http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in
Politics
BULAWAYO — The Welshman Ncube-led MDC has claimed it has been
forced to
conduct door-to-door campaigns in Umguza, Matabeleland North as
opposed to
rallies to protect villagers from harassment by Zanu PF if they
attend.
NQOBANI NDLOVU
This comes after the MDCs raised fears over
a resurgence of terror in the
constituency alleging that Zanu PF supporters
were now intimidating
villagers for supporting the MDC.
Discent
Bajila, the MDC National Youth Secretary-General, told The Standard
that the
party had resorted to door-to-door campaigns to protect villagers
from the
former ruling party.
“Door-to-doors are the actual party-building work.
We are not holding any
public meetings or rallies in Umguza because that
area is violence-prone
where MDC supporters now face harassment and
intimidation,” said Bajila.
“Holding public meetings exposes our supporters
to violence and
intimidation. Even in the past, Umguza has always been one
constituency
where our supporters are not safe [during the period] towards
elections.”
Last month William Sibanda, an MDC-T youth assembly member in
Nyamandlovu
was arrested by State security agents and sent to Lupane for
refusing to
attend a Zanu PF rally in the area.
A fortnight ago,
Sibusisiwe Dube, MDC-T women’s chairperson in Umguza was
also threatened
with abduction and possible death for her association with
the
party.
Mines minister Obert Mpofu, who is also the Zanu PF legislator for
Umguza,
has dismissed as false, claims of intimidation by MDCs’
supporters.
He said the MDCs were “faking harassment stories” against him
because they
knew he had already “won” the parliamentary
seat.
Elections are set for this year after the referendum which has been
scheduled for March 16.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Politics
RIGHTS
groups have accused Zanu PF of embarking on a crusade to destabilise
civil
society organisations that it perceives to be critical of its
operations
ahead of general elections slated for later this year.
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
They said the current onslaught on Non-governmental
Organisations (NGOs) by
the police was designed to criminalise their
operations so that they lose
credibility in the eyes of the public and the
international community ahead
of the polls.
The rights groups said
police were implementing a Zanu PF resolution agreed
upon at the party’s
national congress in Gweru in December last year, where
they resolved to
shut down organisations that it felt were “diverting” from
their
mandate.
“Instructs the party to ensure that government enforces the
de-registration
of errant NGOs deviating from their mandate,” resolved Zanu
PF, which has
always viewed civil society as an extension of its political
rival, the
MDC-T.
And true to their resolution, there has been an
upsurge of harassment and
arrests of human rights defenders since the
beginning of this year.
The police recently raided offices of the
National Association of
Non-governmental Organisation (Nango), an umbrella
body of NGOs as well as
those of Zimrights, which defends ordinary people’s
rights.
Zimrights director Okay Machisa is on bail on allegations of
tampering with
the voters’ roll.
The police have also raided offices
of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) and
seized cellphones, business cards
and other electronic data gadgets.
Other organisations that have been
subjected to harassment include the
Centre for Community Development in
Zimbabwe (CCDZ) and National Youth
Development Trust (NYDT).
Members
of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) were last week beaten up by police
in
Harare and Bulawayo as they conducted their traditional Valentine’s Day
protests.
As a result of the onslaught, the operating space for civil
society
organisations has significantly shrunk. This is particularly so in
rural
areas where police, district administrators and governors have joined
forces
to deny them the chance to carry out their duties.
“It is
difficult to convene civic education meetings as programme officers
are told
to seek clearance from police, district administrators and the
governor’s
office,” said CCDZ in a statement.
Governors are demanding that
organisations produce Memoranda of
Understanding (MOU) and all the material
to be issued out at meetings.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC)
director Mcdonald Lewanika said the
harassment was an attempt by police to
stop civil society from scrutinising
electoral machinations by Zanu PF, a
party accused of rigging previous
polls.
“It’s an attempt to
criminalise their activities and tarnish their images
ahead of elections,”
said Lewanika. “The police are just actioning on a
resolution by Zanu PF at
its December congress where they agreed to close
NGOs.”
The
harassment flies in the face of President Robert Mugabe, who for the
past
few months seemed converted, preaching the message of peace and
political
tolerance.
The United States has also condemned the
harassment.
Its Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton said since November
last year, the
police had been harassing rights groups through arbitrary
detentions,
politically-motivated searches and arrests on spurious charges
against
individuals.
He said some of those targeted were operating
within the law.
The harassment of rights defenders has not escaped the eyes
of the political
elite.
Cabinet recently tasked co-minister of Home
Affairs, Theresa Makone, to
investigate cases of harassment of civil
society.
Analysts said violence against human rights must be nipped in
the bud
because it would spread to other sectors as election dates draw
near.
“After destabilising civil society, they will go after members of
political
parties,” said Lewanika. “So, political parties should not be
comfortable
because they are in a coalition. Very soon, they will also be
under siege as
is the norm before any major election.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Local
THE poor
results registered at Ordinary level in 2012 are a wakeup call for
the
government to introduce sweeping changes to the country’s education
system,
experts have said.
BY PATRICE MAKOVA
The Zimsec November O’level
results released recently showed that the pass
rate had dropped from 19,5 to
18,4 %.
Out of the 172 698 who sat for the examinations, only 31 767
candidates
attained passes in five subjects or more.
Experts in
education said although education was considered the most
important thing a
parent could bequeath to a child, if last year’s results
were anything to go
by, that may as well remain just a dream from most
parents.
Educationist, Francis Mashayamombe said although schools had
been performing
dismally for a few years now, the trend was
intolerable.
“The poor results reflect the sickness in the education sector,”
he said.
“This is a serious indictment of us as a
nation.”
Mashayamombe said the government should set up a commission of
inquiry to
investigate the real problems affecting the education
sector.
“There is need for facts and not speculation,” he said.
“We
need to put our heads together to get to the bottom of the problem. This
can
only be done through a commission of inquiry which can come up with a
body
of evidence for use by policy makers.”
The university lecturer said such
a commission should come up with a clear
report whose results are published
and implemented.
He said it was unfortunate that most recommendations
made by the 1999
Nziramasanga Commission on Education were not
implemented.
“Our problem as a nation is inertia and unwillingness to
implement things,”
said Mashayamombe.
Among many other things, the
Nziramasanga Commission recommended a nine-year
compulsory basic education
(junior school) cycle for all pupils in order to
cultivate the habits,
attitudes, interests, skills and entrepreneurial
opportunities which would
prepare them to be good citizens.
It also recommended an outcome-based
curriculum which is broad-based in
terms of subject offerings and which
focuses on learning areas, employment-
related skills and other essential
skills to be developed across the
curriculum.
Another educationist
and University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Oswell Hapanyengwi
said schools must be
equipped with the necessary resources required such as
textbooks and
qualified teachers.
“The use of untrained teachers is disastrous because
they do not know the
methodology, psychology and sociology of teaching,” he
said. “They teach
without knowing the impact on the
learners.”
Hapanyengwi also said the government had allowed a number of
“backdoor”
schools to mushroom, thereby lowering the education
standards.
He said it was unfortunate that some schools were now being
established
simply to make money.
“Such schools do not care about the
results as they are up to make money.
They need to be constantly monitored
to ensure that there are manned by
qualified teachers and operate in a
conducive environment,” said
Hapanyengwi.
He said staff also needed
to be motivated in terms of conditions of service.
Hapanyengwi said there
was a need for government to introduce incentives for
teachers in rural
areas in order to attract qualified staff.
“There is a need to attract
the right personnel and not just people who end
up teaching because there
are no other jobs available,” said the
educationist.
Another
University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Professor Freddy Zindi said the
exodus of
teachers to mostly neighbouring countries had taken a toll on the
education
sector.
In 2008 some 20 000 teachers left their positions, leading to the
greatest
brain-drain the sector had ever experienced.
He said while
the issue of incentivising staff needed to be encouraged,
there was also a
need for the government to ensure that the teachers do what
they are paid
for.
Zindi said the government should establish an office of “Standards
in
Education”, where the Ministry of Education would specifically appoint
school inspectors similar to those in the past.
“These school
inspectors would make surprise visits to schools and look at
ensuring that
standards are maintained,” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Local
KNIVES are out for Harare
Mayor, Muchadeyi Masunda with residents saying his
administration was the
worst since the country’s independence.
BY OUR STAFF
Masunda has
in recent weeks been in the eye of a storm of bad publicity, as
angry
residents denounced the way his council was running the affairs of the
city.
Noel Nyamanhindi, a Harare resident, said he was disgusted that
the local
authority had begun serving summons on residents yet it was
failing to
provide basic services.
“This council has started serving
summons to people to pay arrears for
non-existent services,” he said. “Where
I stay in Warren Park, they are
demanding that we pay for water, yet we go
for weeks without water.”
Nyamanhindi said when the council did provide
running water, it was usually
dirty and unfit for drinking.
A shop
assistant, Vast Bundo described the present council as a failure,
saying
they should not be given another chance.
“There is no water, roads are
littered with potholes and there is no street
lighting, they have failed and
do not deserve another chance,” she said.
Bundo said when Masunda took
office, she hoped the situation would improve
but things had gone from bad
to worse.
“The council says we owe them rates, this is because at first
we used to pay
but we stopped when we realised that nothing was changing, so
we started
directing our monies to more pressing issues,” she
said.
Clement Musungo, a taxi driver was seething with anger.
He
said the local authority was more interested in collecting rates than
providing services.
He said a number of projects had stalled, like
the construction of kombi
ranks on the outskirts of the central business
district, yet the City of
Harare continued to collect rates.
“The
roads are in a poor state, but instead of the council putting their
energies
there, they prefer to hire more people to clamp kombis and taxis,”
Musungo
said.
Most people interviewed said the Elias Mudzuri administration had
been
better than the current one, which allowed potholes to flourish, and
unmarked trenches, some as deep as graves, to remain in the middle of the
roads.
“He [Masunda] should go, even the councillors must go, all of
them must be
fired,” Shepherd Musokota said angrily. “Potholes are
everywhere, garbage is
uncollected and there are sewer bursts all over the
place.”
He said Masunda should not complain about unpaid rates, as these
were often
too high and out of the reach of most residents.
Fulton
Doma, another resident concurred, saying Harare was increasingly
being
reduced to a rural village.
“I stay in Mbare and the situation there is
terrible,” he said. “The roads
are impassable and that has damaged our cars.
I cannot describe those as
potholes, because some of them are as deep as
graves and the councillors are
not doing anything.”
Last week The
Standard revealed how some Mbare residents had resorted to
relieving
themselves in buckets, as they had gone for weeks without water,
rendering
their communal toilets unusable.
Precious Kadzaranyamba also said the mayor
and his council should not be
given another mandate after the
elections.
“He must go,” she said. “As it is, I can hardly drink tap
water and they
expect me to pay rates.”
The common themes were that
the council had failed in providing clean water,
waste collection, repairing
roads and providing street lighting.
The local authority, on its side,
claims it is finding it difficult to carry
out its mandate, as it is owed
close to US$300 million by residents.
This then creates a vicious cycle,
where residents say they will not pay
rates, as they are not being provided
a service. Yet the council says it
cannot provide the service as it does not
have the money as residents are
not paying bills.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Local
POLICE
officers manning roadblocks have devised new tactics of getting
bribes from
omnibus operators amid increasing efforts to curb corruption in
the
force.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
Commuter omnibus drivers and conductors
who spoke to The Standard in Harare
last week said money to pay police
officers as bribes was now being
collected each morning by a person they
trust among themselves before
handing it over to the officers.
The
person writes the vehicle’s registration number against the amount and
the
police officers would not stop a paid-up vehicle for that entire
day.
Delivery of the money is usually not done at the
roadblock.
“Those you find with a [Mercedes] Benz at roadblocks, like the
one that
parks opposite the National Sports Stadium, have someone who
collects US$5
from each crew every morning before 7am and records vehicle
number plates,”
said one driver who plies the City-Warren Park route. “This
is done so that
passengers think the police are no longer corrupt when they
do not stop us.”
The kombi drivers also said shortage of parking space in
the city centre was
being manipulated by officers to solicit for
bribes.
“In the past, we used to park haphazardly at the ranks but the
city council
instructed us to line our vehicles along the pavements,” a
conductor at the
City-Mt Pleasant rank said. “We are all afraid of being the
last in the
sequence because when police arrive, the vehicle at the end is
targeted and
the crew accused of dangerous parking.”
They said the
officers demanded at least US$10 for dangerous parking.
Those who fail to pay
the bribe are threatened with being taken to city
council offices where the
fine is US$130.
“We pay US$100 four times a year to operate in these
ranks, but the city
council is taking too long to identify ranks with
adequate parking space,”
another driver said.
The crews, however,
said they were not in support of council’s proposal to
establish ranks
outside the central business district saying that would
cause unnecessary
inconvenience to their clients.
On Thursday, The Standard team witnessed
one kombi crew being taken to task
for dangerous parking, after two police
officers pounced on the last vehicle
which was parked in a queue at the
City-Mt Pleasant rank along Kwame Nkrumah
Avenue.
Public transporters
said they were frustrated by the behaviour of police
officers, which they
said did not seem to change even when they have all the
documentation
required.
“In the past, they asked for licences, road permits, re-test
papers, tax
certificates and most operators have done their best to ensure
they have
these,” a conductor said. “They outlawed touting and we complied
but they
continue bothering us.
“A few days ago, two officers
deflated tyres from my vehicle after I refused
to bribe them when they
accused me of ‘silent touting’ when they found a
board showing my route
displayed on the vehicle.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Politics
MUTARE
— The Zanu PF women’s’ league boss, Oppah Muchinguri has blasted the
party’s
leadership for side-lining women who wish to contest against the
so-called
bigwigs in the party’s forthcoming primary elections.
By Clayton
Masekesa
Addressing a provincial women’s’ league meeting at Mutare
Polytechnic last
week, Muchinguri said Zanu PF lost the previous elections
in 2008 because
women with potential to win elections were
sidelined.
“We are saying this year there will be no sacred cows and Zanu
PF will lose
again if they impose candidates and sideline women,” said
Muchinguri. “The
last time they protected the so-called bigwigs and imposed
them on the
people. The people spoke and voted against us with the so-called
bigwigs
losing to the opposition.”
She said the former liberation war
party was trounced by MDC-T in the past
elections because most of Zanu PF
candidates had been imposed.
In 2008, Zanu PF leader President Robert
Mugabe was defeated by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai but not with enough
votes to claim the top post,
leading to a run-off that the MDC-T leader
boycotted citing political
violence.
However, in the middle of the
meeting, Muchinguri ejected journalists from
Manica Post, New Ziana and The
Patriot.
A source said Muchinguri was infuriated by articles that
supported the
ouster of Mike Madiro the suspended Zanu PF chairman and the
other four
accused persons.
She is alleged to be leading a faction
that is sympathising with Madiro.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Community
News
MEMBERS of the public seeking to acquire official documents at the
Registrar
General’s Offices at Makombe Building in Harare are being forced
to pay five
rand a day to use toilets.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
This
has resulted in some people, who believe the fee is unjustified,
relieving
themselves behind trees especially early in the morning.
“This is a
public place which every Zimbabwean may be compelled to come to
at one time,
so why are they charging for the use of the toilets as if our
being here was
by choice,” Ronica Ngundu said.
“Five rand is a lot of money. These
people are running a booming toilet
business.”
On payment of the five
rand, one is given a receipt they can use throughout
the day.
Many
people have complained that they spend a lot of time moving from one
office
to another without getting what they want.
On average, the Registrar
General’s Office serves 1 000 people per day
seeking passports, identity
cards and birth certificates.
An estimated US$500 is raised every day,
assuming that all the people who
visit the office pay. Vendors who operate
just outside the offices also use
the same toilets.
Many people
complained that those who failed to get what they wanted in one
day have had
to buy a new ticket every day they visit the offices, yet they
may not be
responsible for the delay in the processing of their papers.
Those who
accompany children and the elderly were the hardest hit as they
were
required to buy multiple tickets since they are not
interchangeable.
“Toilets at all places offering a public service should
be available for
free. Some of us arrived here at 3:30am and have not
emptied our bowels
since because the gate was closed,” said Ronald Mabusa.
“Now it has been
opened and I am being made to pay. This is
unfair.”
A man who was ticketing people at the toilets’ entrance last
week said the
money was used to buy cleaning materials but the putrid smell
emanating from
the toilets did not bear witness to his claims.
Some
members of the public also said the toilets were not as clean as they
expected a pay-toilet to be.
Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede could
not be reached for comment but his
deputy, Ben Mpala quipped: “Have you ever
been here and found no toilets?”
before requesting that questions be faxed
to him.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Community
News
LYN* was very happy when her boyfriend of five years finally
proposed
marriage to her.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
But the
26-year-old Harare girl was however heartbroken when her aunt told
her that
“the fathers” expected groceries worth US$1 500 for the first
meeting with
the in-laws.
Her boyfriend was also expected to pay about US$9 000 for
various charges
and eight cows as lobola.
Three of the cows were
expected before their wedding in August.
“I do not know where they think
we will get all that money from,” Lyn said.
“Not that I think I am not worth
that much, but we do not have that money,
our salaries are nowhere near US$1
000 when combined.”
Their relationship is on the verge of collapse
because the boyfriend cannot
afford to raise the required
amount.
Lyn’s case is representative of many young couples who fall prey
to “greedy”
relatives that demand a lot of money as lobola.
Several
people who spoke to Standardcommunity last week expressed mixed
views on the
issue of lobola charges.
Television personality Rebecca Chisamba,
popularly known as Mai Chisamba,
believes that the current lobola charges
were unjustified.
“The charges are taboo,” she said. “People are no
longer following culture.
They have commercialised the practice and
unfortunately, this is blocking
our children from getting
married.”
Mai Chisamba said parents should remember that the “boys” who
were marrying
their daughters did not have money.
“Many people think
that marrying off a child presents them with a chance to
cover everything
they failed to do, that is why our children end up bringing
us sugar
daddies,” she said. “We need to understand that it is about
building a
relationship between the two families, full stop.”
Bulawayo East MP,
Tabitha Khumalo said, like all other cultural things, it
was difficult to
define what should be accepted as justifiable lobola.
“Cultural things are
problematic,” Khumalo said. “All stakeholders need to
come together and
define what lobola is; whether it is a money-spinning
venture, and if it is,
properly look at its repercussions on the woman in
her matrimonial
home.”
In Kenya, she said, some people were campaigning for the
abolishment of the
practice. Their argument is that lobola created domestic
violence whereby
men turned women into assets because they “paid” for
them.
However, history and cultural experts felt there was nothing
sinister about
what people were charging as lobola.
They said getting
married had always been expensive.
“Years ago, people charged a hand hoe,
which was a prized object at the time
as it enabled them to cultivate more
land than everyone else who cultivated
with other objects,” said renowned
historian Phathisa Nyathi. “The hand hoe
was to be abandoned with the
invention of the ox-drawn plough which became
preferred as it was more
valuable and gave more convenience.”
Nyathi said the invention of the
tractor brought the price of the plough
down, meaning people could still
charge a tractor if they wanted.
He said things like mobile phones and
laptops could soon be part of the
payment package as lobola is about things
society values at that moment. “It
[lobola] is not fixed, It changes with
time and embraces new things which
society values. It only becomes a problem
if we retrogress, for example
moving from cows to chickens,” Nyati
said.
Principal director in the Education ministry, Paul Damasane, said
lobola was
based on establishing relations and the sharing of wealth between
the two
families.
“Whether it is expensive or cheap is neither here
nor there,” Damasane said.
“In Ndebele culture for example, there are
sayings which make it clear that
the son-in-law should always support his
in-laws and this remains the case
even if he pays all the lobola he was
charged.”
He said women should be valued because of the sacrifices and
risks
associated with child-bearing.
*Not real name*
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in News,
Opinion
A cursory look at intransigence on the part of Zanu PF,
concerning the
glaring abuse of state institutions, can be considered as one
playing in
favour of that party. But it definitely leads to unintended
consequences
which, unfortunately, will affect ordinary Zimbabweans, yet
being a
God-given gratuity for the opposition parties. If the status quo
remains,
the outcome of the forthcoming elections will produce one of the
following
three scenarios:
First, in the unlikely, but possible event the
MDC-T, or any other party
triumphs against all abuse of state institutions
by Zanu PF and wins
resoundingly, Zimbabwe would have been thrown into
another
corruption-riddled dictatorship. The popularity of the winning party
will,
at that time, leave no opposition to check its behaviour. Zanu PF
would have
gone to the dogs, making it embarrassing to be associated with
it, but its
current unacceptable behaviour will then be transferred to the
new rulers.
This is a bad omen not only for Zanu PF, but for the
nation.
BY ANDREW MASUKU
Second, in another unlikely but possible
outcome, that the results may
produce another hung election outcome, the
international community will look
at that outcome with hindsight of the
previous violent elections. This may
lead to another Global Political
Agreement (GPA), still not good, but
possibly worst condition in Zanu PF,
considering its waning leader and
factionalism within its ranks and that the
sanctions may remain intact. The
opposition will continue to gain popularity
while Zanu PF would begin to
lose out, even from its Eastern allies, as
Zimbabwe would slide into a more
serious economic crisis. This will not only
be a misfortune for Zanu PF, it
will also be another bad omen for the
nation.
Certainly, this country does not need another GPA leading to
another
Government of National Unity, if any progress can be
anticipated.
Third, another unlikely but possible scenario is that Zanu
PF may win
resoundingly. But with the stated glaring abuses of state
institutions,
there will indeed be very few countries that would recognise
that outcome.
The opposition may have fared badly in their campaigns, but
because of the
abuse of state institutions, they have a ready excuse that
can easily be
accepted by the international community, as it resonates well
with the
previous election outcomes. The outcome would be regarded as
dubious and
another farce which the whole of Sadc has declared not to
tolerate any more.
Technically, Zanu PF would have won, but in reality it
would have lost
resoundingly, as it would have thrown itself to a worse
crisis than what
happened in 2008, without any hope of ever being redeemed.
Certainly,
another bad omen for Zanu PF and the nation, but it will
strengthen the
cause of opposition.
There is only one option, which
carries real hope for Zanu PF, and it
happens to be the hope for the nation.
This is to do with ensuring that
state institutions are transformed, and the
elections are declared free and
fair. If Zanu PF wins in those
circumstances, it would have been redeemed
and that would be a good outcome
for the nation as well. The opposition will
have to go back where it came
from.
On the other hand, if Zanu PF loses, that would also be good for
it, as it
would then use the next five years to rebuild the revolutionary
party, with
a hope of re-bouncing in the next elections. That would then be
a good
outcome for the nation as well, but certainly not a good omen for the
other
parties which would then have a formidable political giant being
rebranded
to take up its rightful position in government.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Opinion
There appears to
be no fierce contest in the referendum set for March 16 as
compared to the
one held in February 2000 since all political parties in the
Government of
National Unity have decided to champion a Yes vote. As such,
the process is
likely to be a mere fulfilment of democratic processes before
Zimbabwe goes
for a harmonised election earmarked for this year again.
Report by
Gumisai Nyoni
The wonderful thing to come out of democracy is that the
majority will
always triumph while its wickedness is that even rational and
progressive
contributions might be sidelined because of their minority
appeal. This
truth will affect groups and movements that are campaigning for
a No vote.
The scenario in Zimbabwe today mirrors the outcome of the
Lancaster House
Conference, in which the Ian Smith regime and the liberation
war movements
had to negotiate to reach a settlement, paving way for the
1980 elections.
The MDC formations and Zanu PF reached a compromise maybe
because they all
discovered a way to protect their interests, not
necessarily meaning they
are representing the will of the majority. And
there are high chances that
the new constitution, resulting from this
compromise, will again be amended,
if not more than 19 times like the
current one, in the event that a single
political party sweeps to the helm
of leadership, to suit its peculiar
demands other than those of the
GNU.
Worsening the situation is the lack of interest by ordinary people
with
little intellect to grasp the draft constitution. It is the opinion
leaders
in their communities who will influence how the masses will vote.
This will
automatically lead to voting trends whereby people align
themselves to what
their political representatives want. They rarely vote
for what they know,
but what they would have been told to believe as
right.
A No vote is just a pipedream, rendering the referendum a platform
through
which political parties can shut out civic groups expressing
dissenting
sentiments.
As opposed to the 2000 referendum in which
voting trends were largely
determined by economic decline resulting from the
dishing out of money to
the war veterans and the involvement of Zimbabwe in
the DRC war, the
euphoria associated the MDC formation and the
disgruntlement of the workers
who were hard hit by effects of the Economic
Structural Adjustment
Programme, voters are now eager to retain the current
status quo marked by
economic revival — a situation that ensued after
dollarisation in 2009.
It appears the greatest monsters Zimbabweans are
battling include escalating
unemployment and the ravaging poverty, giving
less attention to irrational
political squabbling.
The nation has
endured a lot of suffered to an extent that the majority have
lost real
interest in participating in issues that do not yield immediate
benefits.
It has even become less fashionable among many people to
attend rallies and
party gatherings, a development that is likely to
manifest itself in voter
apathy during the coming referendum.
The
greatest disadvantage to be recognised in the future is that governance
flaws of the GNU will be entrenched, while politicians will continue to
thrive on the docility of the general public to railroad their political
ambitions in the name of democracy.
It leaves a lot of unanswered
questions as to why Zanu PF suddenly changed
like a chameleon to fully
support the Copac’s draft constitution when they
had upped their tempo to
denounce it a few months ago. Something behind the
scenes must have
transpired to convince the hardliners in the party to
welcome the draft
which they used to describe as anti-people, devoid and
detached from
people’s views.
On the other hand, the MDC factions must have mastered
the art of trickery
or being tricked to an extent that they can now safely
wine and dine with
Zanu PF without a hustle.
The real battle lies not
in March, whose peace and transparency will
probably replicate the
harmonised polls of 2008. The only difference being
that the peaceful
outcome will be a product of unison than tension among
political parties. It
will be marked by low tempo and stage-managed
celebrations, since no serious
objections are likely to prevail.
Only elections will define the fate the
nation has been waiting for after a
decade of tussling. The March’s
political game is nothing more than a
necessary development to suffice
democratic demands. The real battle lies
ahead. The public must however,
exercise their democratic right and choose
that which drives Zimbabwe out of
the socio-political and economic trenches.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 17, 2013 in Editorial,
Opinion
Once upon a time, Zimbabweans believed education was a sure-fire
ticket out
of poverty; no more. Perhaps old-school parents still do, but
their children
don’t! Until the belief in the redeeming effect of a good
education is
re-established in the minds of the children, our schools will
continue to be
nothing but “factories of failure”, a phrase coined by David
L Kirp,
professor of public policy at the University of California,
Berkeley.
BY NEVANJI MADANHIRE
Our schools are only up and about
because parents still believe that,
perhaps if their children passed they
would be lifted out of the sorry state
they find themselves in. Parents
continue to invest all they have in their
children’s education while the
children’s thinking has radically shifted.
The children look around
themselves and see poverty all over, even among the
educated. They spend
days on end with their poverty-stricken teachers, most
of whom have higher
education qualifications but continue to wallow in
penury. To make things
worse, the teachers extort money from the children’s
poor parents in the
guise that they would give the children “extra lessons”,
further reinforcing
their poverty in the children’s minds. So, the most
educated people in their
communities hardly inspire them.
In most regions of the country, the
people who have made it in life have no
formal education to talk about. In
some regions the people with the dazzling
lifestyles are those who have
skipped the borders to work in South Africa.
This used to be common in
Matabelelend provinces but has become prevalent in
Masvingo as well. Only
those families with children working in South Africa
seem to be doing well.
It doesn’t matter what kind of work they are doing
down there but the fact
that they send back money and groceries means they
have made it in
life.
Around the country lots of children have absconded school and
joined bands
of alluvial gold panners rampaging across the landscape in
search of the
precious metal. The rewards seem to be good because when they
invade the
villages they have lots of money to spend, they are flamboyant
and vigorous
in spirit. It doesn’t matter what they have to do to extract
the gold; many
boys are attracted to the freedom of their spirit and the
interesting
stories they have to tell. Gold panners — makorokoza — have
become a
separate breed altogether prepared to do anything to survive
including
murder and robbery.
The situation is the same in the cities
and other urban settlements; the
guys with the pizazz didn’t go far in
school but drive the latest and
fastest cars and take all the girls. They
flaunt their flamboyance for all
to see and the highly impressionable youths
want to imitate them and know
that education has nothing to do with it. The
girls too have realised that
the “big guys” are not after their education
but after their looks; the way
out of poverty is to have superstar looks.
For evidence of this just look at
how our girls are prepared to die to
participate in beauty pageants in which
they are sexually abused and
exploited. For them, all this is par for the
course as long as it takes them
closer to the gleam. A few years later after
they have been ravished by the
predatory sharks, they are thrown onto the
streets because their youthful
beauty is gone.
The education revolution which saw Zimbabwe at some stage
achieving a 98%
literacy rate is now hurtling in reverse gear taking the
country back to the
illiteracy of the colonial era where education was only
for the few who
could make it into mission schools and the few government
schools. But the
government schools were used for selection and placement
admitting only
those whom they deemed fit to enter the colonial civil
service. Those who
made it into government schools were mainly children of
trusted civil
servants such as policemen, soldiers and teachers. This
selection has taken
a new guise in the form of private schools which can
only be accessed by
children whose parents fit a certain class.
The
root cause of the collapse of our education system is the bad politics
that
saw the collapse of the country’s formal economy which resulted in what
we
can describe as the “de-civilisation” of the populace. People could only
survive in a parallel economy, through a parallel civilisation run and
perpetuated by the rogues. Institutions became unimportant; in their place
came selfishness and corruption. This resulted in the destruction of the
“instructional core” in our education system.
Harvard education
professor Richard Elmore defines the instructional core as
comprising “the
skills of the teacher, the engagement of the students and
the rigour of the
curriculum”.
Zimbabwe lost 30 000 teachers during the political and
economic crisis;
these were highly trained and experienced personnel. They
took their skills
with them, which are now difficult to replace. The skills
are being put to
good use in other countries in the region and abroad. Our
best brains are
teaching Mathematics and Science in better run countries
while the few
highly skilled ones who remained are not enough to go round
and have been
reduced to abject poverty and humiliation through slave wages.
Teacher
training no longer attracts the best brains but is now the refuge of
the
mediocre who failed to further their education or failed to enter other
more
attractive sectors.
The college lecturers themselves are not
much better because they are not
continually exposed to the ever-changing
teaching trends and have still not
entered the information age which has
come courtesy of the internet.
Teaching methods are antiquated; children are
taught mainly through rote
rather than discovery, reducing them to
test-takers instead of thinkers.
Teachers use past exam papers as the major
tool of instruction. When
teachers claim they are giving children extra
lessons, they are merely
cramming information down their throats, which does
nothing to improve
thinking abilities.
When children are constantly
taught to memorise and regurgitate information
they lose interest in
learning; they are not engaged and see education as
torture.
Many parents
have blamed the failure rate on the emergence of social media.
They accuse
their children of spending too much time on the internet and
claim this is
detrimental to their education. Of course this is absolute
nonsense.
Instead, schools should see how this incredible source of
information and
ideas can be used in schools to improve methods of
instruction. If our
children are spending most of their time on the
internet, then education
must go to the internet, instead of remaining stuck
on the blackboard. This
calls for the overhaul of the whole process of
education.