Sunday News

By Stanford Chiwanga

27 October 2012

ZIMBABWE has one of the highest rates of orphan-hood in the world, with 25 percent of all children having lost one or both parents mainly due to HIV and Aids, a survey by the Government, Unicef and other partners has revealed.

More than one million young people, most of them orphans, are out of school and left with few educational and employment options. Children with parents were found to be three times more likely to attend secondary school than children from poor and orphaned families.

The absence of a breadwinner means that there is a growing disparity in education. Financial barriers are constraining access to education for orphans and vulnerable children. In this environment, orphaned children, children with disabilities and others with special needs, are at increasing risk of exclusion from school.

The vulnerability of orphans especially girls left them at risk of being sexually abused. At least 21 percent of girls’ first sexual encounters are forced and orphans were found to make up most of the victims of this sexual abuse. To date, 10 000 children victims of abuse have been assisted through the victim friendly system. A large percent of the children were orphans.

The victim friendly system is the child-sensitive justice system that includes specialised police units, courts and care and support services.

The Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Paurine Mpariwa refused to comment for reasons best known to her.

A Unicef official said the high rate of orphanhood in Zimbabwe was a cause of concern but can be reduced through behavioural change and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. “Behavioural change is a must for children to grow up with their parents, as it stands most cases of HIV infection in Zimbabwe are of sexual intercourse, a sign that HIV was contracted through adultery and fornication. Also if mothers get tested and get on a treatment regime they get to live longer and that also prevents mother-to-child transmission, meaning babies are born without HIV. But for those parents who are positive, they can also avoid turning their children into orphans by taking ARVs. They prolong lives and parents can live to see their children grow into adults, said the official.

The effective response of Government and Unicef and its partners has led to major increases in assistance rendered to orphans. Five hundred thousand orphans and vulnerable children are provided with free-basic social services and an additional 500 000 are having their school fees paid for through the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam).

By 2015, in line with the millennium development goals (MDGs), the Government and Unicef through the Education Transition Fund, aim to have returned at least 100 000 school-aged boys and girls to mainstream education through a “second chance” education programme. The target is also to ensure that 25 percent of orphans and vulnerable children, including those with special needs, access basic education. At least 200 000 young women and men will be provided with alternative learning opportunities that include HIV and Aids life skills training.

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said a political will was necessary in order to ensure that all orphans and vulnerable children access education and benefit from Government-led intervention programmes.

“For us to reach out to all orphans and vulnerable children who are out of school because they do not have money we require a collective effort. The international community can assist us by increasing the amount of money it gives us but the primary responsibility lies with us, the Government of Zimbabwe. We need to increase the amount of money allocated to education and Beam. Tough political decisions need to be made and they entail reducing the amount of money given to other ministries in order to increase the money for education,” said Minister Coltart.

According to Minister Coltart, about one million out of an estimated 3,6 million school-going children require Beam support as their parents and guardians cannot afford paying school fees. Approximately 27 percent of these children were either orphans or vulnerable children.

Currently, 976 000 primary and secondary school students are in need of Beam assistance but 380 000 are not receiving any support.

Fifty-five thousand girls and boys from labour-constrained and food-poor child-headed-families will be guaranteed long-term cash transfers from a Government-led national social protection system.

News Day

By Philip Chidavenzi

23 October 2012

EDUCATION minister David Coltart has disclosed that about one million out of an estimated 3,6 million school-going children required Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) support as their parents and guardians cannot afford paying school fees.

Speaking at the launch of the Beam Evaluation Report in Harare last week, Coltart said the evaluation revealed that approximately 27% of these children were either orphans or vulnerable children.

“From this, one can conclude that we have a very grave situation on our hands,” Coltart said.

“Given an approximate 3% enrolment increase, an estimated $53 million is required to cover the full annual Beam requirement in 2013. This will not cover the out-of-school children, the number of which are still not known, but could be as high as another one million children.”

“Those children identified in the Beam and Zela (Zimbabwe Early Learning Assessment) report are registered and in school. The number of out-of-school children not included in these assessments is not known,” Coltart said.

The evaluation indicated that 784 000 (28%) of primary school pupils are in need of support, but only 456 400 (16,3%) had accessed it. The evaluation noted that Tsholotsho, Bubi and Gwanda districts had the highest number of school dropouts.

Coltart said for secondary schools, 192 000 (24%) of 800 000 students required Beam support but only 140 000 (17,5%) received it.

Of the 976 000 primary and secondary school students identified as needing Beam support, 380 000 were not receiving anything.

He added that a comprehensive “out of school” assessment would be conducted in partnership with Zimstats early next year.

The minister said according to statistics from the report, there were gaps and weaknesses in the programme, indicating the need for refinement of the selection process.

“The Beam evaluation was long overdue. Gaps and weaknesses identified should form the basis for continuous training of heads of schools and the community selection committees (CSC) in the Beam processes and procedures,” he said.

Beam was launched in 2001 in response to the rising challenges associated with the macro-economic meltdown which undermined social services provision to assist people who could not afford school fees.

The Zimbabwean

23 October 2012

The Minister of Education, Sport, Art and Culture David Coltart has announced that Grade Seven pupils who have just finished writing national examinations will have to stay in school until the end of term.In the past, schools allowed pupils to leave school after completing examinations, which was contrary to government policy.

“It is a long standing government policy that no school will release Grade Seven pupils before the end of the school term. Finishing examinations does not warrant an early release of children onto the street. It is not in the best interests of the children, parents, communities and government to let the Grade Seven pupils roam the streets while other children are at school,” said Coltart in a telephone interview.

The Headmaster at Waddilove, Izeck Jari, told parents that he would not interfere with government laws and release children illegally.

“Please be reminded that no Grade Seven children will leave this school before the end of the term. My office would not approve any request by a parent to take any child home. Should a parent take a child out of school behind my back, my office would report the matter to the police and the responsible government offices as a missing child case. Appropriate action would be taken.”

Parents said keeping their children at school after examinations would put a strain on family budgets.

The Standard

By Albert Marufu

21 October 2012

THE Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, has called for the prosecution of individuals who have been handed life bans by Zifa over match-fixing allegations.

Zifa president, Cuthbert Dube, on Friday released a report that saw 15 players and administrators being banned from the sport over allegations of match-fixing in Asia between 2007 and 2009.

The life bans, which came to effect on the day the announcement was made, fell on former Warriors coach, Sunday Chidzambwa, former Zifa chief executive officer, Henrietta Rushwaya, the association’s former programmes officer, Jonathan Musavengana, soccer players — Thomas Sweswe, Guthrie Zhokinyu, Method Mwanjali — and 10 others.

Writing on his Facebook profile yesterday, Coltart said police and the attorney general should move in to act quickly. “I fully support Zifa’s decision to serve life bans on various players and administrators responsible for what is undoubtedly the most shameful chapter of Zimbabwe’s sporting history. I trust that the Police and the Attorney General will now act quickly to investigate and prosecute those identified,” he wrote.

“If they do not, then their offices will also be tainted by this scandal. I have no doubt that the football-loving public expects that those responsible for criminal activity should face the full wrath of the law.”

Police spokesperson, Andrew Phiri, however said the police would only act when the law has been contravened and a complainant made. “We normally are not deployed by what appears in the newspapers,” he said.

Dube said some recommendations for possible arrests would be made.

‘There will be some recommendations for arrests and the board will meet on Friday,” said Dube.

Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) director general, Charles Nhemachena, expressed gratitude that the matter was coming to an end, but said the board would make a decision on the way forward.

“We did receive the report yesterday [Friday] and I will hand it over to the board on Monday [tomorrow]. The board will then decide on the way forward. The SRC is pleased that the matter is coming to an end because it had dragged for a long time,” Nhemachena said.

Zifa would release in batches names of individuals who will be suspended with the next batch being that of players and officials who have been banned for 10 years followed by those who would have been handed five-year bans.

The next batches will be that of individuals who will have been banned for three years, two years and one year.

Life bans: Henrietta Rushwaya, Jonathan Musavengana, Kudzai Shabba, Sunday Chidzambwa, Thompson Matenda, Godfrey Japajapa, Rodwell Dhlakama, Emmanuel Nyahuma, Robson Sharuko, Edmore Sibanda, Danisa Phiri, Thomas Sweswe, Guthrie Zhokinyi, Method Mwanjali and Hope Chizuzu.

New Zimbabwe

20 October 2012

SPORTS Minister David Coltart has called on Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri and Attorney General Johannes Tomana to initiate criminal proceedings against football players and administrators involved in the Asiagate scandal.

An official report said national team matches were fixed by ex-ZIFA officials along with convicted match-fixer Wilson Perumal between 2007 and 2009.

ZIFA announced on Friday that 15 players and officials – including the decorated former Zimbabwe coach Sunday Chidzambwa and ex-ZIFA CEO Henrietta Rushwaya – had been banned for life from all football activities.

Over 50 other players and officials will, in the coming weeks, learn of their punishments which will range from suspensions of six months to 10 years, say officials.

“I fully support ZIFA’s decision to serve life bans on various players and administrators responsible for what is undoubtedly the most shameful chapter of Zimbabwe’s sporting history,” Coltart.

“I trust that the Police and the Attorney General will now act quickly to investigate and prosecute those identified. If they don’t, then their offices will also be tainted by this scandal.

“I have no doubt that the football loving public expects that those responsible for criminal activity should face the full wrath of the law.”

An independent panel chaired by retired High Court judge Ahmed Ebrahim identified systematic corruption after Perumal burrowed his way into the heart of Zimbabwean football.

Justice Ebrahim said in Rushwaya and other senior officials including ZIFA programmes officer Jonathan Musavengana and football agent Kudzai Shabba, Singapore national Perumal found willing participants in his corruption.

Players – including the former captain Method Mwanjali now of Sundowns in South Africa, former CAPS United goalkeeper Edmore Sibanda, Dynamos defender Guthrie Zhokinyi, Kaizer Chiefs defender Thomas Sweswe and Danisa Phiri – dragged their teammates along as they assumed a central role in the corruption in which they were paid to lose matches. They will never play football again, ZIFA said.

Journalists were not spared by the corruption. Robson Sharuko, editor of the country’s biggest daily newspaper – the Herald – and former Sunday Mail reporter Hope Chizuzu, who was now working for the Premier League side Monomotapa, were also banned.

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation

20 October 2012

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart has hailed the completion of the Asiagate report that has resulted in the imposition of penalties on players, officials and journalists who participated in match fixing activities.

The handing down of life bans to 15 players, officials and journalists has been met with mixed feelings, but Senator Coltart has commended the work done by the independent ethics committee that was headed by Justice Ebrahim.

With players, officials and journalists sanctioned from football activity, Coltart said it is also important that police institute criminal investigations.

Minister Coltart’s remarks follow the release of a list of 15 players that were slapped with life bans by the Zimbabwe Football Association following recommendations made by a report crafted by the independent ethics committee.

Administrators such as Henrietta Rushwaya and Jonathan Musavengana were slapped with life bans together with technical personnel including Sunday Chidzambwa, Rodwell Dhlakama, and Emmanuel Nyahuma.

Method Mwanjali, Thomas Sweswe, Edmore Sibanda and Guthrie Zhokinyi are among players whose football careers have been cut short.

Names of those handed with 10-year bans will be released next week, with five, three, two and one year ban casualties set to know their fate in subsequent weeks.

A total of 16 players have been exonerated.

The Sunday Mail

By Fatima Bulla

20 October 2012

Henrietta Rushwaya, the former Zifa chief executive officer and sus­pected mastermind of the Asiagate match-fix­ing operation, has accepted the life ban passed on her by the mother body. Rushwaya said she still felt the ver­dict was sexist, but said she hoped it would clear the way for local football to develop.

Rushwaya, who took up employ­ment at 53 Livingstone Avenue towards the end of 2006, said she got into office while the match-fixing syn­dicate had already established roots and she fell into the murky waters without know­ing.  “I feel like they have made me an easy target because I am a woman, but this began way before I was in office and I just fell into the trap. However, I accepted being the scapegoat and I have dusted myself while moving on with my life.

 “I am sorry for those who are trying to get to grips with their sentences, but I hope with this conclusion our football continues to grow to the extent of qual­ifying for the World Cup and African Cup of Nations tourna­ments.

 “And my advice to journalists is that they have to advance their education just in case things like this happen and they end up getting stranded,” she said, without being specific. Rushwaya said she was now focused on her budding political career. In a related development, former national team captain Method Mwan­jali and Dynamos defender Guthrie Zhokinyu, who are among the 15 play­ers and officials to be handed life time bans by Zifa in the Asiagate scandal, have turned to the Footballers’ Union of Zimbabwe for help.

 Mwanjali, who plies his trade at South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, was involved in seven games while Zhokinyu took part once. Accused of betraying the country during the national team’s trips of shame to Asia, including the African Cup of Nations final qualifier in Cape Verde which Zimbabwe lost 2-1 under mysterious circumstances, the duo are pressing for leniency.

 According to Paul Gundani, the sec­retary for Footballers’ Union of Zim­babwe, Mwanjali was yet to receive communication regarding the ban and the same applies to Zhokinyu, who travelled with Dynamos to Kwekwe for a Mbada Cup quarter final match against Gun­ners scheduled for this afternoon.

“We accept the authority of Zifa over all football issues as the supreme body. Nevertheless on Asiagate, Zifa must take cognisance of the fact that the scandal was not arranged by the players but by then Zifa officials.

 “The players were threatened with victimisation if they revealed what was happening, so we are saying Zifa should give these players suspended sentences so that in the event there is a recurrence of such shenanigins, the sentences will come into effect. “A heavy fine would have been an even better option,” Gundani appealed in an interview with the paper.

 Gundani said Mwanjali and Zhokinyu had preferred to remain mum over the issue as they await offi­cial communication before they pon­der the next move which will most probably be to appeal against the judg­ment.

 With Section (10) of the Fifa disci­plinary code stating that anyone banned from football may appeal to Fifa in three days after lodging a fee of 3 000 Swiss francs (about US$3 300), Gundani said clubs should chip in to help their players.

“There are some players who are really good assets to their clubs, like Zhokinyu, and Dynamos itself is a big institution which can weigh in to help him while he commits his time to play­ing for the team. They would actually be in a better place even after the whole battle is over,” he said.

 Meanwhile, Herald senior sports editor Robson Sharuko, who was among two journalits handed a life ban by Zifa, refused to comment when reached at the weekend.

“I do not want to say anything at the moment, just that this is a process with a beginning but it will also have an end­ing,” he said and would not be drawn into saying anything more.

Former Motor Action goalkeepers’ coach Emmanuel Nyahuma said he would find an alternative sport to pur­sue.

 “It’s not fair, I never contacted any­one to fix matches because I was just a worker going to work and we were told that there were matches to be played and I could not question since I was an employee. However, there is nothing I can do. I will try to live without break­ing the rules. Maybe I can turn to cricket or tennis,” Nyahuma said.

Journalist Hope Chizuzu, who had a post on the Monomotapa United exec­utive and was charged for travel­ling with the team to Malaysia where they masqueraded as th national team, was not answering his phone yesterday.

 In Johannesburg, Thomas Sweswe, however, featured for his team Kaizer Chiefs in a Telkom Cup knockout match against Bidvest Wits on Friday with commentators speculating it could be his last match while Sunday Chidzambwa was set to take charge of Black Leopards as they faced Orlando Pirates yesterday evening.

Sources said Fifa will communicate the decision to the affected clubs once they sit as a board to endorse the Zifa findings and the bans will then be effected. Mamelodi Sundowns propri­etor Patrice Motsepe has already writ­ten to the club management asking them to make an immediate decision on Mwanjali and striker Nyasha Mushekwi, who is also awaiting his sen­tence.

 Over 50 other players and officials will, in the coming weeks, learn of their punishments which will range from suspensions of six months to 10 years.

Meanwhile, according to New Zim­babwe.com, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart has called on Police Commissioner-Gen­eral Augus­tine Chihuri and Attorney-Gen­eral Johannes Tomana to initiate crim­inal proceedings against those involved in the Asiagate scandal.

An official report said national team matches were fixed by ex-Zifa offi­cials along with convicted match-fixer Wil­son Perumal between 2007 and 2009.

“I fully support Zifa’s decision to serve life bans on various players and administrators responsible for what is undoubtedly the most shameful chap­ter of Zimbabwe’s sporting history,” Coltart said.

“I trust that the police and the Attor­ney-General will now act quickly to investigate and prosecute those identi­fied. If they don’t, then their offices will also be tainted by this scan­dal.

“I have no doubt that the football-loving public expects that those responsible for criminal activity should face the full wrath of the law,” Coltart was quoted as saying.

The Sunday News

By Vusumuzi Dube

20 October 2012

BUBI Rural District Council has passed a resolution that will see them constructing classroom blocks and teachers’ cottages at various schools in the area yearly, in a bid to attract the best quality of teachers and improve education standards, an official has said.

Bubi RDC chief executive officer, Mr Patson Mlilo, said while they were being disadvantaged by the unavailability of funds, they were prioritising the improvement of schools infrastructure in the district as they had realised that the Government was doing little to assist them thus the deplorable state most of the schools were now in.

“The council recently passed a resolution that will see us constructing at least three classrooms and a teacher’s cottage a year, we will be starting with those schools that do not have access to any donor funds and the Schools’ Development Committees are failing to raise any funds to improve their infrastructure.

“We realised that we can’t just sit back and wait for the Government to do this for us, thus we are using money from our own coffers to do these projects although we cannot do it at a large scale because we are being limited by funds,” said Mr Mlilo.

He said their major challenge was ensuring that children in the district get the best possible education and this could only be achieved by attracting teachers with the necessary experience thus the need to provide them with decent accommodation.

“You must realise that our district had about 10 new resettlements, therefore, in these settlements we had to establish at least two schools mainly using farm houses, so now we have to come in and built decent classrooms and accommodation at these settlements.

“What makes our situation more severe is that we last received Government funding in 2008 for the rehabilitation of these schools, therefore, we have no choice but to do it ourselves,” said the CEO.

He said to date they had started the construction projects at Alpha Secondary School (Ward 21), Battlefield Secondary School (Ward 13), Mdutshane Primary School (Ward 20) and Siganda Primary School (Ward 2).

“These projects are at various stages of completion, we are hoping that we will have completed all of them by the end of the year so that we can move to the next priority schools,” he said.

The CEO said they had a full inventory of all the schools in the district and had noted all their urgent requirements so that they could be addressed accordingly.

“We are also greatful to the Ministry of Water Resources and Management that has selected our district to benefit under the water and sanitation programme where they will build toilets in most of our schools, which will be a big boost as most of these schools don’t have ablution facilities,” said Mr Mlilo.

Education, Sport, Art and Culture Minister, Senator David Coltart has in the past stressed the need for the Government to prioritise schools infrastructure development in  Matabeleland, which he has blamed for the low pass rates being experienced.

The Chronicle

18 October 2012

The swift action by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council to withdraw thirteen Ordinary Level examination papers after an acting headmaster lost them while travelling from Bulawayo is the kind of quick intervention that public institutions are expected to take whenever things go wrong.

Zimsec did a good job by not wasting time to move in and rectify the situation. This will certainly salvage the integrity of our examination system. In the past leaks of examination papers have compromised the security of our examination system. But Zimsec has in recent years worked tirelessly to restore the confidence that had become the hallmark of our schools examination system and indeed the greater Zimbabwean education sector. Government has since independence toiled to build an education sector that has become the envy of the world. This is the reason why graduates of the Zimbabwean education system from secondary school level to tertiary level (universities, polytechnics and teachers’ colleges) have found it easy to fit into any situation in the world. Our education standards are still high up there but all stakeholders — Government, Zimsec, school authorities, parents and students themselves — must never sit on their laurels to preserve the world class standards that are synonymous with education in Zimbabwe.

Zimsec board chairman Professor Norman Maphosa announced on Wednesday that the school examinations body had withdrawn thirteen O Level examination papers after an acting headmaster of Sijawugwe Secondary School in Bubi District lost them while on his way to the school after collecting the papers from Bulawayo. The timetable for the O Level examinations, however, remains unchanged and the examinations will start on 29 October as scheduled. The withdrawn examination papers were for English (Paper 1 and 2), Mathematics (non-calculator version Paper 1 and 2), Integrated Science (Paper 1, 2 and 3), Commerce (Paper 1 and 2) and Ndebele (Paper 1 and 2). Professor Maphosa said the examinations body was working on replacing the papers and examinations will go ahead at all 2 118 O Level centres without disruption. At least $850 000 will be required to replace the missing papers and that is quite a substantial amount given the inadequate resources that Zimsec has to contend with. However, the examinations body will have to bear the cost of printing other examination papers following the unfortunate incident involving the Sijawugwe Secondary School acting headmaster Mr Panganai Zimunhu. We urge the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to take disciplinary measures against Mr Zimunhu while Zimsec should continue to search for foolproof methods of getting examination papers to schools and other examination centres. It is unfortunate that Zimsec is not adequately funded. If the examinations body was well-funded the ideal way would have been for Zimsec to take the papers on its own to the schools and other examination centres. Since this is not feasible for now, it is then incumbent upon school authorities who are charged with collecting examination papers from Zimsec regional offices to take all the necessary precautions to guard against leaks.

In recent years, Government and donors had greatly assisted Zimsec to prevent leaks of examination papers.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart was once quoted saying: “Objectively, we have seen a huge improvement in Zimsec compared to the past two years. I don’t argue that Zimsec is perfect. A lot needs to be done to re-establish public confidence but it’s a process. At the moment we have a strong board and a financial team that has brought a lot of financial discipline. Zimsec will become a centre of excellence in the region.”

Indeed all Zimbabweans share Minister Coltart’s vision for a Zimsec that it is  a centre of excellence in the region.

But for that to happen all the relevant stakeholders must play their part to maintain the integrity of our examination system.