New York Times
Editorial
29 March 2009

Zimbabwe’s new power-sharing government isn’t ideal. Robert Mugabe remains president, despite losing last year’s election. His loyalists remain in charge of the army, the Justice Ministry and other key posts that allow them to arrest and intimidate opponents.

Yet respected and competent former opposition leaders now run important ministries like health, education and finance. These reformers ran on the promise of improving the lives of Zimbabwe’s long-suffering people.

The United States and Europe can help them deliver on those promises by providing increased financial resources. Zimbabwe’s own economy has been bled dry by decades of Mr. Mugabe’s disastrous policies, which have destroyed its currency, crippled its agriculture, mining and industry, and blighted millions of lives through preventable famine and epidemics.

Any new resources must be packaged in ways that ensure they are used for their intended purposes. And without continued sanctions targeted against Mr. Mugabe and his thuggish collaborators, even the limited progress so far achieved could easily be reversed. The challenge is to keep the pressure on the relatively few villains committed to keeping Mr. Mugabe in power, while providing some relief to the millions of victims of his catastrophic misrule.

To this end, the United States and the European Union have rightly restricted travel and frozen assets of Mr. Mugabe and his top collaborators. They have banned trade with businesses and banks used to finance the repressive apparatus. These targeted steps mainly discomfit a narrow, privileged elite.

Washington has also suspended direct development aid to Zimbabwe’s government but provides considerable humanitarian aid, channeled through private and international agencies, to pay for emergency shipments of food, medicine and clean water. Over the last 18 months, while Zimbabwe has been ravaged by a cholera epidemic, American aid has been more than $250 million.

That conduit should now be expanded to cover such life-sustaining items as seed, fertilizer and water and sewage systems to help Zimbabwe stand on its own feet.

At least for now, American aid should continue to be channeled indirectly, not to Zimbabwe’s government. But increased humanitarian aid could free up more of Zimbabwe’s own funds to pay living wages to teachers, doctors and other essential civil servants. If Zimbabwe’s government acts on that opportunity, it might then be time to reopen discussion on resuming direct aid.

The Independent on Sunday (UK),
29 March 2009
By Daniel Howden

Shops are well-stocked; rubbish is being collected; and teachers are back at work. But Mugabe is still in power and the land thefts continue

Behind the high bougainvillea hedges of Harare’s more affluent suburbs, there are the first murmurings of a possible improvement in daily life in Zimbabwe – at least in the capital. In some places, long-forgotten public services have stirred. Rubbish is being collected, and workmen have even been seen painting white lines on the pot-holed roads. Gone are the bread queues and the snaking lines of cars awaiting black-market fuel. The sugar, soap, cooking oil and eggs that arrived in minibus convoys from Botswana to the west, or north from South Africa, can now be bought locally. Printed price tags, consigned to folk memory during the nightmare of hyperinflation, have made a tentative reappearance in some shops as the disappearance of the Zimbabwean dollar, and its replacement with the US dollar and the South African rand, stabilises costs.

In smarter areas such as Borrowdale, where President Robert Mugabe has his walled mansion, or Avondale, where the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, lives, the shelves of supermarkets are stuffed with imported goods. In so-called “high-density suburbs” such as Glen View and Warren Park – townships built under white rule as holding areas for cheap black labour – the schools have reopened, with teachers back at work after ending their five-month strike. “I am happy for now, since I’m now able to get $100 per month, which is more than what Mugabe was giving us,” said Ncube, a teacher in Norton, outside Harare. “The good thing is that prices of basic goods have gone down drastically, and having US dollars is meaningful.” Since Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) agreed to join Mr Mugabe’s government in January, education has been run by David Coltart, elected last year as an opposition senator.

Does this mean Zimbabwe is at last turning the corner after a nightmare 12 months in which the country was engulfed by political violence, the economy collapsed and basic services deteriorated to the point where cholera, an easily preventable disease, was rampant? One answer might be that, in some respects, things have at least stopped getting worse. Political intimidation is down, and most prominent government opponents are out of detention. Even Roy Bennett, the gruff former farmer and outspoken Mugabe critic, has been released on bail to join his MDC colleagues in the new government, although the President told cabinet colleagues that he would “never” swear in his old adversary to his appointed role as deputy minister of agriculture. The World Health Organisation had some good news about the cholera crisis last week. An epidemic that long ago surpassed its worst-case scenario by a third, with 90,000 infections, was “past its peak”, the UN agency said. As the rainy season ends, the expected drop in new cases has come, slowing from 3,800 a week to 2,000 by mid-March. “The situation with the cholera outbreak is improving,” the WHO said from its headquarters in Geneva.
Senior members of the MDC have used such developments to argue that it is time for the international community and Western donors to re-engage with Zimbabwe. That process may well begin at a regional summit which opens tomorrow. Zimbabweans have received forceful support from South Africa’s president-in-waiting, Jacob Zuma, who described the refusal to hand large sums in aid to the Mugabe-led government as “very unfair to the Zimbabwean people”. Mr Zuma, who is poised to take office after the South African election on 22 April, said last week: “You cannot say [Zimbabwe] has stabilised, but it has entered a phase of stabilisation politically.” The unity government was the only option, claimed Mr Zuma: “There was nothing else.” He even had unprecedented words of support for Zimbabwe’s 85-year-old President: “When there was an election, it is not as if not a single human being voted for Mugabe in Zimbabwe. He had a very big percentage himself.”

What if donors do not heed Mr Zuma’s words, and fail to support a prompt peace dividend to ordinary Zimbabweans? The country’s widely respected new finance minister, Tendai Biti, was in no doubt. “The consequences of it [the unity government] not working are drastic,” he said. “It will lead to a failure of the state, a collapse of the state and all the civil unrest that follows the failure of a state.” Some diplomats viewed this as a threat, but most understood that such an outburst, from the man commonly viewed as the most capable thinker in MDC ranks, reflects the increasing desperation in his party. The former opposition understands all too well that the image of recovery in Zimbabwe is false. Mr Biti and his colleagues no longer speak of the “benchmarks” they set when entering the new government, by which those outside it could judge its progress and the good faith of Mr Mugabe’s Zanu PF party. Those criteria are worth recalling: the release of political prisoners, the appointment of new regional governors, the sacking of both the attorney general and the reserve bank governor, the restoration of the rule of law, and an end to farm invasions. Only one of those benchmarks has been met in any meaningful way: even then not all prisoners have been released, and those that have are on bail, still facing trumped-up charges.

This explains the reaction of a team from the International Monetary Fund, which said last week there would be no new investment until the government changed its “track record”. The next day a fresh commitment of $10m from Sweden bypassed the government in Harare and went straight to humanitarian agencies. There remain virtually no jobs outside the state sector, and remittances from the three million Zimbabweans working abroad – a crucial lifeline for families left behind – are in decline as the global recession squeezes hard. While “dollarisation” has meant a welcome return of goods and services for those with access to currency, for the majority it has spelled disaster. There is practically no money in the system, and the government has been forced to switch from cash payments to civil servants to coupons, most of which are now being refused as banks do not have the cash to redeem them.

The experience of Rumbi Kazingizi, a housewife, is frighteningly common. “Food is still not easily available,” she said. “Although it’s now cheap, where to get the money to buy the food is the biggest challenge.” A mother of three from the middle-class Glen Norah area, Mrs Kazingizi admits many are worse off. “We have orphans and widows who are failing to get even a dollar per day,” she said. “How are they expected to survive?” Meanwhile the farm invasions, so long an accurate indicator of the intentions of Mr Mugabe’s political allies, have intensified. With them the uncertain nature of the junior partner’s role in government becomes clearer. While the finance minister appeals for outside funds, his Zanu PF colleagues in the cabinet sign off paperwork allowing fresh farm seizures, and the Prime Minister rages against “land thefts”. And while Mr Tsvangirai and his allies find they are responsible for delivering progress, with their own political credibility on the line, they are facing a bitter realisation: they have given the powerful clique around Mr Mugabe the political space to carry on regardless.

The Standard
29 March 2009

THE government’s directive to schools to enrol ‘A’ Level students based on last year’s mid-year examinations will backfire as most students did not write any tests because of the prolonged strike by teachers, educationists have warned.

They said the move, sanctioned by Education Minister David Coltart, could compromise Zimbabwe’s already battered examination system.

Schools were ordered to enrol Form V students earlier this month in the wake of delays by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Councils (Zimsec) to release ‘O’ Level results.

The examinations body is still battling to complete the marking of the November examinations, which were held back by the job boycott that paralysed the education sector.

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) secretary general, Paul Gundani said the directive showed that the inclusive government wanted to pretend that the education sector could be rehabilitated overnight.

“The process is not credible at all,” Gundani said.

“This is why we had demanded that ‘O’ Level exams should be marked so that they could be used as the basis for the selection of the students.

“The government would like to pretend as if things are fine but this will cause a lot of confusion as some undeserving students might be enrolled.

“They should have waited for the ‘O’ Level exams to be marked.”

The ministry has remained mum on what would happen to students who fail their ‘O’ Level examinations after having started Form V lessons.

Concerned parents in Gweru said the directive would worsen the chaos in the education sector.
“The announcement by the ministry that schools can take in Lower VI students is a clear indication that our education sector has collapsed,” said Nhamo Ndawana.

“How can a student proceed to ‘A’ Level without completing ‘O’ Level.”

Some of the parents complained that they could be forced into unnecessary expenses if their children eventually failed their ‘O’ Level examinations.

“Imagine after having looked for a place, bought uniforms, stationery and paid fees and then you discover your child has not passed ‘O’ Level,” said Tsungi Mutambira whose son, Geshem wrote his ‘O’ Levels last year.

Schools were also forced to enrol Form I students before their Grade VII results were issued.

Meanwhile, Matabeleland North has recorded a poor turnout of teachers responding to the amnesty extended by the government earlier this month.

This has resulted in most schools operating with less than five teachers, stakeholders who attended a crisis meeting held last week heard.

Lupane East legislator, Njabuliso Mguni, who attended the meeting at Mabhikwa High School said teachers were citing poor working conditions and lack of reliable transport as one of the reasons that forced them to shun the province.

“Headmasters of schools in that region were unanimous on the huge shortage of teachers,” Mguni said.
“They were all saying their schools were operating with plus or minus 5% of their normal requirements, meaning that each school had less than five teachers each, against a normal requirement of over 10 per school.

“The headmasters were saying that the reason for the lack of teachers was that returning teachers are reluctant to take up teaching posts in that region because of lack of basic learning material, resources, facilities and infrastructure.”

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe secretary general Raymond Majongwe said lack of basic learning materials and resources at rural schools was frustrating returning teachers.

Coltart granted amnesty to returning teachers so that they can be admitted back into the public service without questions in a bid to quickly bridge the gap of a biting shortage of the education professionals.

PTUZ estimates over 25 000 teachers quit their jobs in frustration over low pay.
Coltart was not available for comment Saturday.

Aid agencies said at the end of last year only 20% of children were still attending school, down from 85% a year earlier.

The Zimbabwe Telegraph
By DEWA MAVHINGA
Published: Saturday, March 28, 2009

I have had a small privilege of living in, and closely observing the politics of a number of countries outside Zimbabwe.

It is that exposure that brings me to my present reflections on Zimbabwean politics.

Having been born and bred in Zimbabwe, where politicians are literally worshipped and elevated to levels of sanctimony and divinity, l was pleasantly surprised to observe that in some jurisdictions politicians are treated as (and actually behave like) ordinary people. I believe Zimbabwe needs a new kind of politics.

I present this appeal to MDC to bring a breath of fresh air on the national political scene and break free of ZANU-PF politics that have characterized Zimbabwe for the past three decades. The following could points for MDC leaders to reflect on:

BE ACCESSIBLE: Political leaders must be accessible to the people. In order to effectively represent the people, the leader must ensure that people have clear ways of reaching him or her with their problems.

The culture we had become accustomed to in the past 30 years is of leaders who only become visible and accessible during election time but quickly vanish once they have gotten the vote.

MDC leaders must take care not to make this mistake of taking the electorate for granted.

Some political leaders make the common mistake of thinking that forever pretending to be busy enhances one’s importance in the eyes of the community and that accessibility makes one too common.

Of what use is a leader who is not available to deal with the problems and concerns of the electorate?

DON’T USE POLITICS TO GET RICH OVERNIGHT:

A belief widely held is that perhaps the quickest way to riches is via politics. Instead of serving the people, the preoccupation is accumulation of wealth through abuse of political office.

In 2005, the then ZANU-PF provincial Chairman for Mashonaland West, Philip Chiyangwa is reported to have said, “Do you want to get rich? Then join ZANU-PF.”

For many MDC leaders, due to the obvious vulnerability arising from rather unfortunate financial circumstances, keeping on the high ground may prove to be a challenge of note.

It is encouraging and worth celebrating, if true, that MDC Senator David Coltart did not accept the government ministerial Mercedes Benz car offered to him. To refuse the conventional ‘symbol of power’ is indeed a symbol of principle.

It sends a powerful message that one is not in a position of leadership for the financial benefits that may come with it. Our political leaders are urged to learn the virtues of a simple life of selfless service to truth and justice.

LET YOUR YES BE YES AND NO BE NO:

MDC leaders have a challenge to demonstrate that it is possible to be a politician and an honest person at the same time.

After decades of being taken for granted, being lied to and a litany of broken promises, the people of Zimbabwe, l believe, are looking for honest political leaders who deliver on their promises.

Politics is not about making promises that one cannot deliver; it is about being honest, truthful and frank about the situation. An anecdote is often told of a politician who believed that politics was all about making promises, no matter how irrelevant to the circumstances.

At one rally the politician promised to build a bridge for the community. When it was pointed out that there is no river in the area he went on to promise to build a river first!

In the same vein of keep promises, l ought to mention it here that there is a tendency in Zimbabwe for people generally and political leaders particularly, not to value time.

Almost invariably, my meetings with political leaders in Zimbabwe tend to be well after time of appointment. And yet this does not seem to bother them.

This attitude of not placing value on time at present permeates most government departments. People wait for hours to be served, not because there is a reason for the delay, but simply because people have become accustomed to that casual approach to work and time.

BE HUMBLE AND LISTEN, REALLY LISTEN:

For those who learnt their politics at the feet of ZANU-PF, humility is anathema. For them the mark of leadership is arrogance and aloofness.

Without humility it is impossible to accept criticism as a legitimate and essential aspect of democracy. Within ZANU-PF no criticism is tolerated. Those who sought to criticize the leadership soon discovered that there was a high price to pay.

Edgar Tekere, Eddison Zvobgo, Dzikamai Mavhaire and Jonathan Moyo are but examples of people victimized merely for criticizing ZANU-PF.

The war mentality that views criticism as betrayal must be eradicated. We must feel free to openly disagree and criticize our political leaders without feeling that we have instantly become enemies or that we need to look over the shoulder all the time as a result.

Many of those still practicing the politics of yesteryear have become completely cut off from the people and have, as a result, lost the common touch.

I remember, at the height of the cholera crisis, l engaged in animated debate with a colleague over whether President Robert Mugabe, ensconced at State House, really had any idea what ordinary people were going through in their daily lives.

We wait to find out if our erstwhile colleagues in MDC will keep the communication lines open to listen and engage. Some political leaders have perfected the art of pretense; of listening without really listening.

Such an art has no place when leaders see it is as their duty to genuinely engage with the people.
Only when politicians begin to genuinely listen to the electorate can they begin to look beyond their personal interests to those of the community at large.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE:
Political leaders ought always to use the kind of language that promotes national healing and nation building.

Surely we have had enough of the kind of venomous verbiage that Nathaniel Manheru spewed and splattered every Saturday.

Even political slogans of chanting, ‘Down with so and so!’ should be a thing of the past.

SUPPORT AND ENSURE GENUINE WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION:

The MDC must quickly move to enhance genuine participation of women in reconstruction, national healing and nation building and move away from the ZANU-PF approach of mere tokenism.

If one considers ZANU-PF’s national heroes as a measure of participation in national political life, one would note that of the 75 people today buried at the National Heroes Acre Shrine, only 4 are women (Sally Mugabe, Julia Zvobgo, Ruth Chinamano and Mama MaFuyana Nkomo).

And all these 4 women are there primarily as spouses. There is need to alter the political terrain and environment and make it conducive for women’s unfettered participation. One way of achieving this is to physical political violence as well as use of violent and uncouth language in politics. Women need not be thick-skinned first before they can venture into political life. It must not be a calling with a high price to pay for women simply because they are women. If our leaders hold dear to all these values then in no time the whole nation will be seized with this new attitude fueled by the fervent pursuit of a new kind of politics. Like ripples, the waves of goodwill will gently spread to every nook and cranny of the country. To my mind, this of change of mindset, among other things, may be just the needed catalyst to prompt Zimbabwe, like the legendary phoenix, to rise from the ashes to become yet again the paradise of Africa.

Sokwanele
27 March 2009

What would you have done? Taken the merc, or said ‘no thank you’…?

I hope, faced with the decision that all our new Ministers were faced with – to accept the Mercedes Benz which comes as a ministerial perk or not – that I would have refused.

Senator David Coltart declined his and hats off to him for doing so.

Unfortunately, our enquiries seem to suggest that every other minister accepted theirs – including the new guys, the MDC-T and MDC ministers.

Nelson Chamisa, our youngest Minister at the age of 31, said that, “It’s a symbol of authority and power … If you don’t have it, people will think you don’t have power. They feel good when they see one of their own in power.”

Why stop there Nelson? Why not accept a farm or two as well, wrap your wife in gold and diamonds, and jet around the world after commandeering Air Zim planes? That will really show the poor how much power you have – they’ll be under no illusions who’s the boss then.

By the way, does an E-Class Mercedes come with really big doors, Nelson? I hope so, because if your head keeps growing at this rate it may not be long before you can’t fit it into the car.

Eric Matinenga at least had the grace to be slightly shame-faced when he accepted his. He said, “I know it’s not a good excuse, but will I make a difference if I turn this down?”

You’re right, Eric, it’s a thoroughly lousy excuse.

As to the question about whether it would have made a difference… perhaps we can help out there. We did a bit of research on the Internet and we estimate that an E-Class Mercedes Benz is worth approximately US$50,000. There are 40 ministers (including Zanu PF) which means the government spent US$2,000,000 on cars while our people are starving and dying from cholera.

How many drips is that? How much mealie-meal does it buy? How many school books? How many prisoners, who are currently receiving no meals and dying of starvation, will that feed? Perhaps one of the Ministers could be kind enough to swish up to the prison in their new E-Class Mercedes Benz and find out and let us know…?

Tendai Biti recently said in Parliament that government revenue was running at US$30 million for March. So these cars seem to represent a spend of nearly 7% of the revenue coming in for that month. The issue here is not how you justify this to yourselves, but how you justify to us, the people, spending 7% of one month’s revenue on luxury vehicles for your goodselves when the majority of Zimbabweans are unemployed and most are depending on outside aid for food.

Furthermore, how can you go to the International Community and bawl about how bad things are, and beg for money, when one of the first things the new government did was take ownership of brand new luxury vehicles. It’s absolutely insane.

We’re only referring to the Ministers cars here; apparently the Deputy Ministers will all receive Pajeros, luxury 4×4 vehicles. The MPs have yet to be given their cars but they will and we don’t know yet what those will be but somehow we doubt they will be no-frills practical vehicles designed to get MPs with bags of maize out to their starving constituents in rural areas! And so the money for cars for an extremely bloated government (one which, incidentally, exceeds the numbers outlined in the Global Political Agreement) piles up and up and up. It’s disgusting. It’s a vulgar insensitive African cliche and I feel ashamed of our new Ministers.

Yes, US$2,000,000 is a drop in the ocean compared to our country’s needs, but its priceless as a gesture of good-faith, as a symbol to the people that this government will be different. The cost is the loss of credibility and diminished respect from the people.

Matinenga said he tried to talk other Ministers into turning theirs down:

“I said, ‘Look, how would we justify getting these luxury vehicles when there is a humanitarian crisis out there? … To my disappointment, we were not able to come up with a single position.”
All I can say is they didn’t try very hard. I hope this is a hiccup, and not the first step on a slippery slope.

The Chronicle
Chronicle Reporter
27 March 2009

THE Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) 2008 Ordinary and Advanced Level results will be released next month, the Minister of Education, Arts, Sport and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said yesterday.

Speaking in a telephone interview from Harare, Minister Coltart said marking of the 2008 final examinations was almost complete, adding that results should be expected before the end of April.
“The results will be out before the end of the schools holiday, that is, sometime in April,” he said.
Minister Coltart paid tribute to the more than 3 500 markers who turned out despite the financial constraints facing the examination body.

The ZIMSEC 2008 final examinations marking was delayed due to a year-long teachers’ strike that almost crippled the education system.

Minister Coltart pleaded with markers to be patient with the Government as it finalises the payment process.

He said payment was delayed due to an administrative problem at the Ministry.

Minister Coltart said the Government was working closely with the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) to make sure that markers were paid before the end of next week.

“We want to assure examination markers that they will get their payment next week. We apologise that we have not been able to pay them on time and this was due to an administrative problem,” said the Minister.

However, the Government is working tirelessly to address the plight of teachers. The Government has since started paying civil servants in foreign currency and they received US$100 this month.

The money has been received as with a sigh of relief by most Government workers who were battling to make ends meet owing to the ravaging effects of hyperinflation.

Schools have been instructed to enroll Form Ones and Lower Sixth Forms using mid-year examination results.

New Zimbabwe.Com
Xinhua
Posted to the web: 26/03/2009

ZIMBABWEAN boxers risk being permanently banned from all fights held under the auspices of the World Boxing Organisation following revelations that four out of six fighters who traveled for bouts in Namibia on March 21 failed their medical tests, reports said Wednesday.

Apart from supplying the tournament organisers with a match record that is impressive enough, it is also mandatory that boxers undergo tests for hepatitis B and HIV.

Two of the boxers, Isaac Phonkeni and Livingstone “Master” Kachigwada, were supposed to participate in WBO international title bouts in an event organised to coincide with that country’s Independence Day celebrations.

Nestor Tobias of Sunshine Boxing Academy was the promoter of the bill scheduled to have been held at the Windhoek Country Club Resort and Casino on the outskirts of the capital city.

Phonkeni had been matched against Jatoorora Tjingaveti for the lightweight title while Kachigwada had been penciled in to meet Paulus “Ali” Nuumbembe for the welterweight title.

The other boxers who failed the tests but were engaging in non-title fights were Blessing Moleni (bantamweight) and Tom Fernando (lightweight).

Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper says that the medical reports supplied to the WBO from Zimbabwe were probably tampered with and indicated the boxers were fit to take part when, in fact, they were not.

The boxers did not pass a test carried out by Dr Bernard Haufiku in Windhoek before the matches.
A fuming WBO Africa Zone representative, Andrew Smale, said his organisation would seek an audience with the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart following which the results of the investigations will be made public.

Phonkeni and Kachigwada, a bouncer at a nightspot in Harare, returned home on Monday without both the belts and the purse money they had traveled for.

The Herald
25 March 2009
By Rumbidzai Mashayahanya

BARCLAYS Bank and Junior Achievement Zimbabwe launched the three-year programme-Barclays/Junior Achievement Zimbabwe Talent for the Future Initiative — at Prince Edward School in Harare last week.

Zimbabwe has already received a US$90 000 grant to implement and expand the programme, 100 students are participating in this edition of the programme.

Speaking at the launch, the Minister of Education, Sport, Art and Culture Senator David Coltart said the initiative was a milestone in educating and addressing Zimbabwe’s economic challenges to young entrepreneurs. “This initiative will help foster the economic development of the participating communities to help our young people compete effectively in the global economy,” he said. Barclays managing director Mr George Guvamatanga said the organisation was delighted to be working with the youths to aid in the turn around of the economy since they are the anchors of the economy.

“Developing the youth is important to the sustainability of any business today and Barclays is delighted to be working with Junior Achievement Zimbabwe, to provide youth with the inspiration to start this journey of entrepreneurship,” said Mr Guvamatanga.

The programme’s launch came a few weeks after the International Women’s day commemorations and to this Mr Guvamatanga remarked that it was encouraging to note that female representation in the programme had increased as reflected by the number of girls schools and co-schools.

” This is a clear indication that as society we now realise the value of our girl children, Barclays is committed to investing in women and will definitely support initiatives that will provide us with female leadership,” he added. Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organisation dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy.

Through a dedicated volunteer network, Junior Achievement provides in-school and after-school programmes for students.

The training focuses on three key content areas which are work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.

The programme has already reached more than four million students in the United States of America through the organisation’s 137 individual area operations.

“An additional five million students are expected to be served by operations in 123 other countries worldwide,” remarked Jo Ann Ross, Junior Achievement Zimbabwe board member. Barclays will work with Hewlett Packard to provide computer hardware and peripherals to the selected schools so that they can better serve the needs of the students and help them become computer-literate.

SA Times
By Moses Mudzwiti
25 March 2009

A POWERFUL Zimbabwe labour organisation yesterday warned of a looming crisis as state workers prepare to strike over wages.

Zimbabwe’s has about 150000 state workers. Incredibly, they all earn the same — a miserly US100 (R1000) shopping voucher a month.

The rest of their pay is made up of worthless Zimbabwe dollars.

“In the police and army, everyone is getting US100,” said Lovemore Matombo, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

Matombo said he was aware that teachers were planning to go on strike to press for better wages.
Last month, teachers accepted the vouchers as a temporary solution. Initially they were demanding US2 300 a month.

The Congress of Trade Unions said it was pressing the month-old inclusive government to pay salaries in US dollars or in rands.

But the labour body said it was less than optimistic about an amicable resolution.

“This is a crisis,” said Matombo. “What we hear is that the government has no money.”

Education Minister David Coltart told the state-controlled media at the weekend that Zimbabwe would have to rely on donors to meet teachers’ pay demands.

Coltart said the teachers’ demands were difficult to meet because the government was “battling” to find money to fund the shopping vouchers.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Tendai Biti revised the country’s budget and cut the government’s planned spending by US500-million to US1-billion. The only trouble was … there was no money in the treasury.

“The government is dead broke,” said Matombo.

“Even members of parliament are earning US100 a month.”

Zimbabwe Telegraph
By Mcedisi Nkomo
22 March 2009

Senator Coltart announced an impressive list of names on Thursday that will constitute the new National Education Advisory Board according to reports by SW Radio Africa.
The board will advise on matters pertaining to the improvement of primary and secondary education in Zimbabwe.
Minister Coltart said in a statement: “I have consulted widely before appointing the group of “grey-hairs” gathered here today.
I look forward to working with them to restore the rule of law in our education system and to reconstruct our primary and secondary education, which used to be the best in Africa.”
But the group faces an enormous task to try and rebuild the education sector which has been ruined as a result of the political and economic crises.
The Minister said the immediate task for the new board members would be to conduct a rapid assessment of primary and secondary education, as the foundation for a long-term plan for the Ministry.
The Education Minister was on Wednesday forced to admit that he could not guarantee that government will pay teachers their March salaries, because the country’s treasury coffers were completely empty.
The board members are: Dr Isaiah Sibanda (Chair) – Lecturer in technical teacher education at NUST, Founding Director ZIMSEC, former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry.
Dr Fay Chung (Treasurer) – Education consultant, formerly UNESCO Africa, UNICEF New York and Minister of Education. Mrs Trudy Stevenson (Secretary) – Former teacher/Cambridge oral examiner and MP Harare North.
Dr Goodwill Shana – Representing Church schools, Chair Heads of Christian Denominations in Zimbabwe, President EFZ. Dr Sharai Chakanyuka – Education researcher and lecturer, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Education, Zimbabwe Open University.
Mrs Mary Ndlovu – Education consultant, former lecturer in education at Hillside. Fr Joe Arimoso – Head of Jesuit education, former teacher St George’s College.
Mr Stanley Hadebe – Board member, ZIMSEC, Zimbabwe Open University, former Matabeleland Regional Director of Education. Sr Tariro Chimanyiwa – Special education, Head of Emerald Hill School for the Deaf.
Mr Neil Todd – CEO Association of Trust Schools, former Head Falcon, Deputy Head Plumtree. Mr Mike Ndubiwa – Educationist and former Bulawayo Town Clerk.
Mr Charles Maunze – President, National Association of Secondary Heads NASH and Head Oriel Boys. Ms Tendai Chikowore – President, Zimbabwe Teachers Association ZIMTA
Mr Takawafira Zhou – President, Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe PTUZ.