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The Herald
1 February 2010
By Felex Share

A major shake-up is looming at the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council this month in a move that will see a new board taking over from the Professor Phineus Makhurane-led board as Government moves to revamp operations at the examinations body.

The term of office of the current board officially ended in 2006 although the members are still in office.

This is in violation of the Zimsec Act that stipulates that the chairman of the board must be a serving Vice Chancellor of a university.

However, the current chairman, Prof Makhurane, ceased to be a Vice Chancellor of the National University of Science and Technology on June 30, 2004.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart last Friday said Government will shortly appoint on a new board to run the troubled examinations body.

He, however, declined to disclose the names of the proposed new board members.

Minister Coltart said “only a few” members of the old board would be retained in the new board.

Minister Coltart expressed concern that parents had lost faith in Zimsec as an examination institution, opting to register their children with the University of Cambridge.   »Click here to continue reading

Standard
By Bertha Shoko
31 January 2010

CIVIL servants will hold make-or-break talks with government negotiators on Tuesday amid warnings a crippling strike is imminent. The meeting comes a week after the 14-day strike ultimatum issued by civil servants passed without any action.

Education Minister David Coltart and his Public Service counterpart Eliphas Mukonoweshuro failed to take the civil servants’ grievances to cabinet because it has not been sitting.

The government workers want their salaries increased four-fold from the current US$150 for the lowest paid civil servant.

Raymond Majongwe, the Progressive Teachers’ Union (PTUZ) secretary general said if Tuesday’s meeting of the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) does not yield positive results teachers will down tools.

“We are pleading with government to show a bit of commitment when we meet on Tuesday,” he said.
Their members, he said, were growing impatient with the unending negotiations.

Coltart yesterday said in the various meetings he has held with the unions they expressed their unhappiness over government’s continued lavish spending when it says it cannot improve their salaries.

“Their concern has been the cost of local and foreign travel by cabinet and many other things so this has made them believe that there is money out there somewhere,” he said.   »Click here to continue reading

Www.futureofeducation.com
30 January 2010

Time: February 5, 2010 from 10am to 12pm
Location: Africare. Africare is located near Shaw-Howard University Station on Metro Green Line.
Street: Africare, 440 R Street, N.W.
City/Town: Washington DC 20001.
Event Type: forum
Organized By: Council for Zimbabwe

Event Description

The Council for Zimbabwe cordially invites you to “Education and the future of Zimbabwe: A presentation and discussion with Senator David Coltart, Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in Zimbabwe.” Senator Coltart will share his assessment of the crisis of schools and education in Zimbabwe, present his country’s priorities for recovery and outline options for international support.

Please join us for this unique opportunity to meet Senator Coltart, learn more about Zimbabwe and meet with old and new friends who have an interest in Zimbabwe’s future. We hope to see you there!

David Coltart, MDC Senator, has been a human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe since 1983. He was first elected to represent the Bulawayo South House of Assembly constituency in June 2000, and was reelected in March 2005. In March 2008 he was elected as a Senator to represent Khumalo. A leader in the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Senator Coltart was sworn in as Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in February 2009, under the Global Political Agreement, which made Robert Mugabe (ZANU-PF) President and Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC) Prime Minister.   »Click here to continue reading

The Herald
29 January 2010

Harare — Government should computerise the database of its employees to weed out ghost workers that are fleecing the State of thousands of dollars; Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said yesterday.

Minister Coltart said his ministry was making efforts to keep a computer-based list of teachers in the service to make it easier for the Government to compile a record of teachers working in the country.

“Government has been duped of a lot of cash through ghost workers. But if we were computer networked, thousands of dollars would have been saved,” he said.

There was need, he said, to link Government head offices with provincial and district offices to allow a smooth flow of information.

Information is currently transmitted manually.

“A person in another province should be well informed of what is happening at their head office. “The manual system we have been using for the past years has resulted in Government losing a lot of money. We must have a situation whereby every school will be linked to the ministry,” he said.

The major challenge, Minister Coltart said, was mobilising the necessary resources and bringing in the technical expertise.   »Click here to continue reading

Zimbabwe BlackBook
26 January 2010

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro is due to hold make-or-break talks with civil servants in a last-ditch bid to avert a general strike.
Workers have set a strike date of next Tuesday unless their demands for higher salaries are met.

Ministers are desperate to avert a general strike, which would take Zimbabwe back to the bad old days of the last decade.

Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, who is Minister of Public Service and a member of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, is scheduled to meet union officials on Tuesday.

Many teachers are on a go-slow at the moment because their salaries are only around R1500. They want four times that amount.

The head of the Progressive Teachers Union, Raymond Majongwe, told Eyewitness News he had a meeting with Prime Minister Tsvangirai.

He said he is hopeful some sort of compromise can be reached.

However the cash-strapped government is in a difficult position.

Education Minister David Coltart’s suggestion was to ask state utilities to cut their fees so that teachers’ salaries are not gobbled up quite as quickly.

Council for Zimbabwe
24 January 2010

Join us for an exciting evening of cocktails and learning with Senator David Coltart, the Zimbabwe Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture will be in New York. February 10, 2010 at 6.30 pm in New York City.

Information Category:
Organizations – Non-Profit Organizations

Description:

• Are you a Zimbabwean or global citizen concerned about Zimbabwe?

• Do you believe that reviving the country will take more than just a political solution?

• Tired of too much talk and no action to help revive the country?

Join our efforts to engage, organize, and coordinate Zimbabweans and friends of Zimbabwe in the Diaspora. We set up this space to provide a platform as part of the Council for Zimbabwe- http://www.zimcouncil.org for Zimbabweans and Friends of Zimbabwe to share ideas on socio-economic revival and the future of the country.

Our objective is to create a mechanism to mobilize and effectively employ our financial, human, and material resources to build a peaceful, prosperous, and progressive Zimbabwe.   »Click here to continue reading

The Zimbabwe Telegraph
By Getrude Gumede
January 22, 2010

GWERU – The Ministry of Education and Culture working in conjunction with UNICEF and UNESCO which last year launched an Education Transition Fund is working on plans to improve the pupil text book ratio and help restore basic education for all to Zimbabweans, Education and Culture Minister, David Coltart has said.

Coltart, who chairs the fund, said the fund has raised $30 million so far.

The Minister said the Fund has also received a lot of financial support from Scandinavian states who have been very generous towards them.

He said the fund has agreed that the first tranche of the money would be used to purchase 9 million primary school text books for the country’s 5 000 primary schools while secondary text books would be done later, after the completion of the primary schools programme.

“The Fund is managed by UNICEF. Since we established it last year, we have raised $30 million. We have a target of $50 million that we are trying to raise. UNICEF acting on instructions from the fund has issued by tender the printing of 9 million primary school text books. I anticipate that the contracts for the publication of the text books will be issued during February when we will see companies printing the text books,” he said.   »Click here to continue reading

The Herald
By Petros Kausiyo
22 January 2010

LEGENDARY former Zimbabwe captain Peter Ndlovu is set to revive his romance with youth football when he plays a key part in the launch of the inaugural Volks-wagen Junior Masters tournament in Harare today.

Ndlovu — the most decorated Warriors captain with 100 caps for the senior national team and two African Cup Nations Cup appearances — flew into the capital yesterday ahead of the unveiling of Zimbabwe’s VW tournament for Under-13 boys.

The former Coventry City, Sheffield United and Mamelodi Sundowns striker has been nominated by German motor company, Volkswagen, as one of their football brand ambassadors in Zimbabwe together with his former Warriors teammate Edzai Kasinauyo.

Kasinauyo has also been appointed the project manager for the event.

Interestingly, both Kasinauyo and Ndlovu have previously sponsored junior tournaments in their individual capacities in Mufakose and Bulawayo.

Ndlovu had seemingly disappeared from the domestic football radar since retiring from the international game, but today he will help kick-start an ambitious programme that aims at unearth the next generation of Warriors stars.   »Click here to continue reading

Zimbabwe Guardian
Friday 22 January 2010

ONE year on, Zimbabwe’s inclusive Government Ministers are more interested in amassing wealth, perks and political posturing and have so far neglected their ministries to the detriment of ordinary Zimbabweans. More often than not, Ministers are traveling abroad on supposedly government business and yet results of all this shuttling are at a near nil.

Many of the ministers are also involved in political squabbles within their parties or with opposing party members.

What have Zimbabwe’s ministers yielded during this part year?

Morgan Tsvangirai – Prime Minister
As the Chief Minister in President Mugabe’s cabinet, Tsvangirai leads his Ministers in failure. He spent more time engaging in political squabbles with Zanu PF, and travelling abroad on party business. His promise to pay civil servants a decent salary still remains a promise. His official tour yielded nothing and many believe he is sabotaging the recovery process in order to come up on top come election time. He is yet to say the word sanctions and denounce them.
Verdict 0/10   »Click here to continue reading

Zimbabwe Times
January 21, 2010
By Warren Dennis

The cloudless skies of Harare, with the sun shining brightly in the sky, especially at this time of the southern summer, brings out the best picture of a city pregnant with blessings – when it comes to its perfect climate – that charms its peaceful residents and provides a unique romantic attachment to its visitors.

It’s on days like these, deep into the summer, when the rains have stopped briefly and usher in blue skies and sunny mornings that Harare shows its true colours as possibly the best city one could possibly live in the world – especially when you take into account the virtually negligible crime rate.

I should know because it has been my home for 50 years now, from the time that I was born in the then Rhodesia, to migrant British parents forever charmed by the beauty of the climate of this town, to this day when I am about to celebrate my Golden Jubilee as a proud father of three beautiful kids.   »Click here to continue reading