Mugabe wanted to wipe out the rival liberation movement Zapu, led by Joshua Nkomo.

So he sent a North Korean-trained brigade to root out opponents in remote parts of the two Matabeleland provinces.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe later established that about 20 000 people had been killed and Mugabe blocked the findings of the commission of inquiry he set up to investigate.

In 2001, before the presidential elections, violence, mostly around invasions of white-owned commercial farms, was stepped up and hundreds of MDC supporters and activists were killed.

Relations with the West, long testy, broke down. Aid (apart from food) was curtailed and Western travel and financial sanctions were introduced against Mugabe and Zanu-PF heavyweights. The army ran the presidential elections and Mugabe’s victory was disputed by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Political analyst, academic and lifelong Zanu-PF supporter Ibbo Mandaza says Mugabe wants to rule until he dies.

“He will stay in power until the end. He has monarchical tendencies, like many other African leaders. He sees himself as a king.

“He is the illustration of the pathology of power.”

At independence Mugabe inherited an education system with the best outcomes in Africa.

He re-opened schools that had been closed in the war, trained more teachers, and expanded secondary schools, with massive help from churches and western aid.

Within five years of independence all children were at school, and it was free. But educationist Mary Ndlovu wrote a paper recently on Zimbabwe’s education history since independence called: “Zimbabwe’s education legacy. Was it all so rosy?”

Ndlovu wrote that “through the 1980s, on average more than 60 percent of the pupils left school before completing Form 4… of all the children who entered schools, only about 6 percent had a clear road ahead of them when they left.”

Zimbabwe’s literacy has not been measured in more studies and the UN’s statistic is based on school attendance, not literacy. Her paper shows that education, particularly at rural schools, was not nearly as rosy as many believed.

During the hyper inflationary period after 2000, most children at government schools were not taught, as teachers were unpaid.

The inclusive government, massively helped by European donors, got the schools open again and funded about 13 million textbooks.

Mugabe did support MDC minister David Coltart as he battled to uplift dereliction at so many schools.

Health services that did so much via the UN’s referral system after independence crashed along with education after 2000.

Zimbabwe saw its Annual Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) shooting from 300 deaths per 100 000 births in 1990 to 960 in 2010.

The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) remains high at 28.23 deaths per 1 000 live births. Hospitals were world-class at independence but are now in shocking disrepair.

Last week a sick woman at Harare’s Parirenyatwa Hospital fled the emergency section when she realised the man on a stretcher across the room was dead. No one had noticed.

The inclusive government brought a brief improvement in health care.

Driven by donors via the UN, and overseen by an MDC minister, the supply of drugs improved and nurses and doctors again received their salaries.

However, there has been a dramatic slippage in all public services since last year’s elections ended the inclusive government.

So what did Zimbabweans get from Robert Mugabe?

He and Zanu-PF frequently hail the country’s sovereignty from western interference. They have kept the revolution safe from invasion.

So far there is no proof that any country, including South Africa in the 1980s, would invade independent Zimbabwe even during diplomatic shouting between Harare and London after land invasions began in 2000.

Two hundred thousand Zimbabwean families – about a million people – did get small chunks of land taken from white farmers since 2000.

But it’s a tough road for those new farmers and most are not growing food but are, at terrible ecological cost, producing tobacco.

This year, agriculturists estimate that farmers may for the second year produce only half the maize needed, but will harvest about 75 percent of the levels of tobacco production before land invasions.

Before his chaotic land reform programme, Mugabe bought one farm but took five more adjoining that one from about 2004.

The state financed and ran those farms at least until the 2009 inclusive government.

The latest scandal to emerge in Zimbabwe is so-called “salarygate” – staggering salaries paid to senior officials in parastatals. Mugabe has not yet spoken of new scandals emerging weekly.

Analysts say that until salaries in mining parastatals are exposed, there is only one reason for the revelations: a vicious fight by proxies loyal to presidential hopeful Emmerson Mnangagwa against vice-president Joice Mujuru to succeed Mugabe.

The liberation war hero Judith Todd, whose father was a liberal prime minister in the former Southern Rhodesia, said from Bulawayo this week: “As birthday celebrations take place amidst the turmoil of Zimbabwe’s ‘salarygate’ scandals, I can’t help remembering the final words of my late father, Garfield Todd, on President Mugabe. ‘What I cannot forgive is how many people he has corrupted’.”

So how did Mugabe and others make their money?

When Mugabe travels internationally the law allows his aides to go to the treasury and take what he wants for himself and about 30 to 50 aides who depend on per diems for foreign travel to maintain their lifestyles.

He sometimes spends tens of millions of rand per trip – and this has been the case for decades.

Former finance minister Tendai Biti in the inclusive government warned of Mugabe’s travel costs. But there was nothing he could do to stop him.

When Mugabe returns from medical treatment in Singapore to enjoy his 90th birthday at the weekend, he will feel comforted his revolution is safe and his family’s financial future is secure. But most of the population is poorer than ever.

Around 2007, when the central bank largely ran the country and printed trillions of worthless Zimbabwe dollars, some Zanu-PF leaders made money by exchanging Zim dollars for US dollars at the official rate of exchange, Z$54 to US$1. The real rate changed by the hour, but on the streets the rate of exchange was several trillion Zimbabwe dollars for US$1 million.

At that time the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe sent R10m to South Africa for Grace Mugabe to buy four commercial trucks.

The central bank was and still is the Mugabes’ bank.

When the Zimbabwe dollar was abandoned, some financial stability returned, but after Zanu-PF won disputed elections last year about R7 billion was withdrawn from banks, mostly by Chinese investors, and the economy is on the ropes again.

Financial Gazette

20th February 2014

By Maggie Mzumara 

CIVIL servants are finding that the ball did not find the net in their quest for salary increments. For now the promised poverty datum line (PDL)-adjusted salaries remain a mirage.
In the heat of the moment, at the very height of political desperation, precariously riding on the ball-finding-the-net metaphor, ZANU-PF found itself clutching at anything and everything in order to beef up its popularity.
In the frenzy of the election heat emanating from the onslaught of competition mounted by political opponents, promises were made both explicitly and implicitly. Foresight and caution as to whether or not the implementation will be practicable thereafter was thrown away to the wind. Needless to point out, riding on the wave of some hugely populistic promises, the revolutionary party has left in  its wake a trail of injured victims of grandiose pies in the sky.

The latest in the trail of disappointed and disillusioned parties, are civil servants, who, in the election fever when the revolutionary party stood at knife’s point in the face of gushing competition from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) were promised salary increments in line with the poverty datum line (PDL). After a protracted process  fraught with various challenges ranging from their own internal bickering and power struggles, to the ZANU-PF government’s shifting  of goal posts, an agreement was finally reached on the promised increments.

Hardly a month later, with civil servants eager to get their hands on the fruits of their lengthy negotiations, the hope has rudely evaporated only to be replaced by despair, disappointment and disillusionment. Apparently government will not be able to give them their increments. At least not until April.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Patrick Chinamasa, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Nicholas Goche have cited the lack of funds in the government coffers as reason for the delay.

Although when the increment finally does come, it will be backdated to January 2014, the disappointment cannot be overlooked.
“As workers we are not happy. We have been looking forward to our increment for years,” said Richard Gundani, president of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association. “We need to make it clear to government that delays are not welcome.”

And yet they had believed, especially coming as it did from the highest level of power and authority.
“Some of them clearly bought into the promise and so were mislead,” said former education minister David Coltart. “I am not surprised. ZANU-PF made a whole range of announcements at election time. They made some rash promises, but the reality is that the economy is in trouble.”

As they climb down from the lofty promises, civil servants need to at least land on something for consolation and renewed hope. And for now that something is a carefully crafted roadmap.
“We are demanding that we quickly engage government through a national joint negotiation committee to review implementation. We are hoping to come up with a clear roadmap detailing when exactly the increments will come. The implementation must begin and it must begin. There must not be any delays in the implementation,” said Gundani.

But teachers are not the only ones who have been left licking the wounds of broken promises.
Over the years, there has been suspicion that some youths have fallen prey to the lure of promises, again explicitly and implicitly.
One youth, Tonderai Maenza, also known as Kaboko in the run up to the elections made repeated appearances on the state broadcaster spewing out propaganda which at the time he thought had the blessing of the ruling party.
He even went ahead and registered an organisation, the Zimbabwe Struggle Support Movement, in line with the expectations that the revolutionary would give him a pat on the back and carry him on its coat tails en route to some gravy train post the elections.

Kaboko has learnt the hard way that you do not just jump onto a bandwagon whose destination you are not sure of.
“I went to ZTV more than 20 times speaking on empowerment and other messages,” said the 38-year-old.  “But now nobody wants to see me.”

Although Kaboko has no written commitment from the ruling party to prove his or his organisation’s affiliation, and the Financial Gazette couldn’t readily get anyone from the party to vouch for him, he was able to produce a letter of confirmation of registration of his organisation from the Zimbabwe Youth Council.

Perhaps his was implicit encouragement, but that post elections he is in the cold with no fertile ground for his propagandistic messages cannot be any more explicit than it already is.
Short-term history also has some musicians and others who have been roped into, or roped themselves onto the bandwagon of the party only to be spewed out and forgotten after a season of usefulness.

Other groups who have been tagged onto the trail, during campaigns and not given nearly as much visibility after they have outdone their usefulness are the apostolic sect church members. Just before elections some uncanny kinship with the ruling party was kindled for all and sundry to see, but   not as much visibility of than kinship, if at all it exists,  lingers on after the embers of the election fires have been put out.
“Ndiko kunonzi kushandiswa chaiko kwatinoitwa.  Kuti wese aita chinhu chake ouya kumapostori (This is what we call being used. That anyone with their agenda wants to come to people of the apostolic sect.),” Mai Bishop Chitanda, leader of the apostolic women in the country said in the run up to the last elections. 

The Guardian

19th February 2014

By David Smith, Africa Correspondent

A costly celebration, criticised as cultism and hero worship, comes at a time of heavy job losses and slowing economic growth.

Plans for a lavish $1m (£600,000) celebration of Zimbabwean presidentRobert Mugabe‘s 90th birthday have been condemned as the country lurches towards another financial crisis.

The tribute to Africa‘s oldest head of state – and second oldest in the world after Israel’s Shimon Peres – is expected to surpass last year’s party, when special gold coins were minted and Mugabe was presented with a cake said to weigh 89kg.

But the costly event will come amid heavy job losses, slowing economic growth and what the central bank describes as a “severe and persistent liquidity crunch”, reviving memories of the disastrous meltdown five years ago.

Mugabe, who continues to defy the march of time and constant health speculation, travelled to Singapore this week for cataract surgery on his left eye, according to his spokesman.

But he is expected back in time for the birthday celebration with thousands of supporters at the Rudhaka stadium in the town of Marondera on Sunday, two days after he turns 90.

Absalom Sikhosana, secretary for youth affairs in Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, told reporters recently: “This is a very special celebration. Turning 90 is no mean feat. You cannot turn 90 years when you are a womaniser, a drunkard or a chain smoker. We will be celebrating the life of a very special person on a very special occasion.”

It is a milestone in the history of the country, which has known no other leader since gaining independence from Britain in 1980, but activists and opposition politicians described the event as an extravagant waste of money when many citizens are going hungry.

“It would be inappropriate for a country’s head of state to have such a lavish and costly celebration at a time when the country is faced with the disaster of flooding and a crumbling economy,” said Dewa Mavhinga, a Zimbabwe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It’s about cultism, hero worship, institutionalising Mugabe, with sycophants around him trying to oil the wheels of patronage. There’s an entire system behind this corruption.”

Reflecting on Mugabe’s 34 years in power, Mavhinga added: “His human rights record is one that no one can honestly admire. There is nothing to celebrate about his birthday or his legacy – and there are concerns that, if something should happen to him, the country might be plunged into chaos if there is no clear mechanism for transition.”

Officially, funds for the birthday bash are being raised by the Zanu-PF youth league and not from the public purse. But Tendai Biti, who was finance minister until his party lost heavily to Zanu-PF in disputed elections last year, said: “When I was finance minister we never contributed a cent, but I’ve absolutely no doubt that they will get money from the treasury this time.”

As the economy stumbles back into trouble, long queues are returning to bank branches and companies are laying off aroundabout 300 people a week, according to trade unions.

Biti said: “The economy is going down and we need to do something about it. The government is clueless and has no idea how to manage it. Things are getting worse every day.”

David Coltart, the former education minister, noted that the economy was in far worse shape during the hyperinflation of 2008 but Mugabe’s supporters organised birthday celebrations even then. “Some people will be appalled by it but they don’t seem bothered,” he said.

The president regularly travels to Singapore for medical check-ups and, some believe, a mysterious treatment involving blood transfusions. A US diplomatic cable from 2008, leaked three years later by WikiLeaks, quoted Mugabe’s close ally and former central bank chief Gideon Gono as telling former US ambassador Christopher Dell that Mugabe had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The far east became the destination of choice for Mugabe’s medical care after the European Union imposed sanctions on him in 2002. On Monday the EU said it had lifted a visa ban and assets freeze against members of Zimbabwe‘s ruling elite with the exception of Mugabe and his wife, Grace.

If he serves his full term, Mugabe will be 94 when the next elections are due. At the funeral of his sister Bridget last month, he spoke for more than an hour and mused: “I do not know how I have lived this long. It is all in God’s hands.”

“I do respect that he’s reached 90 years,” Coltart said. “I was constantly amazed in cabinet by his vigour; he was not a doddery, senile man. Against that, the country remains in crisis and the economy is in turmoil. That needs an energetic pair of hands to deal with.”

Southern Eye

14th February 2014

By Ndudzo Tshuma, Staff Reporter

ZANU PF deputy director of information and publicity Psychology Maziwisa yesterday attracted the ire of ordinary Zimbabweans on social media when he blamed former Education minister David Coltart for the poor Ordinary Level results.

Writing on his Facebook page, Maziwisa lambasted Coltart for the 2% improvement in the ‘O’ Level pass rate compared to 18% in in the previous year.

“We are all entitled to be disgusted by what is happening in our educational system, not least because it’s an affront to President (Robert) Mugabe’s efforts over the years to make Zimbabwe the leading country on the continent, possibly in the world, as far as education is concerned,” Maziwisa posted.

“And a 2% improvement from last year’s 18% ‘O’ Level pass rate just isn’t good enough.

“Yet it has to be remembered that the reason why our standards fell so miserably last year was because a clueless MDC minister, who was possibly out to send a political message, was in charge of the education ministry.

“It’s a fatal mistake that we simply cannot afford to see that repeated again,” he wrote.

However, Maziwisa’s post triggered responses with more than 80 people commenting on his wall within three hours of his post praising Coltart and all of them crediting the MDC secretary for legal affairs for rescuing the country’s education sector.

“If I remember well, the same MDC minister brought back the education that was on a free fall. He brought textbooks to schools both primary and secondary.

“He fought for many school children to go back to school. Sometimes it’s not about MDC or Zanu PF Psychology. It’s about our beloved Zimbabwe.

“Instead of giving solutions to the so called problem, I have seen that you seem to push a blame agenda. Let’s have solutions not blame,” posted Albert Zinhanga.

Sitha Sabelo Ngwenya ka Mavikinduku posted: “Wena Pyscho-ndini who doesn’t know that Coltart rescued the education sector from total collapse after donkey years of Zanu PF misrule?

“Had Coltart not taken over, we would not be talking about pass rates in 2014. Please spare us from your nonsense.”

Another Facebook user, Justice Zishiri charged: “No matter how much you hate the guy, Coltart remains by far the best Education minister in my personal opinion this country has ever had in all respects in a long time.

“He was principled, level headed, hardworking, diligent and above all committed to his work of seeing every child in school. His work is there for all to see and it was above politics.

“You are punching below the belt and should be ashamed of yourself.”

Coltart was not to be left out and thanked Zimbabweans for defending him against the abuse.

“Thank you for all the kind comments made here. I am deeply touched by your support.

“One thing that Maziwisa has not mentioned is that when I took office exactly five years ago today in February 13 2009, there were no results at all because Zimsec had not even marked the exams yet.”

Meanwhile, the 2013 “O” Level results released showed that only seven schools from the Matabeleland region were in the national top 100 performing schools.

The highest pass rate in the region was attained by John Tallach Secondary School in Ntabazinduna which was ranked fourth nationally with 96,15%.

St Columbas High School in Makokoba (33) with 80,84%, David Livingstone Secondary School in Ntabazinduna (64) with 67,31%, Usher Secondary School in Figtree (68) with 66,92%, Minda Secondary School in Matopo (70) with 64,95%, Mtshabezi Secondary School in Gwanda (79) with 61,11%, Thekwane High School in Plumtree (91) with 57,14% and Inyathi Secondary School in Inyathi (96) with 56,32%.

The top performing school was Monte Casino Secondary in Macheke which recorded a 100% passrate.

Mail and Guardian

14th February 2014

 By Takudzwa Munyaka

Expectations that government would act on corruption are fast fading as the matter has become part of Zanu-PF’s divisive succession battle.

Ongoing media exposures of the massive salaries drawn by parastatal bosses may have been welcomed by the public, but expectations that the government would act on corruption are fast fading – instead, the matter has fizzled out and become part of Zanu-PF’s divisive battle on who will succeed President Robert Mugabe.

Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who leads one of the two factions in Zanu-PF that are battling to take over after Mugabe, this week suggested that the exposures that have become known as “salary-gate” could be the work of detractors bent on destroying the party from within.

Zimbabweans vented their anger on social media, leading the opposition to call for her to resign.

Officials aligned to Mujuru’s camp who spoke to the Mail & Guardian this week said that, although she may have struck a raw nerve, her assertion that the exposés were politically motivated were widely shared.

“Ever since Jonathan Moyo was appointed as a media minister, there has been a concentrated attack on our camp, especially by the public media. It’s not a once-off event; the attack has been consistent. Look at the spirited efforts to soil the image of Gideon Gono [the former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor] and the attack on our camp during the provincial elections last year,” said a Zanu-PF politburo member.

“The attacks were so severe that we discussed the issue in the politburo last year. When you look at the ongoing exposures, it’s clear there is a factional dimension that cannot be ignored.”

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
“Take the exposure of the salaries at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) as an example. Ask yourself who the minister of information during the inclusive government era was, and you will get your answer. Similarly, on the Air Zimbabwe exposé, ask yourself who was the minister and you will get your answer,” the source said.

The former information minister is Webster Shamu and transport was headed by Nicholas Goche.

Shamu is also the party’s political commissar and was a member of the national electorate directorate, which chose candidates for last year’s parliamentary elections.

He is a strong Mujuru ally and was pivotal in ensuring the faction won the provincial elections, which will be crucial in deciding Zanu-PF’s leaders at the elective congress later this year.

ZBC fell under Shamu’s ministry. It was recently reported that its chief executive officer Happison Muchechetere was earning $44 500 a month, and senior managers – among them retired brigadier general Elliot Kasu, general manager of news Tazzen Mandizvidza and general manager of radio services, Allan Chiweshe – were each taking home $26 875 every month. ZBC is in financial doldrums and has failed to pay lower-level staff salaries for about six months.

Air Zimbabwe executives Politburo member Nicholas Goche, a key Mujuru ally, was the minister of transport and infrastructural development when Air Zimbabwe executives allegedly dabbled in corrupt activities including a $11-million insurance scam, which resulted in the national airliner failing to meet its national mandate.

New Transport Minister Obert Mpofu dissolved the Air Zimbabwe board on Tuesday.

Public Service Medical Aid Society
The most shocking revelation was that the Public Service Medical Aid Society was paying its chief executive officer Cuthbert Dube up to half a million dollars a month in salary and benefits, at a time when the institution was heavily in debt and failing to pay service providers.

Another Zanu-PF insider confirmed that Dube is a Mujuru sympathiser.

“You can see that the leaks are very strategic. Why haven’t they leaked how much Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation or what executives of diamond mining companies are earning, for example. There is certainly an ulterior motive to these exposures,” said the politburo member.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo told the M&G the party had not yet taken a position on the revelations but defended Mujuru’s stance, insisting she had been misunderstood.

Gumbo himself is said to belong to Mujuru’s camp and helped her to co-ordinate the Midlands province in the provincial polls, which she won. Midlands is also Mujuru’s rival Mnangagwa’s home province.

Gumbo said the Zanu-PF politburo would meet soon to discuss the issue but he did not give a date.

“The vice-president is a mature person and some of us understood that she was not condoning corruption. She was in fact speaking against it but said we must be careful about how we handle it. She is saying we must not be quick to judge people before we really know what is going on,” Gumbo said.

Another senior Zanu-PF official said most officials were clear the salary schedules were being leaked to the media by senior Zanu-PF officials but they were not clear what the purpose was.

“Some people thought it was meant to divert the people’s attention from the economic meltdown, but if that was the case it has come back to haunt us because most parastatals are run by our people.

The boards are also full of people with a military background, so if that was the case then it was a double-edged sword,” said the official.

“What is clear though is that in Zanu-PF everything is viewed with suspicion because of factionalism, so naturally people are skeptical. Mujuru, though, has shot herself in the foot by her reaction. People are angry and have been calling for the government to curb corruption, to no avail, and for her to condemn the media was a huge mistake.”

Anger and little action
Mujuru’s statements and government’s failure to take legal action on the culprits other than dissolving some boards and firing some chief executive officers has reinforced the view that the looting was sanctioned by senior government officials.

On Thursday the police arrested Air Zimbabwe’s company secretary for allegedly defrauding the airline.

Former education minister David Coltart said that during his tenure he knew and approved salaries of senior officers in public institutions under his ministry so there was no way ministers could not have known what was going on on their watch.

Coltart questioned how some ministers had allowed parastatal bosses under their ministries to take home such salaries considering the state of the Zimbabwean economy.

Former minister of state enterprises and parastatals Gorden Moyo last week said President Robert Mugabe and the Zanu-PF government knew about the salaries bosses of public institutions were getting.

Moyo said he had tried to address the issue during the inclusive government era, but did not receive support from Zanu-PF ministers, whom he said were taking part in the looting.

Moyo alleged that there was evidence that parastatals bosses were bribing ministers with top-of-the- range vehicles such as Mercedes Benz and Toyota Landcruisers as well as fuel and airtime over and above their official government allocations.

He said parastatals boards have become “retirement homes” for board members, most of them with a military background. Political analyst Dumisani Nkomo said the ongoing exposures were definitely political.

“It’s political. It could be factional wars between the Mujuru and the Mnangagwa camp. It could also be Zanu-PF trying to occupy the space that the opposition used to occupy, by giving the impression that it is keen to expose and fight corruption,” he said.

“But this has destroyed Mujuru. Everyone respected her until she spoke on the issue. She may have genuine fears that her faction was being targeted, but she should have kept quiet. She has emerged the biggest loser.”

New Zimbabwe.com

9th February 2014

THE dam being built on the Tokwe River in Masvingo is close to bursting as water from heavy rains is finding its way through gaps in the uncompleted dam wall.

Tokwe Mukorsi dam was due to be completed at the end of last year but the deadline has passed with construction still not finished.

Villagers had to be evacuated as quickly as possible, with around 4,000 people believed to be at risk should the dam burst.  According to the Daily News, the Zimbabwe Air Force is helping people evacuate.

The Minister for Masvingo province was quoted as saying that the government is on high alert and “A helicopter from the AFZ has been airlifting some families who were marooned by the floods but we are not yet sure how many people are still marooned.”