News Day

 by Phillip Chidavaenzi

25 February 2013

The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) has warned that teachers who opt to get involved in politics should be prepared to bear the consequences.

Zimta chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu yesterday told NewsDay that after some teachers were victimised in past elections, their investigations showed that some of those teachers were involved in active politics.

He said so far, his association had not received any reports of political victimisation from their members in rural schools.

“We have seen in the past that a number of victims of political violence had taken up active politics in one party or another. As of now, however, we have not received any reports of victimisation, although indications are that some teachers have indicated their desire to go into active politics,” he said.

Speaking at a Sapes Trust policy dialogue meeting in Harare last week, some stakeholders in the education sector expressed fear that schools in rural areas often became political hotbeds where teachers were victimised.

Fears that teachers would be targeted again as the country gears up for the constitutional referendum on March 16 and the subsequent elections likely to be held later in June, have been high.

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said his union was aware that teachers in rural areas, who were often easy targets of political violence due to the influence they wield, were now living in fear, ready to escape if the situation points to violence.

“Teachers have been victims of election violence. As we speak, everything seems to be going wrong. Teachers and pupils are on their toes. Teachers are branded sell-outs that need to be weeded out,” he said.

Ndlovu yesterday confirmed 132 teachers countrywide had been victimised in past elections and transferred to other schools.

Education minister David Coltart said the issue of violence against teachers was disturbing and urged political parties to appreciate that qualified teachers, most of whom were targeted for violence, were valuable assets in their constituencies.

“The issue of violence is disturbing,” he said. “If you are interested in your constituency, you will stop violence in schools because qualified teachers run away.”

Newsday

25 February 2013

The Student Solidarity Trust (SST) notes with deep concern that the Zimsec November Ordinary Level results released recently indicated that the pass rate had dropped from 19,5 to 18,4%.

The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) has announced that 172 698 pupils sat for the November/December “O” Level examinations and only 31 767 pupils got passes in five subjects or more.

In the wake of these pathetic results there have been a lot of finger-pointing, blame-shifting and insufficient explanations as to why we ended up with such a pass rate.

The Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart acknowledged the drop in the pass rate was a clear indication that much still needs to be done in the education sector, but attributed the poor results to the crisis that beset the education sector before the formation of the government of national unity. Some experts have suggested the setting up of a commission of enquiry to investigate the problems affecting the education sector.

Since 2006, the Student Solidarity Trust has been compiling annual reports titled “Inside the Pandora’s Box: State of the Education Sector in Zimbabwe” to highlight the challenges being faced in the education sector. The publication has been used as a lobbying and advocacy tool to various stake holders with the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education as a key stakeholder.

The SST maintains that before we can entertain suggestions of coming up with another commission of enquiry, let us implement fully recommendations by the Nziramasanga Commission (1999) on education, as well as recommendations coming from researches that have been conducted in the sector before.

Let us strive to be efficient in implementing such recommendations rather than showing commitment and consistency in finding out the problems through commissions of enquiry and research. This is the time for all who are progressive in the education sector to bring their heads together and avoid burying their heads in sand in typical ostrich problem-solving mentality, to attend our education empire which is burning.

The November/December “O” Level results show that Zimbabwe education sector is engulfed in an inferno and only radical changes within the sector will help put out the fire. Of course, this problem can never be solved by using the same level of thinking that created it.

Last but not least, the SST wishes to remind the Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister that soon it will be November again and more than 172 698 pupils will be sitting for examinations and the results will be the testimony of what your ministry would have done to attend the challenges crippling the education sector.

The nation will not continue to tolerate further drops in the pass rate.

For more information, feel free to call the Student Solidarity Trust on 0772 003 755, 0772 950 682 or 0772 864 572. You can also visit our website, www.studentssolidarity.org or visit our offics at 19 Tredgold Drive, Belverdere, Harare.

“Providing demand driven solidarity to the students community and beyond.”

The Sunday Mail

By Tinashe Farawo

24 February 2013

The Government intends to phase out the services of unqualified school teachers within the next five years following strong indications that their continued deployment is compromising education standards.

A university degree will be the minimum entry requirement for teachers once Government plans to revamp the education sector are implemented.

Speaking at a Sapes Trust policy dialogue meeting in Harare last week, Education, Arts, Sport and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart said plans are already underway to address a worrying situation where the Government has over 20 000 unqualified teachers on its payroll.

Senator Coltart revealed that the unqualified teachers will be trained. “We are crafting a national vision for the country’s education sector and one of the solutions to our crisis is the banning of unqualified teachers,” he said.

“We need to ensure that every single teacher is qualified. Those unqualified will go for training and we are giving them first preference.

“After phasing out the unqualified teachers, the next step is to make sure that our teachers have a minimum of a degree as a qualification so that we produce the best in our schools.” Turning to last year’s Ordinary Level pass rate, Minister Coltart said the pass rate was “not shocking”, adding that the international examination pass rate stands at 25 percent. He noted that some pupils were not academically gifted, hence, the need for the education curriculum to offer more practical subjects.

“Our results are not shocking as some people have claimed. The problem we have is that the country is expecting every pupil to be academically smart…we all have different talents.

“As long as we focus on academics we are denying over half of our students a decent living,” he said. Senator Coltart said Government should invest more in education to attract some of the country’s best brains.

“We need to pay our teachers handsomely so that we attract the cream of our students to train as teachers,” he said. “We need to genuinely treat them as professionals. As we speak, we are failing to attract those who have flying colours to train as teachers.

“The current environment attracts only those who are average and those who have nothing else to do are taking up teaching as a profession. So, how can we produce the best results?”

Contributing to the discussion, veteran educationist Ms Letwin Ndanga said untrained teachers find it difficult to identify a pupil’s weaknesses because they have not been trained to do so.

A massive brain drain that Zimbabwe experienced at the peak of the sanction-induced economic downturn of 2008 forced the Government to deploy unqualified teachers to fill the void left by trained tutors who had migrated to countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Australia in search of the so-called greener pastures.

SW Radio Africa

By Violet Gonda

22 February 2013

There was an explosive Cabinet meeting Tuesday as MDC-T ministers confronted ZANU PF over the death of a 12 year old son of a party activist, who died in a suspected arson attack in Headlands this weekend.

Cabinet meetings are closed to the media. But some ministers who spoke on condition of anonymity said the issue of the Headlands tragedy was first brought up by Jameson Timba from the Prime Minister’s office, saying it was politically motivated.

The sources told SW Radio Africa that Finance Minister Tendai Biti then ‘spoke with more flesh’ and fingered Didymus Mutasa, the ZANU PF MP for Headlands.

Biti is said to have gone prepared with laminated graphic pictures of the charred body of Christpower Simbarashe Maisiri, who died in the fire on Saturday.

Biti reportedly told the shocked ministers that he was showing the full cabinet the pictures of the horrific attack on one of his party’s members so that ‘no one can hide behind ignorance’.

Christpower’s father Shepherd Maisiri is the local deputy organising secretary of the MDC-T in Headlands. He told SW Radio Africa: “Mutasa is my greatest enemy and this man has made my life miserable here in Headlands. I don’t have any faith in the police doing their work properly. I’m a marked man in this place.”

Mutasa, who is also the ZANU-PF secretary for administration and Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, tried to deny any involvement but Biti and others  challenged him about why cases of politically motivated violence seem to take place more in his area.

Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Elton Mangoma is said to have also challenged Mutasa to a joint public meeting where the government ministers can speak about peace.

But some ZANU PF ministers fought back, with Information Minister Webster Shamu blaming the disturbances on outside forces with an ‘imperialist agenda’ who he said were trying to portray his party in a bad light as the country prepares for elections.

Education Minister David Coltart reportedly told Cabinet that what was happening in the country, where people are arrested for owning radios and for registering to vote, is a reflection of the poison in Zimbabwean society.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai appealed for peace and is said to have told his ZANU PF counterparts that ‘no one has a retributive agenda’.

“He told them that they did not have to go to the lengths of killing people to stay in power because they have nothing to fear,” said the source.

Ministers called on the police to investigate the atrocities and to be more objective.

The Herald

By Robson Sharuko

22 February 2013

EDUCATION, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart, has been charmed by the meeting he held with Zimbabwe Cricket leaders on Wednesday and feels it could mark a turning point in their working relationship. Relations between the minister and ZC authorities have been frosty, in recent weeks, damaged by sharp differences over a controversial directive, initiated by Coltart and served by the Sports Commission, to guide the appointment of national team selectors.

ZC rejected the directive, which was supposed to come into effect on February 1 this year, saying it was illegal, divisive and a brazen attack on their constitution with the potential to re-open old wounds in a sporting discipline that has battled racial demons in the past.
The local cricket authorities appear to also have been empowered by the support they have been receiving from the International Cricket Council over the issue.

The friction between the Coltart and ZC hasn’t been helped by the return of the black armband protest, into the spotlight, with intimate details emerging of the roles the minister played in that demonstration, and clandestine meetings at England’s World Cup base in Cape Town, ahead of the English team’s aborted tie against Zimbabwe.

On Wednesday Coltart met ZC chairman Peter Chingoka, his deputy Wilson Manase and managing director Wilfred Mukondiwa in Harare and the minister emerged out of that indaba saying he had been impressed by what they discussed.

“I had a constructive meeting with Peter Chingoka, Wilson Manase and Wilfred Mukondiwa of Zimbabwe Cricket this evening,” Coltart posted on his Facebook page.

“My hope is that all involved will now work in the best interests of Zimbabwe, sport in general and Zimbabwe Cricket in particular. I am delighted by the superb performance of our team in the West Indies today and hope that they take some encouragement from this news and go and do us all proud, as I know they want to do.”

Zimbabwe, who take on the West Indies in the first of three ODIs in Grenada today, opened their tour with a 76-run victory over the University of West Indies Vice Chancellor’s XI at Progress Park, St Andrews, with opener Vusi Sibanda leading the way with an unbeaten 147 off 173 balls.

Hamilton Masakadza (55), Regis Chakabva (41) and Tino Mawoyo (30) were the other notable contributors as Zimbabwe reached an impressive 346/7 and were, at one stage, 203-1 in 31 overs.

In response, Ramnaresh Sarwan, hit 90 but it was a lost battle and the hosts were bowled out for 269 in the penultimate over.
Coltart insists that his agenda, in terms of national team selectors, has been hijacked and twisted to suit political and related interests.
On Wednesday, the minister claimed our article on Tuesday, in which we said he was now batting on a sticky wicket, contained a lot of misrepresentations.

On Friday ZC accused Coltart of twisting the resolutions of the Sports Commission’s quarterly review meeting, with national sports associations, on December 1 last year.

The ZC provided minutes of that December 1 meeting, which clearly didn’t show an endorsement of proposals by the national associations, and which certainly left Coltart vulnerable to accusations he could possibly be misrepresenting facts.
Coltart, though, hit back on Wednesday.

“Firstly you twist the fact that following my proposal letter to the SRC in October, the entire process was handled by the SRC,” Coltart said.You know that because I sent you what the SRC wrote to me but you persist in this falsehood that I have misrepresented what happened regarding the process. You had personal knowledge that I was relying on what I have been briefed on by the SRC but you chose to represent that, somehow, I have misrepresented the process. Secondly, you twist the clear wording of the minutes of the 1st December — the heading of the minutes is National Selectors and it speaks of criteria etc. Paragraph 7.3 is clear — ‘NSAs were to have basic criteria for appointment of selectors as well as selection of national teams.’

“The minutes do not record any objections raised and you know from what I wrote to you last week that Nhemachena advised me that no objections were raised. I, obviously, was not there so do not know myself what happened in the meeting but it is clear from the minutes that at the very least something re national selectors was discussed. The SRC says one thing, ZC another, but surprisingly you do not interrogate the fact that ZC’s Titus Zvomuya was present – that is conveniently ignored. Why is it that ZC simply does not comment about his presence, they pretend as if he wasn’t there, but I have the signed roster clearly indicating that he was present, he is number 21 on the list? “

“What I have been told is that this issue was discussed and no objection was raised. Indeed the only objection raised by any NSA to date is ZC’s. Is it possible that Titus did not object? The point is that you say that I could ‘possibly be misrepresenting facts’ when there is clear evidence to the contrary.”

Coltart is also unhappy that our coverage of the events in Cape Town, in the run-up to England’s decision to pull out of their World Cup game against Zimbabwe, appears to ignore Henry Olonga’s version and rely on contributions from Andy Flower and Duncan Fletcher.
Fletcher, a former Zimbabwe World Cup captain who was the England team coach then, claims Coltart “smuggled” Flower and Olonga into the English team hotel.

Two questions were asked in this newspaper on Tuesday:

l Did he (Coltart) really, as Duncan Fletcher claims in his autobiography, smuggle Flower and Olonga into the England team hotel in Cape Town and, given these two were employed by ZC, was it right to take them there without the knowledge of his employers?
l Was it right for Coltart to organise secret meetings between Flower and Olonga and the English cricketers, at their base in Cape Town, ahead of a key World Cup game between Zimbabwe and England?

On Wednesday, Coltart replied:

“Thirdly, you twist what happened in Cape Town, clearly set out in Olonga’s book, by ignoring what Olonga said happened,” said Coltart.  “He states unequivocally that I encouraged England to travel and play while, ironically, Olonga and Flower did the opposite. Why do you ignore what Olonga says about what happened but choose to use Fletcher who knew nothing of the background?  I certainly did not organise the meeting, nor did I smuggle them in — in fact Olonga’s book makes it clear that the meeting was held at the request of the English players who were in a dilemma as to whether they should play in Zimbabwe or not.  I was asked for my view and said that they should travel. Fourthly, I do not dispute what Andy Flower said on the BBC — where did that come from? I have never made any secret of the role I played then and Andy’s comments on the BBC were accurate.”

News Day

By Pamela Mhlanga

21 February 2013

The Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association (BPRA) has asked the government to instruct schools to publish lists of beneficiaries of the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) to ensure there is no “nepotism and corruption”.

In a statement yesterday, BPRA’s programmes and advocacy manager Emmanuel Ndlovu said on Monday the organisation wrote to Labour and Social Welfare minister Paurina Mupariwa making the request.

“The letter, which is dated February 18 2013, also requests that the minister (in conjunction with the Ministry of Education) periodically publish names of Beam beneficiaries to ensure that only deserving children benefit from the scheme,” he said.

Ndlovu said last month a similar letter was sent to the Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart and the Bulawayo provincial education director Dan Moyo, but Coltart advised BPRA that the Labour and Social Welfare ministry administered Beam.

Financial Gazette

By Tabitha Mutenga

20 February 2013

WHEN David Coltart was appointed Education, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister at the dawn of the inclusive government in 2009, a lot was expected from him. Before his appointment, the education sector was in ruins. A number of schools had closed; teachers were on strike and infrastructure was in a state of disrepair.

The ship needed a crew of sober habits to manoeuvre the tidal waves that were threatening to sink what was once seen as one of Africa’s success stories.

Immediately after independence in 1980, government had done commendably well. It had gone out of its way to make education accessible to all. 

A policy of education for all was introduced and heavy investments made in infrastructural development. These efforts had been duly rewarded as Zimbabwe’s education became the envy of all.

Literacy rates shot up to 96 percent, the highest on the continent. This saw Zimbabwe turning into an exporter of skills.

Thirty-two years down the line, the sector is in the doldrums. Not even the advent of the inclusive government has changed anything.

Results from this year’s “O” Level examinations exposed the deep-rooted nature of the problems facing the country’s education sector.

Out of the 172 689 candidates who registered for public examinations last year, only 31 767 candidates managed passes in at least five subjects or more.

The ‘O’ Level pass rate stood at 18,4 percent, a 1,1 percent drop from the 2011 statistics. Previously, the pass rate had been as follows: 2003 (13 percent); 2004 (10, 2 percent); 2005 (12 percent); 2006 (14, 2 percent); 2007 (9,85 percent); 2008 (14,44 percent); 2009 (19,33 percent) and 2010 (16,5 percent).

Social commentator, Tawanda Zata, described the results as a disgrace.

He advocated “a systems approach” that looks at education as a system integrating learners, teachers and infrastructure.

“This will allow for the interrogation of the three elements of education and in this regard, an All Stakeholders’ Conference should be the starting point to identify the structural challenges, weakness and recommendations for the education system,” he said.

Zata said government should pay attention to rural development, increase funding for education, improve conditions of service for teachers, scrap hot-seating and create a conducive learning environment for all.

“The Nziramasanga Commission, which was set up to chart a new path for the sector, recommended the abolition of hot-seating. Regrettably, no action has been taken and even the former Education Minister Aeneas Chigwedere, in his ill-fated tenure, failed to implement the recommendations,” said Zata.

Coltart has repeatedly acknowledged that the country’s education sector is in a crisis. The sector, according to Coltart, is still weighed down by challenges experienced in the last decade.

For example, the violence experienced in the 2008 elections brought about untold suffering to both teachers and students.

It should therefore not come as a surprise that the same pupils who sat for their grade seven exams in 2008 are the students who failed their 2012 ‘O’ Levels.

Ironically, these were the same students who started their grade one at a time when the country slipped into an economic recession spawned by the controversial land reforms of 2000.

Over 20 000 teachers have deserted the sector for greener pastures in the past decade.
Even now, those that remained behind are still not happy with their salaries which are way below the poverty datum line.

“There are still some very troubling things out there such as the situation regarding teachers’ salaries. It is still very fragile; teachers are still not being paid enough. Their conditions of service do not match their profession. The physical infrastructure at schools is in a disastrous state; they have not been maintained for two decades and the curriculum is very old. It still has not taken into account some of the principal findings of the Nziramasanga Commission (1989) such as the importance of vocational education,” said Coltart.

A Rapid Assessment of Primary and Secondary Education Survey (2009) conducted to determine the state of education in the country indicated that teacher morale was very low in all the schools visited.
It said teachers were de-motivated by low salaries, lack of security in rural areas where they became victims of political violence in 2008, lack of accommodation and shortages of teaching and learning resources such as textbooks and stationery.

“The image of the teacher was at its lowest since independence,” noted the report.

There is also a severe shortage of furniture in schools, particularly rural schools. Large numbers of pupils in rural areas do not have a place to sit or to write; even blackboards and teachers’ tables are shared. The situation is even worse in secondary schools.

At one point, textbook availability had deteriorated to worrying levels.

At the time the Rapid Assessment of Primary and Secondary Education Survey was released, over 20 percent of the primary schools had no textbooks at all for English, Mathematics and African Languages, all compulsory subjects.
At secondary level, one third of rural schools had no textbooks for English language, and 22 percent had no textbooks for Mathematics and Ndebele/Shona, all of which are compulsory subjects.

One of the first steps towards addressing the situation was the establishment of the Education Transition Fund, a mechanism that saw over 22 million textbooks distributed to over 8 000 primary schools, along with other supplies including those for early childhood development centres. 

This resulted in the textbook-pupil ratio improving to 1:1 from 1:10.

Last year, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education, Sports and Culture, also emphasised the need to reduce the teacher-student ratio.

It observed that most rural teachers were being forced to attend a class with an average of 60 pupils, which is unrealistic as the teacher cannot monitor all the students, leading to poor performance by both teachers and students.
In addition, heads of schools were full time classroom teachers who were responsible for planning, recording, teaching, evaluation and monitoring, supervising and at the same time executing administrative duties.

The Committee also reported that private schools had become a menace to the education sector, with particular reference to some unregistered colleges.

“The public complained that the commercialisation of the education sector was not an ideal policy as it has been abused by unregistered private colleges and some registered private colleges,” the Committee observed.

Funding has also remained a challenge. The 2013 national budget allocated US$754 million to the Education Ministry, which means it can only spend US$1 per month per child instead of the expected US$7.

An acting head at a school in Harare who spoke on condition of anonymity blamed the government for the rot in the education sector.

“For over a decade the government watched the situation deteriorate without any form of action; what did they expect would happen? The pass rates have been there to prove that all is not well in the sector but the responsible authorities ignored the cry for help from the teachers and the pupils. No one should blame the teachers and even if teachers are to get a salary increment today there is no guarantee that there will be a 100 percent pass rate.

“The students and parents have to develop a positive attitude towards the whole concept of education. This is the e-generation, they just lack the spirit to learn. The same teacher who produced a 56 percent pass rate yesteryear is the one who produced the 18 percent – same syllabus, same techniques but different students, different attitudes and different environmental social and political factors,” she said.

The Herald

By Robson Sharuko

20 February 2013

ZIMBABWE’S cricketers get their Caribbean tour underway on Friday, with the first One-Day International against the West Indies, giving the game a chance to focus on matters on the pitch after a period of boardroom turbulence. It’s coach Alan

Butcher’s farewell tour, as he returns home to England after this assignment, and he has challenged his men to give him a befitting farewell present.

Butcher was disappointed that a lot of focus was given to boardroom issues, in the wake of an ugly row sparked by a controversial directive to guide the appointment of selectors, rather than team issues in the build-up to the tour of the Caribbean.

Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, also sang from the same hymn book and said he was disappointed with the way ZC leaders handled the countdown to the tour of the Windies.

“I am very distressed by the conduct of ZC, which I think has been very damaging to the team in the run-up to this crucial series,” Coltart told The Herald last week.

“If people really love Zimbabwe and cricket they will let this rest, at least until the team is back, so that the team don’t have any further humiliation whilst on foreign shores.

“It is going to be hard enough as it is without the support of key coaching and fitness personnel being with them.”

Batting coach, Grant Flower, bowling coach, Heath Streak, and fitness trainer, Lorraine Chivandire, were dropped from the tour.
While Coltart is right that attention should be focused on the team, and give the players the chance to perform without carrying a huge load of boardroom baggage, it’s also true that hawks are also watching this tour with interest and preparing for a fight.

If the Zimbabwe team does badly in this tour and is humiliated, the swords will be drawn and battles will erupt, from every corner, and the ZC will be bombarded with criticism for once again coming short in preparing a team that can compete on the Test arena.

There will be questions, if the team is whitewashed, if we have the right panel of selectors and Givemore Makoni, the ZC convenor of selectors who survived a boardroom ambush masterminded by the Sports Commission under the orders of Coltart, will come under severe fire.

There will be a host of familiar questions and a couple of new ones:

• Did we pick the right players and where we naïve, as a nation, to trust a man, who did not play cricket at international level, and hand him the responsibility of heading the panel that selected the players?

• Was Coltart right to say that we need to have a chairman of selectors who has played for the national team rather than one, as is the case with Makoni, who never made it to that level?

• Was the ZC wrong in rejecting an order from the Sports Commission to implement the directives guiding the appointment of national team selectors from February 1 this year, which would have thrown Makoni out of his job?

• Did we prepare the team as well as we should have done?

• Did the ZC’s decision to drop Streak and Flower from the touring party back-fire on them with the expertise of the two technical men clearly missed on the tour?

• Was captain Brendan Taylor right to voice his disappointment, over the omission of Flower and Steak from the touring party, even if the Facebook platform he used, as he conceded later and apologised for that, was not the correct one?

• Was the team’s fitness level the right one and, if not, how was it possible to monitor it on tour when the fitness trainer had been left behind in Harare?

• Was the team focused enough, in the countdown to the tour, or did the boardroom sideshows, which ignited sensitive issues like racism, too much of a distraction?

In the event of a whitewash in the Caribbean, there will be scores of those who will take aim at the ZC and accuse it of running down a team that used to be competitive, in the ‘90s and at the turn of the millennium, and turning it into a punching bag for a lot of teams.

There will be scores of those who will find shelter in a nostalgic journey into an era of Streak, Grant, Alistair Campbell, Paul Strang and the series, coming as it does in the weeks after BBC Radio Five Live marked the 10th anniversary of the black armband protest, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga.

That was the team, they will say, as competitive as they come. But facts are stubborn and records will show that Zimbabwe and the West Indies have played six Tests and the men from the Caribbean have won four and drawn two and the locals are yet to beat the Windies.

In ODIs, the two teams have met 41 times, Zimbabwe have won nine, lost 31 and there was one game that didn’t have a result. Interestingly, Zimbabwe’s first tour of the Caribbean was at the turn of the millennium and the first Test, from March 16-20 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, produced the result that will demystify this flawed belief that the team of 2000, featuring the Flower brothers, Campbell, Streak, Olonga and company, was fine wine.

Just in case there is a sensational collapse, in a Test match by the Zimbabweans in the Caribbean this time around, don’t be fooled it never happened before.

In that first Test in 2000, Zimbabwe bowled West Indies for 187, with Streak taking 4-45, and then posted 236 in reply, with Andy Flower unbeaten on 113.

There were ducks for Grant, Neil Johnson and Campbell but Zimbabwe had the advantage and when they bowled out the Windies for just 147, in their second innings, with Streak taking 5-27, it meant the visitors needed just 99 to win the Test.

But Zimbabwe were bowled out for just 63, as the West Indies staged a remarkable fightback, inspired by Curtley Ambrose’s 3-8 in 11 overs, including six maidens, and Franklyn Rose’s 4-19 in 13 overs.

Grant, scoring 26, was the only batsman who went into double figures in a sorry scorecard that featured Johnson (3), Trevor Gripper (3), Murray Goodwin (8), Andy (5), Campbell (6), Stuart Carlisle (3), Streak (0), Brian Murphy (0), Olonga (0) and Mpumelelo Mbangwa (0). Extras, which contributed nine runs, were the second best score.

It was Zimbabwe’s lowest Test score, since its admission into the exclusive club, and it took another five years, in the depth of the player rebellion, for the locals to suffer a worse pounding as they were bowled out for 54 by South Africa in Cape Town on March 4, 2005, and 59 by New Zealand at Harare Sports Club on August 7, 2005.

Zimbabwe were also blown away, in the second Test by the Windies in Kingston, Jamaica, as they lost by 10 wickets.
West Indies vs Zimbabwe, First Test, Port of Spain, Trinidad 16-20 March 2000

Scorecard 
West Indies 1st innings
Griffith             bw b Streak                        0
Campbell         lbw b Streak                      24
Gayle               run out (Murphy/Johnson)  33
Chanderpaul    c †A Flower b Olonga         12
Ambrose          c †A Flower b Streak          7
Adams             lbw b Murphy                     17
Hinds               not out                               46
Jacobs†          c & b Murphy                      10
Rose               b Johnson                           1
King                lbw b Streak                        2
Walsh             lbw b Murphy                      11
Extras -24
Total               (all out; 80.4 overs)             187

Fall of wickets -1-4; 2-48; 3-72; 4-81; 5-87; 6-121; 7-136; 8-149; 9-161; 10-187
Bowling
Streak         24            9              45            4              1.87
Olonga        18            7              44            1
Mbangwa    10            3              21            0
Johnson       13            4              26            1
Murphy        13.4         7              32            3
G. Flower      2              0              6              0

Zimbabwe 1st innings
Johnson        lbw b Ambrose                        0
Flower          c Campbell b Walsh                 0
Gripper         c Gayle b Ambrose                  41
Goodwin       c Gayle b Walsh                      20
A Flower       not out                                   113
Campbell      c Jacobs b Ambrose               0
Carlisle         b Ambrose                             17
Streak           c Campbell b Gayle                 20
Murphy         lbw b Rose                              1
Olonga          b Gayle                                    2
Mbangwa      b Gayle                                   0
Extras          22
Total           (all out)                                    236

Fall of wickets -1-0; 2-0; 3-27; 4-144; 5-144; 6-164; 7-232; 8-233; 9-236; 10-236
Bowling
Ambrose      25            13             42           4
Walsh          28             9              49           2
Rose           19              6              41           1
King            20              2              71           0
Gayle          15              2              25           3
West Indies 2nd innings
Griffith           lbw b Streak                           0
Campbell       run out (Goodwin/†A Flower)  23
Gayle             b Streak                                 0
Chanderpaul  lbw b Streak                           49
Adams           c Murphy b Olonga                 27
Hinds          run out (Olonga/†A Flower)      9
Jacobs       lbw b Olonga                            0
Ambrose    c Johnson b Murphy                 1
Rose          c †A Flower b Streak                9
King           c †A Flower b Streak                1
Walsh         not out                                     0
Extras     – 28
Total         (all out; 75 overs)                      147

Fall of wickets -1-0; 2-0; 3-37; 4-115; 5-115; 6-118; 7-119; 8-142; 9-146; 10-147.
Bowling
Streak        17            8              27            5
Olonga       13            3              28            2
Mbangwa   15            10            15            0
Murphy      15            3              23            1
Johnson     4              0              18            0
Gripper       2              0              6              0
Flower        9              4              13            0

Zimbabwe 2nd innings (target: 99 runs)
G. Flower    b Walsh                                   26
Johnson      c Adams b Walsh                    3
Gripper        lbw b King                              3
Goodwin           c Jacobs b Rose                    8
A Flower           c Jacobs b Rose                    5
Campbell          b Ambrose                             6
Carlisle             c Jacobs b Rose                    3
Streak              lbw b Rose                             0
Murphy            not out                                    0
Olonga             c Chanderpaul b Ambrose       0
M Mbangwa     b Ambrose                              0
Extras             9
Total               (all out; 47 overs)                    63

Fall of wickets – 1-4; 2-20; 3-37; 4-47; 5-51; 6-57; 7-57; 8-62; 9-63; 10-63.
Bowling
Ambrose          11            6              8              3
Walsh              14            8              18            2
King                 9              2              11            1
Rose                13            4              19            4

The Herald

By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka

18 February 2013

SULUMAN CHIMBETU emerged the biggest winner at the 12th National Arts Merit Awards after he grabbed a hat-trick at a packed awards ceremony held for the first time in Bulawayo. The Orchestra Dendera Kings frontman won Outstanding Male Musician, Outstanding Album for “Syllabus” and the most coveted People’s Choice Award which is decided by popular vote on the day of the awards.

“I am at a loss for words, I had prepared a speech for one award and now this is my third,” Sulu said in his acceptance speech.

In presenting the award, ZiFM boss Supa Mandiwanzira, invited all dignitaries on stage, attracting a standing ovation from the audience.
The show was screened live on ZBCTV.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart was among dignitaries that congratulated Sulu for his sterling performance.

Another surprise was in the special awards category where Partson “Chipaz” Chimbodza became the first promoter to win the Outstanding Promoter of the Year Award ahead of C&A Entertainment and Brumat, trading as Horizon Bar and Restaurant.

Chipaz dedicated his award to the late Utakataka Express leader Tongai Moyo. Actress Nothando Nobengula who was nominated twice in the same category for her role in “Wusiku” and “Ten Bush” won the Outstanding Actress award.

This was a rarity on the part of NAMA since a person can only be nominated once for each category in theatre unless  the role overlaps into the other play, but this was not the case.

Charles Matare won Outstanding Actor award for his role in “Wusiku” which again was not a Rooftop production as mentioned, but Blackmaid Production by New Zealand-based Thespian Stanley Makuwe.

In Spoken Word, a new category introduced this year was won by Carl Joshua Ncube for Oustanding Comedian beating Clive Chigubhu and Ntandoyenkosi Moyo.

The most anticipated category of the night which is music had its share of surprises with Hope Masike clinching the Outstanding Female Musician Award while the Outstanding Male Musician was hotly contested.

There were favourites like Donald Chirisa aka Sniper Storm and Enock Guni of the “Ndinonyara” fame.

In Outstanding Song category, Sniper grabbed his first NAMA for the song “Love Yemusoja”.
Sniper who was dressed in his trademark red combat gear complete with a black beret saluted his fans for the support and his producer Nhubu Digital. The awards could have gone either to “Ndinonyara” or “Gochi Gochi” by Jah Prayzah but it was Sniper’s day. The Sunday Mail’s Mtandazo Dube won the Outstanding Journalist for Print media.

Superstar Oliver Mtukudzi who was the guest of honour urged people to appreciate art. He was presented with a sculpture from Dominic Benhura.

Besides the spark of the awards, there were thrills on the red carpet where guests especially the women came dressed for the occasion. Performances on the night were up to scratch including a power play by Sani Makhalima, Jeys Marabini who performed a song called “Ukufa” a tribute to the fallen musicians as well as a magical show by Willis Wataffi, formerly of Afrika Revenge.

The rest of the winners are as follows:

DANCE
Outstanding Dance group
Magesh

Outstanding Female Dancer
Siphephiso Magonya    – IYASA

Outstanding Male Dancer
Arthur Ndlovu     –     Magesh

Outstanding Choreographer

Briann Geza    –     National Ballet

THEATRE
Outstanding Actor
Charles Matare in Wusiku    by Rooftop

Outstanding Actress
Nothando Nobengula     in Wusiku and Ten Bush

Outstanding Theatrical production
When Angels Weep by MNK Production

Outstanding Director
Zane Lucas     for Eclipsed    – Reps Theatre

VISUAL ARTS
Outstanding Mix Media Work
Melodies from the Mermaid     by Forbes Mushipe

Outstanding 2 Dimensional Work
Morning Light by    David Chinyama,

Outstanding 3 Dimensional Work
Unto Us a Child Is Born     by     Israel Israel

Outstanding Exhibition
The Cycle     by    Davina Jovi
SPOKEN WORD

Outstanding Comedian
Carl Joshua Ncube

Outstanding Poet
Tatenda Chinoda

MUSIC
Outstanding Female Musician
Hope Masike

Outstanding Album
Syllabus     -    Sulumani Chimbetu

FILM AND TELEVISION
Outstanding Actor
Cyril Sadat Sanhewe    in    Kiriboni The Menace

Outstanding Actress
Qeqeshiwe Mntambo     in    Suku

Outstanding Music Video
Amai Bhoyi    by    Jutal

Outstanding Screen Production (Television)
Delete    by    Shupai Kamunyaru

Outstanding Screen Production (Full Length film)
Suku    by    Gugulethu Ndlovu

Outstanding Screen Production (Short Film)
Mind games    by    Charles Mawungwa

LITERARY ARTS
Outstanding fiction Book
Taking The Lead          by     Sibongile Mnkandla

Outstanding Children’s book
My Daughter    by    Albert Nyathi

Outstanding First creative Published Work
Once A Lover Always A Fool    by    Philani Amadeus Nyoni

MEDIA
Outstanding Journalist (Print)
Mthandazo Dube

Outstanding Journalist (Television)
Sifiso Mpofu

Outstanding Online Media
Zimbojam

Outstanding Journalist (Radio)
No nominees

SPECIAL AWARDS
Outstanding Promoter of the Year
Chipaz Promotions

Arts Personality
Mokoomba

Arts Service
Book Cafe

People’s Choice
Suluman Chimbetu

The Sunday Mail

By Langton Nyakwenda

17 February 2013

Zimbabwe Boxing Board of Control chairman Paul Nenjerama has come to terms with the magnitude of the challenge that lies ahead as he braces to spearhead the sport’s revival. Nenjerama —  a former ANSA judges panel chairman and a veteran educationist — met the Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, David Coltart last Wednesday for a “heads up” meeting. The newly installed boxing leader heads an eight-member board appointed by the Minister and is now expected to finally convene the first board meeting this week.

“The boxing fraternity is anxious and I am aware of that but I feel we need to do all the homework and consultations before I call for the inaugural board meeting. The task we have is a daunting one and I have come to terms with the real job at hand especially after my first meeting with the Minister.

“It’s going to require everyone with boxing at heart to come together and save this sport. We need to bury the hatchets and work together to resuscitate the sport,” said Nenjerama.

The boxing boss is pushing for the establishment of a permanent secretariat to run boxing affairs on a day-to-day basis but has to seek financial support from the Ministry.

“We need to start afresh, create a new database of all boxing information and this requires a permanent secretariat to run with it.  It also requires resources and we will engage both the Sports and Recreation Commission and the Ministry on the way forward,” he said.
Nenjerama is set to meet SRC director general, Charles Nhemachena on February 19 before presiding over the inaugural board meeting.  Nhemachena is currently on leave and is expected back into office tomorrow.

“I know the boxing fraternity is getting anxious because we are delaying to meet as a board and kick start the operations but it’s better to do all the necessary consultations and engagements before the real work starts,’’ said Nenjerama.

The Sunday Mail Sport has learnt through reliable sources that a number of US-based promoters have enquired about the possibility of staging fights in Zimbabwe now that a substantive board has been installed.

“There are fights that are being lined up for as early as April and a lot of preparations are needed. Remember the country does not have a boxing ring and there is the issue of records that need to be updated and the boxers need licenses,” said a promoter who asked for anonymity.

Zimbabwe has also been given a chance to host the World Boxing Union female welterweight title and the boxing board is expected to play a leading role.