Sunday Mail
23 January 2011
FRESH allegations implicating Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart in a plot to smuggle Western ideology into the country have emerged amid revelations that he has dumped key secondary textbooks for publications that contain dodgy political undertones.
It emerged last week that Senator Coltart intends to sideline Zimbabwean and African history to pave way for books that vaunt the exploits of the West.
It is understood he has also side-lined his Deputy, Cde Lazarus Dokora, and Permanent Secretary Dr Stephen Mahere in the procurement of the literature, which is scheduled to be distributed later this year.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Sen Coltart denied the allegations.
He said some subjects had been left out of the latest procurement because of inadequate funds.
“The money we got from the donors allowed us to purchase books for five core subjects. As a ministry, we agreed to purchase mathematics, science, indigenous languages, geography and English.
“However, history textbooks will be procured by Government funds which were availed in the National Budget by the Finance Minister.”
Sources told The Sunday Mail that he intends to clandestinely change the secondary school history syllabus by incorporating chapters that
glorify the “great role” that white settlers supposedly played in developing the country.
The sources said the exclusion of priority history and social studies books from the latest batch of literature was a clear indication of his motive.
It is understood the minister has been running the programme with an “inner clique” without the knowledge of his lieutenants. He first announced intentions to purchase new books for the country’s schools last year.
Senior officials in the ministry had agreed to purchase books for seven subjects. However, history and social studies were surreptitiously withdrawn from the list with fingers being pointed at the minister who later cited inadequate funding from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), the donor.
Unicef insiders last week refuted this claim, insisting the funds they had made available were sufficient for the programme. A senior official in the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture said the minister sidelined a local publishing house, Zimbabwe Publishing House (ZPH), to clear the way for the implementation of his plan.
“The whole procurement exercise was carried out by Senator Coltart and three other officials close to him who are in the ministry without the
knowledge of his deputy, Mr Lazarus Dokora. “His ideology is to change the country’s historical background, and information at hand is that Senator Coltart is already proposing another History textbook written by an author in Central Africa, which he has been featuring on his website.”
Since Independence in 1980, secondary schools have always taught History based on the African Heritage and People Making History textbooks.