Beggars should not go for luxury

By David Coltart | Published December 6, 2013

The Herald

By Joram Nyathi

6th December 2013

 

Once upon a time there was a man, one Hon David Coltart. He declined a ministerial Mercedes Benz on his appointment as Education minister. This gesture elicited sneers from his peers.In an earlier era, His Worship Solomon Tawengwa had pleaded for our empathy.

He needed a four-wheel-drive vehicle. As mayor, he needed to navigate Harare’s treacherous manholes, sorry, potholes, to deliver service to city residents.

I can’t remember but I believe his wish was ultimately granted. Since then no big man in our country accepts anything smaller.
The trouble is that Zimbabwe is a small, poor, rich country.

So often we are out there with a begging bowl to meet the real needs of the poor, not the synthetic wants of our big man. The weather has been very unkind lately, making food security for our rural folk a major challenge.

So we must beg as a nation. And what’s that got to do with Coltart or Tawengwa? It’s about our national priorities, managing our resources and cutting our cloth according to our size. Zimbabwe has just come out of an election.

Our small country has been quartered into 210 constituencies and an extra 60 legislators chosen by proportional representation. That means we have 270 Members of Parliament for a nation of just 13 million souls.

I haven’t mentioned senators and their perks. Ordinarily that should not be a big problem. With “enough” resources I don’t mind everyone being one’s own MP. But we don’t have limitless resources and most of our minerals are still in their natural state in the ground.

Those which have been extracted are exported in their raw state to enrich other people’s nations. So is our tobacco. But we can manage our resources better. Our honourable MPs are already scanning the horizon for four-wheel-drive imports. These have become a status symbol.

I am not interested in crunching numbers. But imagine what would happen if the money required to import nearly 270 4×4 vehicles were invested in Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries to assemble them locally!

WMMI assembles sturdy Mazda BT-50 vehicles which can traverse the worst terrain in Zimbabwe. They cost far less than your high-maintenance, fuel-guzzling Prado, Chevrolet, Range Rover Discovery, BMW and Jeep among others.

This imported luxury is not affected by sanctions. Government should simply decree that every official below the level of a minister should get their vehicle from WMMI.

The same should apply to MPs. Those who want to import should pay punitive duty. Surely beggars cannot afford to be finicky about vehicle models.

We can’t afford luxury and extravagance at the same time we are begging. The point is not to dole out money to Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries. It is to give it capacity for higher productivity.

It is to enable it to create jobs by opening up branches across the country. It is to enable the company to employ the many graduates and artisans which our universities and colleges throw onto the streets every year.

Above all, it is to save the little foreign currency earned from tobacco and other exports which can then be deployed to other productive sectors such as manufacturing, health, education and agriculture.

Imagine the goodwill this modest gesture by our MPs would engender in the nation! Once Government demonstrates indeed that charity begins at home, the nation will love the Mazda brand.

Soon we should begin to earn foreign currency from regional exports the moment people learn that the Mazda assembled in Zimbabwe is almost a status symbol.

Former Finance minister Tendai Biti indicated in his last budget that the country had a trade deficit of almost US$4 billion. Because our exports are so limited, much of the foreign currency we use to import second-hand vehicles, human hair and many dangerous skin lightening products never returns.

That means in real terms we have fewer US dollars in circulation with every import, much of which has nothing to do with essential raw materials or production technologies beside computers.

Through programmes such as the land reform, black economic empowerment and education President Mugabe has restored the dignity of Zimbabweans and indicated to us the way to prosperity.

Unfortunately, we have not learnt to be modest in our desires, in our management and consumption of what we should only hold in trust on behalf of the poor or generations still to come.

We have not learnt to be modest in spending the little foreign currency earned through sweat and blood from back-breaking labour on the farms.

The culture of saving and service must start at the top.

Posted in Press reports | Leave a comment

David Coltart’s Blog – THE SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS LIES IN OUR PEOPLE

By David Coltart | Published November 26, 2013

THE SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS LIES IN OUR PEOPLE – ALL OUR PEOPLE

By David Coltart

26 November 2013

Nathaniel Manheru was a real treat this morning in Saturday’s Herald.

I will give you a few classic quotes:

First of all it is entitled “Zimbabwe: Victory without a party” which actually says it all. But here are some more quotes form the body of the article.

“Both at individual and at national levels, the decision-making matrix has become quite complex, forbidding in fact.”

“The fastest casualty of electoral victory is the happy world of campaigning where everything is possible. After that world goes, in comes an imperfect and dismal one, a world where ‘it can’t’.”

“We seem to have won on indigenisation in order to get the reprieve and legitimacy to reverse it.”

“With most companies in debt, without capital, underutilised, on old technology and uncompetitive, predators are on the prowl.”

“Key national assets are being seized while we wring our hands in learned despair.”

“And the conclusion of all this for Zanu-PF … and her aspiration to indigenisation is clearly disheartening.”

At the conclusion of the article Manheru says that his purpose in airing the problems is to seek solutions. The first step towards a solution is for ZANU PF to acknowledge that at the very core of this economic distress is the fact that their economic and political policies are fundamentally flawed. All of us living in the real world knew all along that ZANU PF’s campaign promises were a lie, based on failed policies that were bound to keep on failing. Aside from the gross illegatities which led to this “resounding victory” the fact is that ZANU PF tempted some voters through making promises which either they could not keep or which would have deleterious consequences for the economy. The claim that somehow they could realise billions of dollars internally by indiginising local assets was complete poppy cock. The writing off of millions of dollars of money owed to parastatals and local councils was a cunning electoral ploy but was always going to have catastrophic consequences for ZESA and our local councils in particular.

ZANU PF’s solution to all of this is to send Patrick Chinamasa off to China to mortgage national assets. If the Chinese do oblige all that will do is provide some temporary relief but it will have catastrophic consequences for our children’s inheritance. It needs to be said loud and clear – selling off national assets to the Chinese is against our national interest; indeed I would venture to say that it amounts to treason.

What ZANU PF needs to recognise is that at the core of our problems is a basic lack of confidence in their ability to govern. No matter how one dresses it up the fact remains that the people know that this is the same ZANU PF which almost completely destroyed the economy in 2008 and which hasn’t changed. Inevitably that will deter local investors from investing domestically, will cause capital flight, will deter Zimbabwean diasporan human capital from returning and critically will make foreign investors look elsewhere. That was why one bank has reported massive capital flight around the election. That is why there is little cash in the system. When people lack confidence they take their money out of banks and put it under the pillows.

Selling off national assets to the Chinese is not going to build confidence. The people are not stupid. They can see how the Chinese operate in Africa – it is fundamentally an exploitative relationship. The Chinese are quite naturally interested in boosting their own domestic economy; they have so much catching up to do that they need whatever resources they can lay their hands on at the cheapest price. The history of their “investments” in Africa is littered with examples of contracts which have benefitted them to the detriment of Africans. One just has to consider the story of the new power station recently built in Botswana which is totally inappropriate. Look also no further than the MA60 aircraft supplied to Air Zimbabwe by the Chinese – not one is flying just a few years after they were supplied, nor are they likely to fly. Our precious diamond resources, many of which have been handed to Chinese companies to exploit, have not benefitted rank and file Zimbabweans. The irony is that for all ZANU PF’s claims that Zimbabwe will “never be a colony again” we are rapidly becoming just that – a Chinese colony or dependency.

The solution to this national crisis does not lie in China – it lies right here at home. ZANU PF needs to end its exclusive, totalitarian and racist policies. We have more than enough Zimbabwean talent to find solutions to our problems – we have tens of thousands of Zimbabwean citizens, living both within and without Zimbabwe, who want ZIMBABWE to develop, who have a deep rooted passion and commitment to ZIMBABWE and who are ready to put their intellect and capital to work here. They have the ability to get OUR industries, mines, farms, hospitals, schools and tourist resorts working again. They have the desire to put ZIMBABWE first, not some foreign nation.

But ZANU PF has to change – whilst they are in de facto control they need to realise that they cannot govern unless they build a broad national consensus and implement policies which will build domestic confidence and which will enable them to tap into this vast pool of national talent.

President Mugabe visited Singapore last week – that is a country which had a smaller economy than Southern Rhodesia had in 1958 and yet is now an economic powerhouse. It had no mineral resources whatsoever with which to build its economy; it had no diamonds to sell off. The miracle of Singapore happened because there was a sustained investment in its own people, primarily in education. And once it had educated its people it retained them and those educated citizens have transformed that nation. Whilst we in Zimbabwe have educated our people well we have not had economic and political policies which have retained our intellectual capital. Instead we have hounded out people like Strive Masiyiwa , and thousands of chartered accountants, doctors, architects, mechanics and electricians. Those people have left because thy didn’t like the authoritarian nature of our society and they were sufficiently talented to be able to move easily.

We need to realise that our people are our greatest asset. A nation can have all the minerals in the world but if those minerals are not developed by clever, talented, dedicated, patriotic, honest and passionate citizens – of all races – they will just be squandered. There is a home in Singapore for everyone – Chinese, Malay, even whites – and it is they who have developed it into the economic powerhouse it is today.

So what ZANU PF needs to is to enter into an honest national dialogue with all our nation’s people. It needs to be talking to the Strive Masiyiwa’s of our nation – people who have demonstrated an ability to run large businesses honestly, efficiently and profitably – to find out what solutions they have for our problems. It needs to find out what will encourage the Strive Masiyiwa’s to return home and put their considerable shoulders to the wheel. They need to recognise that there is human capital out there in the form of the Tendai Biti ‘s of this nation who love this country with a deep rooted passion and what is more are honest, clever and hard working…and have solutions.

Zimbabwe has gone downhill economically for the last 50 years because we have allowed narrow partisan or racist interests to dominate out political discourse. We are the classic example of a house divided, falling. Until we end that, the massive potential of this great Nation will not be realised. The ball is now firmly in ZANU PF’s court – whether one likes it or not, they are the de facto governors until 2018 – to decided whether they are going to continue the failed policies of the Rhodesian Front and their own policies of the last 33 years, or whether they are going to turn over a new leaf and engage all Zimbabweans to get us out of this quagmire.

Posted in Blog | Leave a comment

Teacher Incentives Create Rift

By David Coltart | Published November 21, 2013

The Financial Gazette

By Theoppy Ncube

21 November 2013

BULAWAYO —— Incentives, which have served some teachers very well, and others not so well, have become a highly charged and divisive issue among the local teaching fraternity. Because of the resultant contention, the incentives have increasingly been viewed as unnecessary by teachers’ unions who feel that they fly in the face of real salary increments and undermine their effort to lobby with one strong voice.

With a promise by the ZANU-PF government of salary increases well above the poverty datum line (PDL), the unions believe that they could afford to let the divisive incentives go once President Robert Mugabe’s administration has fulfilled its promise.

The PDL is used to evaluate both absolute and relative poverty by measuring the median income of people below a certain income quintile.

It represents the cost of a given standard of living that must be attained if a person is deemed not to be poor. In other words, an individual whose income falls below the PDL is deemed to be poorly paid.

Government workers have therefore been up in arms with their employer, pressing for PDL-linked salaries and improved working conditions.

Before the introduction of the incentives, teachers were migrating to neighbouring countries such as Botswana and South Africa in  search of greener pastures.

As a result, the standards of education have declined to worrying levels while morale on the part of the teachers has hit rock bottom.

Incentives were introduced in 2009 by David Coltart, then minister of education, sport, arts and culture, to motivate and encourage teachers to continue in the profession.

Since then teachers in urban schools have received between US$150 and US$400 in incentives, depending on their schools, plus a monthly salary of about US$300 from the government.

It has been a double blow for parents who are being made to pay for the teachers’ incentives on top of the usual tuition fees.

At the same time, these parents are also indirectly funding the schools through Pay As You Earn and other taxes paid to the fiscus.

To most of these parents, what matters most is to enable their children to access better education.

In spite of their sacrifice, all is not well in the teaching profession. Cracks are emerging between unions and their membership.

The major bone of contention arising from the incentives has been that what a teacher gets in incentives is influenced by how affluent the school and its parents are.

They have worked in favour of teachers in private schools and others in low density areas while hugely disadvantaging those working in rural areas and high density suburbs where incomes of parents are much lower and at times non-existent.

This has caused discord among teachers as with such disparities they cannot all speak with one voice.

In its campaign for the July 31 elections, ZANU-PF promised to review salaries for teachers and pledged this would take top priority once the new administration was in power.

Talks have been under way with unions submitting their proposed salaries to government. Unions  expect the lowest paid worker to earn at least US$600.

Vusumuzi Mahlangu, the Bulawayo provincial co-ordinator of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, said once the salaries have been reviewed to levels above the PDL then there would be no need for the incentives.

“The incentives were a stop-gap measure to counteract the low salaries teachers were receiving and the incentives are a source of conflict between teachers and parents. If something comes up, then incentives will not be necessary as the teachers will be earning above the PDL, but at the moment it’s just a promise that has been made by the government,” said Mahlangu.

The chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association, Sifiso Ndlovu, concurred with Mahlangu.

Ndlovu said incentives would no longer be necessary once the government has fulfilled its promise.

“The only positive way of eliminating the incentives is through the increase of salaries. It is not possible to carry the burden of salaries and remuneration of teachers at the same time,” said Ndlovu.

While the scrapping of the incentives would be welcomed by parents, provided it does not lead to a decline in education standards, teachers are urging government to approach this emotive issue with caution.

They argue that it would be too early to do away with the incentives since the government has just made a promise which it is still to implement.

Teachers view the incentives as something necessary and a form of compensation for all the years they were earning very little.

Dorcas Ncube, a teacher at Milton High School, said the payments have incentivised them to work even harder and produce good results.

“There are no prospects of us getting the proposed new salaries.

“For how long have we been struggling with these mere US$200 monthly salaries, while security guards without degrees are earning US$600 and above and thus we need to be compensated for that? Good incentives go hand in hand with good results and those that are poorly remunerated produce poor results,” said Ncube.

Cedric Mashombe, a teacher from Gwanda High School, said it would be unfair to scrap the incentives without first raising the salaries to levels commensurate with their effort.

“Incentives should not be scrapped off as they ensure that teachers have a reason to stay and work harder given their (poor) salaries. We should not base our arguments on pledges for salary increases that have not yet been fulfilled,” said Mashombe.

From the arguments, both unions and the teachers appear to have valid arguments. None of them would want the incentives to stay a day longer once the government has acceded to the demands by the unions.

What remains to be seen is whether the government would hike salaries for civil servants in line with the demands by the unions to allow for the scrapping of these divisive incentives.

Posted in Press reports | Leave a comment

Government owes $79 million in unpaid education bills

By David Coltart | Published November 19, 2013

SW Radio

By Tererai Karimakwenda

19 November 2013

It has been revealed that government owes about $15 million in secondary school fees for students supported under the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) and an additional $64 million is owed to tertiary institutions in the country, according to the NewsDay newspaper.

The report said Parliamentary Portfolio Committees that deal with education heard evidence from two Public Service officials on Monday, both of whom revealed that no funds had been remitted by government since the beginning of the year.

Appearing before the Committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, director of Social Services Sydney Mhishi reported that the Ministry had paid primary school fees for Beam students, but the bill for secondary school students has not been paid.

The Director of University Education Martha Muguti appeared before the Higher and Tertiary Education Committee, and reported that only $50 000 out of a budget of $380 million had been received by her Ministry. She also said government owes $64 million for about 44, 000 students under cadetship programmes.

The former Minister of Education, Sport, Art and Culture, David Coltart, said everyone agrees that education is a priority, but the sector has been “woefully underfunded” for the last two decades.

He explained that the Education Ministry employs two thirds of the civil servants’ force with 109, 000 teachers and a huge administrative infrastructure that includes over 8,000 schools. But this has not translated into funding.

“In June we only received $20,000 dollars to run that entire infrastructure so that just demonstrates that there has not been any political will. They say that education is a priority but it’s just talk. It’s not backed up by any money,” Coltart said.

He added that at least 380,000 children who are orphans or disadvantaged in some way qualified for the Beam programme last year, but were turned away due to a shortage of funds. Many end up on the streets.

The country’s educational system was once regarded as one of the best on the continent, if not the world, and Zimbabwean students went on to excel in other countries. Coltart the country still produces “high calibre” students, but many are failing to graduate because they cannot continue their education.

Posted in Press reports | Leave a comment

Government undecided over teacher incentives

By David Coltart | Published November 18, 2013

News Day

By Wonai Masvingise

18 November 2013

GOVERNMENT has not yet decided on whether to retain or scrap teachers’ incentives as the issue hinged on new civil servants’ salary perks likely to be unveiled soon, NewsDay has learnt.

Education minister Lazarus Dokora yesterday told NewsDay that it was too early to speculate about teachers’ incentives as the salary issue had not yet been finalised.

In the run-up to the July 31 elections, President Robert Mugabe pledged to hike civil servants’ salaries saying they were long overdue with public service unions demanding nothing less than $600 for the least-paid worker.

“You want to be speculative. We are not discussing the issue of incentives at the moment. Right now I cannot tell you whether they will remain or not. When anything happens, we will come to you and we will let you know,” Dokora said.

Teacher incentives were introduced by former Education minister David Coltart to cushion local teachers after they were among the least-paid as compared to their counterparts in Southern Africa.

Rural teachers were currently getting State-paid incentives amounting to 20% of their gross salaries translating to an average of $84 a month.

However, urban teachers in government schools were getting between $150 and $300 from parents as incentives.

“While the issue of teacher incentives is highly topical, it should be noted that it applies to a small proportion of schools, mostly in urban areas, approximately 38% of the total number of schools in the country,” Dokora said.

“The ministry has held wide-ranging consultations with various stakeholders, including responsible authorities, teachers’ associations, school development committees and the generality of parents. From these consultations the effects of incentives on the quality of service delivery have been noted and measures are underway to address stakeholders’ concerns on this issue, with particular emphasis on the best interest of the learner.”

Posted in Press reports | Leave a comment

Speech to Whitestone School Prize Giving Night – “Choices”

By David Coltart | Published November 16, 2013

Speech by Senator David Coltart

Whitestone School, Bulawayo

15th November 2013

 

Chairman of the Board, Mr Mbongeni Mkwananzi, Headmaster, Mr Frik de Beer, Deputy Head Mrs Les Ogden, Teaching staff, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

 

Thank you for inviting me to speak tonight. The Coltart family has had a very happy association with Whitestone School  for 21 years. Our eldest daughter Jessica started here in 1982 and so apart from a one year gap we have been here ever since. This has been a very happy relationship which has  benefited us enormously.

 

In the last four years I have studied schools and educational systems throughout the world and my belief is that there is no better  primary  education  offered anywhere in the world than right here at this wonderful school. That is due in no small measure to the solid leadership provided over many years through exceptionally difficult circumstances by Frik de Beer  and to the superb and dedicated teaching staff. I believe I speak on behalf of all parents in saying that we owe you a huge debt of gratitude for all that you have done, and are continuing to do, for our children.

 

Thank you Mrs Ogden  for your kind  introduction. Mark Twain once said “I can live for two months on a good complement” – well,….you have given me enough compliments to last several years!

 

Boys and girls, as I have just said you have been privileged to attend what is arguably one of the best primary schools in the world. There are very few schools which have such beautiful grounds, such dedicated staff and generally such a  peaceful and relaxing environment in which to learn. Speaking specifically to the grade sevens great changes and choices now lie before you. The question is what are you going to do with your lives having received such an amazing foundation.

 

A truly remarkable man called Jesus, who walked in Galilee over 2000 years ago, left us words of wisdom to guide us in making choices. He said:

 

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

 

 The one thing that is absolutely certain  about the future is that you are all going to have to decide which path your life is going to take. Up until now most of the choices you have are made by your parents e.g. – what time you have to go to bed, what you will eat, whether you can stay the weekend with friends. But much of that is about to change! Increasingly you are going to be ALLOWED to make choices yourself – indeed you are going to HAVE to make choices. And the older you get you will find the greater number of choices you face and often an increasing difficulty in deciding what is right for yourself. And those choices sometimes will make the difference between you making a success of your life or failing.

 

When I went to university to study law the toughest course was one called Roman law. If you didn’t pass Roman law you couldn’t complete your degree. Roman law was taught by a particularly austere German, Professor

Schiller. In our very first class with him he made us do what I am going to ask you to do now – look to your left and right. Once we had all done that he said “Beware because only one of the three of you will pass Roman law at the end of the year”. And he was right because only a third of the class passed. That is a bit like me telling you only one of you will go on to High School.

 

One of my classmates about a week after we had started the course obviously had not been listening to the first lecture (you cant really blame him because I think he went to Peterhouse!).  Because after having been given a long essay to do he asked whether the assignment was compulsory. Prof Schiller  got hugely agitated, and replied “No my assignments are not compulsory, but then again breathing is not compulsory-if you do not breathe you die: if you do not do my assignments you fail! The choice is yours!”

 

All of us have choices to make. Sometimes people who have everything served on a platter, good looks, money and talent squander all of those things and their lives are a complete disaster. On the other hand sometimes people who have nothing, who have massive disabilities overcome those challenges  and inspire us. Remember those Paralympic athletes last year in London and how they inspired us – they chose to overcome huge difficulties and inspired us all.

 

So the choice is ours – whether we are  rich or poor,  tall or short, good or bad at maths, good or bad at tennis. We can decide whether we are going to make the right choices or bad choices. The problem is that often the right choices are the more difficult ones to make. They are often the choices we make not going with the flow – stepping out alone and join against the flow. The wrong choices are often made going through the wide gate with the broad road – those choices are often the easier ones to make – the choices that everyone else is making. But they can destroy our lives if we are not careful.

 

I want to leave you with a few of these narrow and wide gates which you will have to  decide between in the years ahead.

 

The most important choice you have to make is whether you are going to trust in God and let His standards govern your life. But there are also many other choices you will have to make.

 

1. A critical and ongoing choice that you are going to have to make is in your choice of friends. You have grown up in a very protected  and sheltered environment at Whitestone School.   As you grow up  you will  meet and interact with a much wider circle of people who come from very different backgrounds to your own and have very different standards and principles.  Some of these people will not value honesty,  some will encourage you to use of drugs. Sometimes these people appear to be a lot of fun to be with because they are so casual and carefree and there will be the temptation to want to be their friends. In other words the lives they live may be one of those wide gates and broad roads. But beware because friendships with these people can lead to destruction – to  drug addiction, to teenage pregnancies and to alcoholism.

 

 

2.  There is another very important choice you need to make in your mind now that concerns how you are going to treat other people. Very good advice in this regard is to treat people as you would want them to treat you. So if you appreciate being treated with respect, kindness, gentleness and patience try to treat all the people you interact with the same way. Remember to “Be nice to people you pass on your way up because you will pass them again on your way down”.  In some countries people think they can be Presidents or even Ministers of Education for life! But you will find that in most countries people lose their fancy jobs and have to be regular people again. We sometimes  think that we are always going to be strong or rich or healthy but all of us face changes or difficulties in life and those are much easier to deal with if we have been kind to the people who surround us when we were strong. This year as Grade 7s you have been on top of the school – let me tell you next year in High School you are going to be rock bottom. And that will continue through life so don’t forget it.

 

3. A critical life choice you’re going to have to make is whether you are going to work hard or not. Let  me  tell you that success in life is very rarely achieved without working hard for it and making sacrifices. Many of us, for example, may look at someone like Kirsty Coventry  and think that she  got her seven Olympic medals simply because she was very talented. A few years ago I was privileged to watch her train in the run- up to the London Olympics. She had dislocated her knee and was suffering from bilharzia so she was not in top physical condition. Nevertheless  she swam for three hours straight without a break and at the end her coach told her to do a 400 m medley in an Olympic qualifying time which she did. By the end of just watching her train I had a huge lump in my throat and tears in my eyes because I was in awe  of her dedication and determination. It doesn’t matter what you do in life-if you make the choice to work hard, honestly and diligently you will make a success of your life. On the other hand even if you are supremely talented and have all the money in the world, if you are lazy your life will be a failure.

 

4. Finally, an final important choice you’re going to have to make is whether you’re going to live  your life for yourself or for others. Charlie Brown once said “ Few people are successful unless other people want them to be”. The wisdom behind that is this -  the best way to be successful in life is not by reaching your goals on the backs of other people but by reaching those goals by assisting and serving other people on the way. If you reach your goals by trampling on other people you will find a lot of opposition along the way which makes it harder. If however you  choose to serve other people you will find that those people will be the very ones cheering you along and assisting you reach your goals. That is particularly the case on the sports field of where teamwork is vital for success. But it applies to virtually every aspect of life. Jesus once took a bowl of water and washed his followers dirty feet. That was to serve the people he led. Gandhi also served his followers. Sadly many leaders today think they should be served rather than that they should serve others.So I urge you to make the choice of being determined to be servant leaders in future; I urge you to choose to do everything you can to help all the people you interact with in future as best you can. It will often be harder in the short term but in the long-term I assure you you will reap massive benefits.

 

Alice, the Alice of Lewis Carroll’s  Alice in Wonderland,  came to a fork in the road. “Which road do I take?” she asked.

“Where do you want to go?”  responded the Cheshire cat.

“I don’t know” Alice answered.

“Then”, said the cat “it doesn’t matter”.

 

You are going to be faced with a bewildering number of gates and roads to take in future in terms of the decisions you have to make in your life. If you don’t have any goals in life then as the Cheshire cat said it doesn’t really matter.

 

If  you want to make a good and purposeful  life, if  you want to be happy and content, in other words if you know  where you want to go in life, then it is important that you take the right road and get through the right gate.

 

In short true success and happiness is achieved by the paths we choose not by the talents we are graced with.

 

Having said of this I wish you all God speed as you all go to your different schools next year and as you embark on this exciting new chapter in your lives.

 

God bless you all.

 

Senator David Coltart

Bulawayo

15th November 2013

Posted in Speeches | Leave a comment

Mugabe, Pamire testify in Gwindi case

By David Coltart | Published November 14, 2013

The Chronicle

By Sikhumbuzo Moyo

14 November 2013

FORMER Zifa presidents Leo Mugabe and Vincent Pamire on Monday appeared before the Zifa disciplinary committee as key witnesses for Harare City chairman Leslie Gwindi. The firebrand former Premier Soccer League and Dynamos secretary-general is facing charges of bringing the game of football into disrepute.

Gwindi, who challenged Cuthbert Dube for the Zifa presidency and is believed to be keen on running for the same post in next year’s elections, is facing charges of contravening Section 4.1, 4.2(f) and 4.3 of the Zifa rules and regulations 1996 which deals with “misconduct, betting, bribery, bad language and conduct likely to bring the game of football into disrepute.”

The charges arose from comments Gwindi allegedly made at the Bulawayo Press Club sometime in March this year.

Zifa legal advisor Ralph Maganga confirmed that the two former Zifa leaders appeared on Monday as Gwindi’s witnesses and the case continues today where the third and final witness is expected to testify on behalf of Gwindi.

“The two appeared on Monday and tomorrow (today) his third and final witness is expected to testify but I don’t know who it will be,” said Maganga.

Sources, however, indicated that it could be Motor Action director Eric Rosen.

Part of the Zifa case reads: “On the 8th of March 2013 at the Bulawayo Press Club meeting at Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel, Leslie Gwindi unlawfully and with intent to damage the reputation of the Zimbabwe Football Association board in particular and Zimbabwe football in general, committed an act of misconduct likely to bring  the game into disrepute by using bad language and insulting the Premier Soccer League sponsors Delta Beverages (Castle Lager brand), the Zimbabwe Football Association board, the Zimbabwe National Senior Team coach and the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.”

Dieter Klaus-Pagels was the then Warriors coach while David Coltart was the Minister of Sport.

The PSL chairman Twine Phiri also signed an affidavit in which he noted that the league’s relationship with Delta Beverages had been affected by the statements attributed to Gwindi.

However, sources within the PSL say a majority of the clubs are not happy with Phiri’s actions. They argue that the issue was never discussed and a resolution passed and he had acted out of line.

He is now under fire and many have vowed that they would not vote for him next year if he seeks re-election.

The clubs agree with Gwindi that the league sponsorship in which winners are due to receive about $75 000, $15 000 less than the runners-up in the Mbada Cup which runs for two months, is too low.

They want the league sponsors to channel more into the game as teams are spending over $600 000 to win less than 20 percent of what they would have spent all season.

Posted in Press reports | Leave a comment

Mayhem at Matopos National Park

By David Coltart | Published November 10, 2013

Southern Eye

By Njabulo Ncube

10 November 2013

TWO rhinos at Matopos National Park were discovered killed with their horns hacked off by suspected poachers as renewed attacks against the endangered species sparked outrage from environmentalists still smarting from the cyanide poisoning of elephants in the Hwange National Park.

The two rhinos, one estimated at over 50 years known as Swazi and another aged 10, were suspected to have been killed last Thursday.

Investigations by Southern Eye yesterday established that the Parks and Wildlife Management of Zimbabwe (Zimparks) had commandeered crack rangers from Hwange National Park and Matopos National Park in desperate attempts to trace the poachers thought to be highly sophisticated.

Sources said the two animals were killed on Thursday. The same sources added that Zimparks officials were unsure whether the culprits were a local, regional or international syndicate. There were suspicious the syndicate could be from South Africa.

“There is a big follow-up, Parks are on it. Rangers have been brought in from Hwange and Bulawayo,” a source familiar with the incident said.

Environment minister Saviour Kasukuwere was not immediately available for comment yesterday. However, David Coltart, a former minister in the past coalition government and a wildlife enthusiast, expressed outrage about the poaching of two rhinos in the Matopos.

“This is a national outrage. I hope that the minister responsible for our national parks will get on a plane and fly to Bulawayo to find out what has happened and what measures we need to take to protect this unique national resource,” Coltart said.

Kasukuwere and a coterie of government minister have chartered planes to tour Hwange National Park in recent weeks in the wake of the death of more than 300 elephants poisoned by poachers.

Coltart added: “It would be good if the Tourism minister (Walter Mzembi) flew down with him (Kasukuwere) as our rhinos will increasingly become a magnet for tourists the scarcer they get in the world. My heart goes out to those in national parks and the local community who have worked so hard to rebuild the fence and to protect these magnificent animals. We must all publicise this and express our outrage. Only a stirring of our national conscience will stop these animals from being rendered extinct.”

The former Cabinet minister said the Zimbabwe government should speak with governments of the countries where the rhino horn is traded “to see what measures they are going to take to prevent this destruction of one of our national assets”.

“If countries like China are truly our ‘all weather’ friends they will demonstrate their abhorrence by acting to deal with their own nationals involved in this scandal.

It is with deepest sadness and anger that the trustees hereby confirm two rhinos have been found poached in the Rhodes Matopos National Park yesterday.”

Posted in Blog | Leave a comment

David Coltart’s Blog – God works for the good

By David Coltart | Published November 8, 2013

By David Coltart

8 November 2013

One of my favourite verses of Scripture, especially in times of trouble, is Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”.

Sometimes when things appear to be going badly, or against our desires of the moment, that verse is hard to understand or stomach. Our natural reaction on the spur of the moment is to question what God’s purposes are when He chooses to direct our lives in a direction we perhaps had not chosen for ourselves.

Being voted out of Parliament for me was one of those moments this year. However it is increasingly clear to me that the Lord has been gracious and merciful towards me. When I view videos such as the one reported on today by Newsday (below) I realise that I have been saved from a huge trial and that my time will be far better and more productively spent outside of Parliament.

Lest anyone misunderstand me – my commitment to work towards freedom, tolerance and genuine democracy in Zimbabwe is undiminished. I simply realise that my time is going be far better employed outside a Parliament which is demonstrating that it is simply not serious about confronting the major problems facing Zimbabwe today.

https://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/11/08/parliament-stand-comedians/

Posted in Blog | Leave a comment

Why do mission schools always do better than others?

By David Coltart | Published November 6, 2013

The Zimbabwean

By Nelson Sibanda

6 November 2013

As secondary school public examinations get underway, debate about what makes mission and some government boarding schools perform better than council and some government day institutions, has gathered momentum.

The performance gap between these schools continues to widen with each public examination, forcing parents and other stakeholders to seek answers about contributory factors. But it’s not rocket science – most experts agree that the high pass rates achieved by church-run and government boarding schools are down to discipline, dedicated and qualified teachers, adequate learning materials and an environment conducive to studying.

Authorities at mission schools, parents and teachers’ unions believe standards at church-run schools will continue to dominate their rivals for as long as resources are not equitably distributed to schools throughout the country.

Former Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, said mission schools had better pass rates than government schools partly because they enjoy better funding from churches and parents.

He was quick to point out that there were also some mission schools that performed worse than government schools, though generally church run institutions had an upper hand.

“Government schools have been poorly funded during the past years, hence the poor performance by children,” Coltart said.

The Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Raymond Majongwe, blamed poor results on indiscipline among students at non-mission schools and on the large numbers of unqualified teachers at council and other schools.

“Children at church-run schools also have enough study time and materials. The teaching staff complement is 100 percent qualified and experienced,” said Majongwe.

He also attributed the high pass rate at these institutions to the conducive learning environment and the examination-based teaching approach adopted by mission schools and some government boarding schools. “These top flying schools teach children to pass examinations,” he added.

A Harare parent, Godfrey Siwela, attributed the success story at mission schools to adequate resources such as food, learning material and a well remunerated staff.

“Children at mission and some boarding schools attend lessons on a full stomach. Teachers are well paid and dedicate their time to assisting children pass,” Siwela said.

While boarding and mission school teachers dedicate their working hours to teaching, many of those at low paying schools are engaged in private businesses to supplement their poor salaries.

Poorly paid teachers lack commitment to their duties and the majority of them spend most of their working hours selling sweets, biscuits and other edibles to children, while their working conditions in general are not attractive.

Government and council school teachers earn an average $260 per month, excluding transport and housing allowances – despite the poverty datum line standing at over $534 per month for a family of five.

The Bishop of the Anglican Church Harare Diocese, Chad Gandiya, said mission schools obtained high pass rates because of child discipline, conducive learning environment and dedication to work by the teaching staff, the majority of whom are members of the church.

“Several of our schools have won The Secretary Award of excellence and we lift the performance bar among our learning institutions. In fact we are working towards a 100 percent pass rate at all our schools,” said Gandiya.

Parents interviewed by The Zimbabwean blamed economic hardships for the poor performance at non-church run schools.

They said after school hours children would be engaged in household chores such as fetching water and firewood while others would be helping to provide for the family through street vending.

“Children no longer have spare time for studies as they are busy fending for their families after school. Government was also failing to boost morale of teaching through attractive salaries and other benefits,” said Moses Makwara of Mufakose.

Peter Steyl of the Commercial Farmers Union said boarding school children had more discipline as they lived under direct control of school authorities. He attributed poor discipline among day school children to peer pressure and laxity on the part of parents and guardians.

“Outside school hours some day school children engage in activities that have nothing to do with education. This make them lose focus on their studies, leading to a high failure rate,” said Steyl.

Another key factor is the break-down of the family unit which has seen many school children left without parental supervision and guidance towards homework and other studies.

Posted in Blog | Leave a comment