New Zimbabwe

24 November 2012

EDUCATION Minister David Coltart has angrily rejected claims by Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo that he is a former member of the Selous Scouts.

Moyo, a former Information Minister, has referred to Coltart repeatedly as an ex-member of the Rhodesian special forces unit responsible for unspeakable atrocities during the 1970s independence war.

It is an allegation Moyo made again in a new article published in the state-run Herald newspaper last week as he accused Coltart of irrational criticism of a US$20 million Zanu PF scheme to dole-out farming inputs to some 800,000 farmers, “in typical Rhodie fashion”.

Moyo charged: “Stung by the self-evident policy significance and positive impact of the Presidential agricultural input scheme which is in fact not new as it has been running for years now, Welshman Ncube’s MDC unleashed David Coltart – a former Rhodesian Selous Scout who by his own admission in his own website only started having an interest in human rights and good governance after independence in 1983 – to attempt an impossible task of trashing the scheme.”

But Coltart strongly refutes the charge, accusing Moyo of being “desperate”. The truth, Coltart says, is that he served as a member of the British South Africa Police (BSAP) – the regular police force in colonised Zimbabwe – for two years as part of compulsory national service.

“It is always such a relief to be in Jonathan Moyo’s bad books. Comforting to know one must be doing something right,” he said. “Dear old Jonathan must be desperate – he of all people knows that I was never a Selous Scout but he has to roll that falsehood out again.

“I hope Jonathan will also say I played prop for Rhodesia Rugby – he may as well because it is just as unlikely as me being a Selous Scout!”

Coltart said Moyo was trying hard to attach a stigma to him in a bid to torpedo his political fortunes – but had so far failed.“Jonathan Moyo is viewed by all rational Zimbabweans as an unprincipled political chameleon who cannot be trusted. This allegation [about Selous Scouts] has been made time and time again against me for over 12 years without any damage to either my reputation (such as it is) or political prospects,” Coltart said.

“Indeed in 2002, the allegation was contained in [Robert] Mugabe’s manifesto – something with far more gravitas and spread than Jonathan’s latest article. My election in 2005 and 2008 is proof that the slur hasn’t damaged me politically.”

Coltart said he was hesitant to sue Moyo because he had “an inherent dislike for defamation suits because they can perpetuate, feed and enlarge a
defamatory statement”.

“Jonathan’s statement is so ridiculously false and tainted that I am not going to give it the seriousness is doesn’t deserve by wasting legal fees on an action that will take several years to resolve and which a biased electronic media will latch on to fuel the falsehood”, Coltart said.

“It may seem curiously naive but at the core of my belief system is that the good Lord knows the truth and that is all I have to fear. Jesus was slandered and never had the opportunity to resort to the courts to redeem his reputation, something he didn’t actually care about.”

On Saturday, Moyo was unrepentant when we put Coltart’s denials to him.In an e-mailed response, Moyo said: “It is notable that the intended but hopeless strength of Coltart’s predictable denial is his use of a patently dehumanising term to label me a ‘chameleon’ in the same way Hutus dehumanised their critics in Rwanda as ‘cockroaches’. But of course the use of dehumanising labels is very typical of Rhodies like Coltart to whom blacks have been all sorts of things including ‘kaffirs’, ‘baboons’ and ‘goons’ among a host of dehumanising labels.

“Maybe Coltart would care to tell us whether cockroaches, chameleons, baboons and goons have human rights and if so what they are. Like any Rhodie who served in any organ of the brutal Rhodesian security forces and whose politics today are funded from Europe, America and the White Commonwealth, Coltart is just a fake democrat whose intolerance and hatred of African nationalism and independence is dramatised by the fact that he discovered human rights, the rule of law and good governance only in 1983.

“Otherwise, I maintain that Coltart is a former member of the Rhodesian Selous Scouts. This is not an insult but a description of a historical fact whose devil is in the detail and is based on the public record. Any Rhodie who served any organ of Rhodesian forces was a Selous Scout in letter or spirit or both and so the difference was in detail and not in orientation or purpose. In any case, the Selous Scouts were the lynchpin of the brutal and inhuman Rhodesian security system which Coltart by his own admission served as a BSAP patrol officer, not desk but patrol officer between 1975 and 1977.

“This was a satanic period which was the height of Rhodesian atrocities committed by all Rhodesian security forces without exception including Coltart’s BSAP whose abbreviation was taken to mean ‘Bambo Satan Ari Pano’ by countless Zimbabweans who were brutalised and dehumanised by BSAP patrol officers like Coltart whose number terrorised blacks while on patrol and in interrogation, detention centres and police cells and who were undeniably Selous Scout contacts, link points and informants.

“It is foolish for Coltart to try and give the impression that serving the BSAP in Rhodesia those brutal years between 1975 and 1977 was like serving the International Committee of the Red Cross. And the fact that Colart and others like him have been elected to Parliament despite their sickening Rhodesian history is no recommendation at all but simply dramatises how the political situation in our country has been poisoned and corrupted and why it must and will be corrected come rain or shine and sooner rather than later.”

Zimbabwe Independent

23 November 2012

Marginal salary increases for civil servants and a raised tax-free bonus threshold of US$1 000 for all employees announced by Finance minister Tendai Biti in his 2013 budget proposals may provide some relief to workers, but overall, the US$3,8 billion budget could struggle to meet the country’s public service delivery, particularly in health and education despite the sizeable allocations given to both sectors.

In a budget that some analysts said was designed to be pro-poor, Biti allocated US$1 billion towards education, the largest vote, or 27% of the total while health received US$381 million. The bigger chunk, or 68,4% of these funds are to go towards salaries and wages for these sectors, a general trend throughout the budget, which left approximately, US$1,2 billion for government’s operational expenses, development projects and public services.

Civil society has hailed the pro-poor stance of the budget, where US$407 million was allocated to specific poverty alleviation strategies.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition called the budget a “good statement of intent”, commending its provision of social services in five key areas.

These include US$97,2 million for water and sanitation mainly for dam construction and building of water and sewer infrastructure by local authorities; US$13,5 million for economic empowerment and employment creation; US$25,7 million for social protection; US$175,3 million for health (which includes allocations for district and provincial hospitals and maternal health); and lastly, US$95,9 million towards education for student support, purchase of learning materials and the maintenance and construction of schools.

While Crisis in Zimbabwe is positive about an increase in overall spending on health and education, Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart was more cautious in his response to Biti’s US$1 billion allocation for education as the ministry had only received US$11,5 million in non-wage budget support by November 2012.

“We are pleased with the theoretical figure that we have gotten, but the theoretical figure needs to be matched with actual disbursement. For this year, we only got 15% of the non-salary figure and we need to see if we’re actually going to get more. For us that’s the real test,” Coltart said on Tuesday.

The minister has previously complained about government’s prioritisation on expenditure, saying Zimbabwe spends more on defence and foreign travel than on education.

He says figures from the January-June table of non-wage budget support show that as at June 30, 2012, the Ministry of Education, received US$4,7 million only out of an allocated US$77,3 million allocated for sport and culture had been disbursed, while the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare had received US$22,7 million in non-wage budget support out of an earmarked US$170,2 million.

By comparison, the Ministry of Defence received US$35,8 million out of US$101,4 million, while the Office of the President and Cabinet received US$30,7 million out of its US$114 million allocation.

Coltart, however, sounded hopeful that 2013 would be a better year in disbursements as consultations with the Finance ministry could see critical projects such as those for maternal health as well as those for orphans and vulnerable children being ring-fenced.

“We have had productive discussions with Mr Biti and we have talked about measures to ring-fence some of the projects and make sure we get the money. I hope that might resolve some of the problems,” he said.

Some of the challenges facing the ministry include marking of Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) Grade 7 examinations scheduled to begin in November, which was delayed this week because the Ministry of Finance had not provided US$1,5 million needed for travel and accomodation expenses for exam-markers.

Last month government was forced to pay US$1,1 million after Zimsec threatened to block 16 000 Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam)-aided students from sitting their O and A-Level exams late in October.

Beam is a scheme launched by government and international partners in 2001 to provide school and exam fees for hundreds of thousands of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

On health, although Biti noted that government spending had increased to US$18 per capita from US$7 per capita allocated in 2009, incomplete disbursement of the health budget would mean this figure could be lower as noted in the National Child Survival Strategy for Zimbabwe 2010-2015 report.

“While the share of health in the overall budget had started showing a decreasing trend over the years, with current per capita investment in health by government of US$18 falling below the US$34 recommended by the National Health Strategy (2009 – 2013), the 2013 budget proposes an allocation of US$381 million,” said Biti.

However, the National Child Survival Strategy report produced by the Ministry of Health, Unicef and the World Health Organisation comments on the adverse impact of budget disbursements falling short of a projected allocation on health spending.

“The Ministry of Health was initially allocated US$157 673 800 for the 2009 budget, which was revised down to US$121 million.However, only US$23 millon (18%) was actually disbursed,” the report says.“This translates to approximately US$7 per capita, of which only US$2 per capita was disbursed. The trend has been for budget disbursements to be below 15% of allocation over the years.”

The report notes that government’s inability to fund its own people’s health has meant relying on international donors to supplement health funding. Health minister Henry Madzorera could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.

As Zimbabwe strives to meet its Millennium Development Goals targets for 2013 and prepare for another year of fiscal austerity, adequate health and education services remain the concerns of ordinary Zimbabweans, according to views aired in the rural areas during pre-budget consultations.

Although the budget promises to allocate more money to social services and Biti has given assurances that government will ring-fence social funds, it remains to be seen whether 2013 will be a better year for the disbursement of funds for social services.

Daily News

By Fungai Kwaramba

22 November 2012

HARARE – Shocking details have emerged of widespread abuse of orphans at an orphanage and schools which were run by disgraced and dethroned Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga, prompting human rights organisations to demand an investigation.

Yesterday, the Anglican Church Harare diocese convened a press briefing where the dastardly endeavours which happened in the past five years under Kunonga’s watch were revealed.

Kunonga was in charge of the institutions after he seized them from the Church of the Province of Central Africa, often using violence and help from the police.

Chad Gandiya, who is the bishop of Harare, told reporters in Harare that the Anglican Church, which won a landmark court victory on Monday, was carrying out an inventory that will ultimately lead them to their vast properties which had been turned into “lucrative business joints” by the ex-communicated Kunonga.

With more than 100 parishes and sub parishes in the diocese of Harare which encompasses, Mashonaland, East, West and Central provinces and hundreds of schools in the same diocese, Kunonga has not been settling electricity and water bills and an inventory would allow bona fide Anglicans to know the amount that the self-proclaimed Zanu PF supporter is supposed to pay.

Kunonga lost the case of control of the Anglican Church properties with costs at the Supreme Court and is supposed to clean his slate before he exits the buildings which he has personalised and even “desecrated” in the past five years.

Gandiya said on December 16 a cleansing ceremony will be carried out to drive out demons before the church gets to use its defiled sanctuaries.

But it is the issue of abuse of children which is most shocking, especially coming from men of the cloth.

Just like with other schools and hospitals, the Anglican Church lost Shirley Cripps, an orphanage to Kunonga, who violently kicked out nuns, some of whom had been running the place for more than 30 years.

Debauchery by Kunonga’s men was to follow, Gandiya said yesterday.

“The children’s home is very dear to us, last week we received information hat children were being abused. The matter was referred to the police and we are happy a person was arrested. There is widespread sexual abuse at the orphanage.”

While Anglicans across the country are on cloud nine celebrating their victory, Gandiya expressed concern with the manner in which Kunonga’s supporters are deserting premises literally abandoning children.

“We are not there to fight anybody. If people are moving out they should inform us so as to ensure that children do not starve,” said Gandiya.

After leaving the Anglican Church, ostensibly over homosexuality, Kunonga an acclaimed supporter of President Robert Mugabe’s policies, went on to replace professionals at the institutions he had seized.Standards have plummeted with children at the Anglican Church-run schools complaining of abuse while infrastructure is in a sorry state.

Officials say sexual abuses at Shirley Cripps are just a tip of the iceberg judging from the decadence of the moral fibre at institutions that had been in the hands of Kunonga.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart said his ministry will take stern measures against teachers who will be found to have abused children.

“We are certainly going to investigate. We will support the Anglican Church and they should give us any kind of allegation which they have so that we take it to the police commissioner-general. If we find that teachers abused children, then we will punish them severely,” said Coltart.

Irene Petras Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said the Human Rights Commission which was recently given teeth after Mugabe signed the Human Rights Bill into law should investigate the matter along with the ministry of Education.

“Children just like everyone else should enjoy their rights. What happened when Kunonga was in charge should be investigated by the ministry of Education because the first mandate of education is to ensure that children develop in a proper environment.

This is something that the Human Rights Commission should also do,” said Petras.

Contacted for comment, police spokesperson Charity Charamba said she is still in the dark about the matter.

Zim Eye

22 November 2012

The Minister of Education, Art, Sport and Culture, David Coltart is moving in to investigate sexual abuses reported to have taken place at schools and other child institutions that disgraced Bishop Nolbert Kunonga seized from the Anglican church.

Shocking details have emerged of widespread abuse of children at an orphanage and other schools by the dethroned Anglican bishop which have prompted human rights organisations to press for police investigations.

Revealing that a cleansing ceremony would actually be required to ‘drive out demons before the church gets to use its defiled sanctuaries’, bishop Chad Gandiya said that he has received information that children at the Shirley Cripps orphanage were abused.

“The children’s home is very dear to us, last week we received information that children were being abused. The matter was referred to the police and we are happy a person was arrested. There is widespread sexual abuse at the orphanage.”

Officials say sexual abuses at Shirley Cripps are just a tip of the iceberg judging from the decadence of the moral fibre at institutions that had been in the hands of Kunonga.

David Coltart said his ministry will take stern measures against teachers who have abused children.

“We are certainly going to investigate. We will support the Anglican Church and they should give us any kind of allegation which they have so that we take it to the police commissioner-general. If we find that teachers abused children, then we will punish them severely,” said Coltart.

Another matter of concern has been the lack of coordination in the process of exchanging hands at the various institutions where vulnerable individuals,mainly children are taken care of.

While Anglicans across the country were celebrating their victory, Gandiya expressed concern with the manner in which Kunonga’s supporters have also been deserting premises as they abandon children.

“We are not there to fight anybody. If people are moving out they should inform us so as to ensure that children do not starve,” said Gandiya.

After leaving the Anglican Church, ostensibly over homosexuality, Kunonga an acclaimed supporter of President Robert Mugabe’s policies, went on to replace professionals at the institutions he had seized.

Standards have plummeted with children at the Anglican Church-run schools complaining of abuse while infrastructure is in a sorry state.

Irene Petras Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said the Human Rights Commission which was recently given teeth after Mugabe signed the Human Rights Bill into law should investigate the matter along with the ministry of Education.

“Children just like everyone else should enjoy their rights. What happened when Kunonga was in charge should be investigated by the ministry of Education because the first mandate of education is to ensure that children develop in a proper environment,”Petras said.

This is something that the Human Rights Commission should also do,” Petras added.

Contacted for comment at the time of writing, police spokesperson Charity Charamba however said she was still in the dark about the matter.

Voice of America – Zimbabwe

By Mark Peter Nthambe

21 November 2012

HARARE — Zimbabwe’s indigenous languages face extinction due to lack of incentives for growth, says international development scientist, Dr. Charlton Tsodzo.

Speaking at a conference organized by the U.S Embassy’s Public Affairs Section in Harare on Tuesday, Dr. Tsodzo, who comes from the famous Tsodzo family of Shona writers, said indigenous languages are lagging behind in development to such an extent that some of them face extinction:

Language, he said, “is a tool for meanings and communication that develops a people’s culture. The death of a language means the annihilation of their cultural norms and values.”

Tsodzo said because of changing trends, most people in Zimbabwe no longer worry about using their local languages as they use English on a daily basis.

Companies like Microsoft have started work on software that will incorporate indigenous languages such as Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Zulu, Holof and others to take advantage of the more that 150 million Africans that use them while the owners of the languages look down upon them, said Tsodzo

Zimbabwean minority languages include Chewa, Chibarwe, Kalanga, Nambya, Ndau, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda and Xhosa, among others

His organization, Maendeleo, is currently working with some government departments to translate important policy documents into local languages.

A young cultural activist, who also attended the event, Rudombo Tenga said young people are shunning local languages.

Zimbabwe is currently working on a new constitution with political parties still bickering over some sticking issues including the need to make minority languages part of the country’s official languages like Ndebele, Shona and English.

Education Minister David Coltart recently said the government has sourced $9 million to enable local people to write books in indigenous languages which could be used at schools.

The Chronicle

21 November 2012

The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) early this year received accolades from parents, pupils and other stakeholders for releasing the 2011 O-level and A-level results in a record time. The A-level results were out on 19 January while the O-level results were out on 31 January. This good record which had restored confidence in the examinations body was unfortunately short lived.

According to a story we published yesterday, Zimsec is yet to start marking the 2012 Grade Seven examinations. Schools are closing in about two weeks’ time and the Grade Seven results are supposed to be released before schools close to give parents adequate time to seek Form One places for their children.

Last year Zimsec finished marking Grade Seven examinations on 11 November and in 2010 the results were released on 2 December. Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said Zimsec was yet to receive money to mark the examinations from Treasury. Minister Coltart said Zimsec requires at least $1,5 million to pay markers and meet other expenses.

Minister Coltart said Zimsec could not hire markers before the release of the money. “The money has to be released first. We cannot contract the markers before receiving the money as doing so will create problems as we need to pay the markers soon after completing the work,” said Mr Coltart. He said he did not know when the money was likely to be released.

Public examinations, we want to emphasise, are a very crucial phase of a child’s education career. Examinations are used as a barometer or yardstick to assess whether or not pupils qualify to move to the next stage of the education ladder and should therefore not be taken lightly. What we are reading from Minister Coltart’s response is that he has surrendered everything to fate yet he is the responsible minister.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti cannot be allowed to tamper with the country’s education system by disturbing its smooth running. The delay in marking the examinations might not appear a big problem but the truth is that it will adversely affect the smooth running of the school system. The late release of results will mean delayed opening of schools or suspension of selection of Form One pupils based on Grade Seven results.

What we do not understand is Zimsec’s logic to wait until the last minute to raise alarm on the non-availability of money for markers. Zimsec should have budgeted for this money in the 2012 budget and should not be talking of release of the money when Treasury is about to close its books for this year. Treasury on its part should have made provision of these examinations in its 2012 budget and by now should have long released the money.

Minister Coltart and Minister Biti should just put their act together and ensure the money for the examinations is released as soon as possible. We do not want a situation whereby the marking of the examinations is compromised by putting markers under pressure to meet an already missed deadline.

The markers have to be trained first and thereafter should be given ample time to mark the papers. We do not want this situation whereby we move one step forward and then two backwards as what seems to be happening at Zimsec. Work to mark the examinations should start as soon as possible and treasury should prioritise the issue of examinations which, as we have already stated, are very critical in our education system.

New Zimbabwe

By Prof Jonathan Moyo

21 November 2012

IF THERE is one thing that Zimbabweans can reiterate and reiterate until the cows come home without twisting their tongues like Elizabeth Macheka over the pronouncement of the word, it would be not only to reiterate that the two MDC formations are ideologically bankrupt and policy-incompetent but also to reiterate that the MDC formations have absolutely nothing to offer to the people of Zimbabwe beyond the self-aggrandisement, self-enrichment and sexual pleasure of the leadership of the two embattled parties.

There are two latest examples of this. One is how Morgan’s Tsvangirai’s MDC has reacted to the theme of Zanu PF’s 2012 people’s conference in Gweru early next month whose banner is “Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment”.

The other example is the reaction of Welshman Ncube’s MDC to Zanu PF’s 2012 Presidential agricultural input scheme that has earmarked $20 million to support at least 800,000 farming households.

Stung by the self-evident policy significance and positive impact of the Presidential agricultural input scheme which is in fact not new as it has been running for years now, Welshman Ncube’s MDC unleashed David Coltart – a former Rhodesian Selous Scouts who by his own admission in his own website only started having an interest in human rights and good governance after independence in 1983 – to attempt an impossible task of trashing the scheme.

In typical Rhodie fashion, Coltart did not care about the beneficiaries of the agricultural input scheme, instead he was manifestly dismayed and apparently scared to his political death that a staggering 800,000 farming households whose livelihood depends on the soil were set to benefit from concrete support given to them by Zanu PF.

And as if to take Zimbabweans for fools, Coltart not only demanded to know the identity of the donors to the $20 million agricultural input scheme but also wondered why the well-wishers could donate such an amount to the agricultural scheme while Tendai Biti had allocated only $8 million for education this year.

Notably and understandably given his anti-people Rhodie roots, Coltart could not bring himself into thinking about Biti’s paltry allocation to agriculture because just like Biti and indeed just like the two MDC formations, Coltart does not understand the strategic importance of agriculture to the Zimbabwean economy including to the sustenance of critical social sectors of that economy such as education and health.

Where money is involved, the accountability rule is that you do not ask stupid questions about where it is coming from but you simply follow it. In other words, you follow the money if you want to know the use to which it is put. But Coltart and those who think like him have not been interested in following the $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme because even fools can see where it is going: to 800,000 farming households across the county and this means the money is going to the masses.

But why, as would be normal in such situations, has Coltart not shown any interest in following the $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme to its destination? It has since emerged that because of his now widely-known sympathies for Tsvangirai’s MDC, driven by his growing fear that he will almost certainly lose his Senate seat in Bulawayo if he seeks re-election on the ticket of Welshman Ncube’s beleaguered MDC which has defined its political fate in narrow geographic terms with no political content, Coltart weighed into the misplaced attack of the $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme to contain the damaging consequences of Tsvangirai’s open zip shenanigans.

It was not a coincidence that Coltart’s outburst happened exactly when there were very serious questions about Tsvangirai’s source of money given his Cabinet salary and background after he was reported to have paid some $300,000 cash to settle a maintenance claim from Locardia Karimatsenga and a reported $200,000 in legal costs bringing the figure to at least half a million dollars.

Coltart must not fool himself into believing that his typically Rhodie diversionary and disinformation tactics perfected by Selous Scouts have gone unnoticed. It was a good try, as they say, but nothing else beyond that.

The bottom line is that there is a world of difference between, on the one hand, Morgan Tsvangirai $500,000 from unknown sources dished out to pay for one of Tsvangirai’s concubines in acknowledgment of his sexual gratification and, on the other hand, Zanu PF’s $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme given to 800,000 farming households across the country.

Does David Coltart or anyone else for that really think that it is better to pay a concubine for sexual services rendered than to support farmers? In the same vein, does David Coltart or anyone else who suffers from similarly warped thinking believe that it is better or is more responsible to demand to know where the money to support farmers is coming from than to demand to know where the money to support Tsvangirai’s sexual interest is coming from? Which of these two raises fundamental moral issues in the public domain?

Is it Coltart’s submission that it is right for some Western donor countries that have refused to support agriculture, and their identities are known, to settle Tsvangirai’s sex bills? It is salutary to know that the story of who gave Tsvangirai $500,000 to settle Locardia Karimatsenga’s claims is yet to be told and like the sun will rise tomorrow that story will be told and maybe by then the 800,000 farming households supported by the $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme will be harvesting their crop.

Meanwhile, and in a failed attempt to support Coltart’s whistle in the wilderness about the unassailable $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme for 800,000 farming households, Tsvangirai’s MDC issued an inane statement earlier his week preposterously claiming that Zanu PF had allegedly stolen ideas from the MDC-T’s imported Juice policy. This was ostensibly prompted by the “Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment” theme of the 2012 Zanu PF’s people’s conference in Gweru next month.

The MDC-T claimed in an official statement, of all things, that “Zanu PF has now finally seen sense in the MDC thrust on job creation and has at the 11th hour slotted ‘Create Employment’ in their conference theme”. Now if this is not madness, nothing is.

Since when do mere words constitute an idea or a policy? Who on earth is the owner of the words “Create Employment”? Is it the MDC-T and how many in the MDC-T leadership can reiterate these words without tripping over the conceptual meaning?

Seriously, it is inherently foolish and the height of intellectual bankruptcy for anyone to think or believe that any person or any organisation owns words or to claim that words are synonymous with ideas or policies.

When it comes to the words in question, even kindergarten kids know that “Employment Creation” has been at the centre of Zanu PF ideology and discourse for decades. In fact, the Zanu PF government has even had a Ministry of Employment Creation! People who do not know this rudimentary fact are desk politicians of the likes of Alex Magaisa who penned the nonsensical MDC-T statement that stupidly claimed that Zanu PF had stolen the words “employment creation” from the MDC-T’s imported Juice so-called policy which is full of Tsvangirai’s juicy stuff that does not go beyond his personal pleasure.

The issue is not about who is using which words but about the policy premise and the policy substance of the words used. According to its imported Juice policy, the MDC-T believes that jobs can be imported and brought to Zimbabwe in briefcases by the same Western countries whose economies are going through a crippling financial crisis and which the MDC-T believes have loved Zimbabweans so much as to slap them with punitive economic sanctions that have ravaged our economy and devastated the livelihoods of ordinary people.

Zanu PF’s employment creation policy is not based on foreign agendas that are beyond the control of Zimbabweans but are squarely based on the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme whose revolutionary thrust is to ensure that the commanding heights of the economy are in the hands of Zimbabweans to unlock real value for development and opportunities for creating real jobs.

Zimbabweans now know and understand that the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme is not imported, is not a slogan and is not wishful thinking but is tangible and unfolding on the ground with visible success. This success is evidenced by the broad-based compliance by economic players among major corporations and the launch of community and employee share ownership schemes that are now found in at least seven provinces with more roll-outs to come before the end of the year.

In fact, the programme has been so successful in terms of laying the foundation for creating real jobs that many other countries are now making inquiries to draw lessons while others such as Kenya and Indonesia have in fact followed suit.

In the circumstances, the issue is not about words but about ideas and policies. Zanu PF is committed to developing Zimbabwe including creating jobs through indigenisation of all of the 14 key sectors of the economy while the MDC-T believes that jobs can be created by the same countries that have imposed economic sanctions on Zimbabwe and which are failing to create jobs in their own backyards.

Anybody who believes that countries that cannot create jobs for their own citizens can create jobs for Zimbabweans needs to be examined by a competent psychiatrist.

Zim Eye

By Walter Sebele

21 November 2012

Education, Arts, Sports and Culture Minister, Senator  David Coltart has called for Zimbabwean writers and educationists to invest in indigenous languages as it is key to the development of a nation.

In an interview, the Education Minister said for Zimbabwe to be an education powerhouse, there was need for the local writers to consider producing works that promote the indigenous languages.

Last year, the Ministry of Education introduced the teaching of Tonga in Binga and pupils sat for their first ever examinations in the language in Grade 7 and efforts have been made to introduce more languages.

“There is so much milestone that still needs to be done for Zimbabwean education to reclaim its top post in Africa and the challenge now lies with the Zimbabwean writers and educationalists to produce works in all languages in Zimbabwe so that we can work to have them printed and distributed to schools.

In as much as we would want to spread our program of indigenous languages nationwide, we will be doomed for failure if we do not join hands with the local writers and educationists as they are the ones to be on the forefront of producing the much needed materials for our program to be a success” said Coltart.

He also highlighted how indigenous languages helped children to further grasp other languages and key concepts at schools.

“It is a child’s right to explore his or her own mother language in a manner that he/she understands better; it awards him with the opportunity to relate to his own people fluently and appreciate his language with no difficulty as well as relating to his own culture.

As such the teaching mother languages in Binga and other areas proved that the most important building block in every child’s education is his/her ability to read, write and speak his/her mother tongue. Once those skills have been mastered it is much easier for a child to learn another language, such as the world’s business language English, and Mathematics,” said Coltart.

Minister Coltart also revealed that the Education Transition Fund had set its budget at US$ 9 million a move that would help in their quest to have more native languages produced and distributed.

“I am pleased to announce that the Education Transition Fund (phase 2) has a new budget which amounts to US$ 9 million for the production of language readers and it is for that reason we have now committed ourselves to teaching and examining all indigenous languages spoken in Zimbabwe,” he said.

The Zimbabwean

By Edgar Gweshe

21 November 2012

The Minister of Education, David Coltart, has pledged to work towards restoring sanity and improving learning conditions that had sharply deteriorated in Anglican schools seized by renegade bishop Nolbert Kunonga.

Speaking after the Supreme Court reversed an earlier ruling by the High Court recognising Kunonga as the rightful owner of Anglican Church property in the diocese of Harare, Coltart said: “Our prayers have been answered for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe. I now look forward to working with them to restore sanity in their schools which have suffered so much during this period of insanity. As usual my door is open if they need help in this regard.”

Deputy Chief Justice, Luke Malaba on Monday ruled that Kunonga and his followers were no longer part of the Anglican Church as they broke away from the main church in 2007 – hence they were not entitled to any property. Malaba said Kunonga had wrongly been in control of the church’s property since 2007.

Coltart, like many other Anglican worshippers, expressed delight at the Supreme Court judgement which he said would help restore order in the Anglican schools.

Soon after the judgement, social media such as Facebook was awash with congratulatory messages for Bishop Gandiya who leads the Church of Central Province of Africa, while Kunonga was heavily attacked by jubilant parishioners.

In an interview with The Zimbabwean, Gandiya admitted that standards in schools which had been seized by Kunonga had fallen heavily.

“We realise we have a big task ahead of us. Our Education Committee will be meeting this week to map out strategies on how best to improve the standards,” said Gandiya.

New Zimbabwe

18 November 2012

Statement by Senator David Coltart, Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture

THE most important building block in every child’s education is his/her ability to read, write and speak his/her mother tongue.

Once those skills have been mastered, it is much easier for a child to learn another language, such as the world’s business language English, and Mathematics.

Since taking office, I have tried to promote the teaching of all indigenous languages in Zimbabwe. That is why during my tenure for the first time ever Tonga has been examined at Grade 7, and textbooks in a variety of other marginalised indigenous languages have either been produced and distributed to schools or are in the process of being produced through the Education Transition Fund which I chair and which is managed by Unicef.

It is for the same reason we have now committed ourselves to teaching and examining all indigenous languages spoken in Zimbabwe. In line with this policy, I am pleased to announce that the Education Transition Fund (phase 2) has a new budget line of some US$9 million for the production of language readers.

We recently held a “Readers Expo” at our HQ in Harare and invited publishers and others to exhibit the readers they have on offer. Whilst this was a successful event, what has emerged is that we have very few readers in all indigenous languages including the mainline Shona and SiNdebele languages.

The challenge now for Zimbabwean writers and educationalists is for them to write new Zimbabwean readers in all languages so that we can work to have them printed and distributed to schools.

Those interested in doing so are encouraged to contact our Curriculum Development Unit in Mount Pleasant, Harare. I encourage the press and all those interested to help us advertise this project.

I call specifically on those language and ethnic groups throughout Zimbabwe to mobilise so that they use this opportunity to address what has been a major gap in our education system.