27 May 2013
I suppose it is election season again and one should therefore accept that there will be a resurgence of ridiculous propaganda. The following article in the Herald today is a case in point. Although Hebert Zharare, the Political editor of the Herald, has written a reasonably balanced article himself it is based on such a flawed document which is is riddled with blatant falsehoods that the entire article is fundamentally untrue and flawed.
I do not have the time to list all of the mistakes/falsehoods but they include:
1. It states the that the Education Transition Fund was “detached from Government and based in Bulawayo… to avoid scrutiny”. Whilst the Fund is not part of Bulawayo it is based in Harare, is administered by Unicef and subject to Unicef’s rigorous international audit standards.
2. It states that “MDC officials are responsible fro buying textbooks”. The 23+ million textbooks were purchased by Unicef through an international tender which was decided upon by Unicef in Denmark.
3. It says I “tried to have my forward and my photograph placed in the textbooks”. My forward did go in every textbook as Minister of Education acknowledging where the money to buy the textbooks had come from and that children should look after the textbooks. At no time did I ever seek to have my photograph placed in the textbooks.
4. It says I “set up parallel structures to train Headmasters, teachers and DEOs”. There are no parallel structures and at every point the Ministry has been involved and as stated in the article the Permanent Secretary actually chairs the implementation committee.
5. It speaks about a “schools empowerment grant programme” in which schools have to open separate bank accounts “raising accountability issues”. The US$ 62 million programme is in fact called the “schools improvement grant programme” and whilst separate bank accounts are being set up they are specifically designed to ensure accountability of these donor funds and the entire programme is being administered by an entirely new office set up on the 9th Floor of the Ministry’s headquarter building Ambassador House under the supervision of the Ministry’s Director for Finance, in conjunction with Unicef.
6. It says that the Academies programme is designed for “intelligent students”. It is in fact designed for academically or athletically or artistically talented disadvantaged children.
I could go on because but I trust that what I have mentioned above gives the public of Zimbabwe a flavour of how false this piece of propaganda is.
The Education Transition Fund is a non partisan fund which is subject to the most stringent international audit standards. Its programmes have all been approved by Cabinet. Since I established it in September 2009 it has played a major role in stabilising and improving Zimbabwe’s education sector. It has been hailed internationally as one of Unicef’s most successful projects. It has benefitted millions of Zimbabwean children and any attempt to undermine it for political ends will in fact prejudice our most innocent citizens, namely our children.
Senator David Coltart
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture