Village celebrations

Dr Sekai Nzenza On Wednesday
Welcome to a rainy Independence Day celebration reporting directly from our kitchen hut right here on the foothills of the Hwedza mountains along Save River. Thirty-five years ago, we were here, in this same place just after the liberation war. My mother’s beer was frothing and intoxicating, the elders were dancing, playing hosho, pen whistle, chipendani, drums and mbira. The war was over and independence was here.

Across the two rivers, you can see, right on the horizon, a huge granite rock jutting its big head into the sky. That place is called Chinyamungororo Heroes’ Acre.

Many liberation fighters died there and they say a few white soldiers too.

But the white soldiers were quickly taken away and given a burial elsewhere. That was the war. In those days, we were young with little education and no job prospects. Still, it was Independence Day and we were now free. For the first time, adults around here had lined up to get identification certificates, zvitupa.

Because they could not write, they used their thumbs to vote.

Thirty-five years later, we are gathered here in the kitchen hut, to remember and celebrate the thumbs and the pens that voted for freedom. Outside, there is a slow continuous drizzle, mubvumbi. Such rain is unusual this time of the year. More than a month ago, every adult in our village and in many other villages, paid $2 contribution towards buying a big beast that was to be slaughtered on the 18th of April to celebrate Independence Day. But we are not going to leave the kitchen hut. We have been sitting around this fire since 8am hoping the rain would go away and we would go jump in the truck and travel the 15 kilometres to Heroes’ Acre for the independence celebrations. The rain is jealous.

We have a hut full of people who have failed to walk to Chinyamungororo for the Independence Day celebration. Our gate is always open and so is my mother’s kitchen hut. When we were growing up here, it was rare to drink tea with corn bread or sweet potatoes or real bread alone without a visitor. Nothing has changed, especially on a wet Independence remembrance day like this. On the fire, we are smoking meat that I bought on the way from Harare.

Next to the fire is the black kettle covered in soot. It has been boiling many cups of tea for everyone who arrives. It fills like Christmas or the old days when we all ate together during Rhodes and Founders day holidays.

So far, we have made tea five times and served 14 people. Mupositori Sameri who came in first this morning sits next to my cousin Piri on the bench. Piri is not embarrassed to drink beer sitting so close to Mupositori Sameri, a man of God and a leader of the Apostolic Faith situated on the foot hills of the mountains only a few kilometres from us.

Mupositori Sameri walked in with Mai Hagar, his third wife. I know her very well because she is responsible for building the chidziro, or kitchen shelves made of black ocher where we display our plates.

Soon as Mai Hagar walked in, she hugged me and gave me her back so I could take the healthy six-month-old Hagar from her back.

She handed the laughing baby to me while Mupositori Sameri sat on the bench next to the men and Piri. Mupositori Sameri is on his fourth mug of sweet tea and his fourth slice of brown bread with jam and margarine.

Our neighbour Jemba is here too. He had walked in from the slow drizzling rain wearing his father’s old brown Mudhibhisi coat and a big plastic bag over his bald head. He sits on a stool next to the fire. On one side of the kitchen hut are four young women including Mai Hagar. These women have married into our extended family. As usual Jemba keeps rolling his tobacco in an old newspaper. He is listening, saying nothing for a while because he is busy diluting Mazowe orange cordial with water and then adding clear 40 percent alcohol content vodka to his mix to make a cocktail.

Jemba will not stop complaining that the rain has denied him the opportunity to eat as much meat as he wanted. His $2 to the independence celebration party contribution has gone for nothing because those who live near the Heroes’ acre will still kill the beast, cook and roast it despite the heavy rain. Then they will share the pieces of meat and take some home.

Jemba tells us that many years ago, over on Maware flat rocks, they used to kill two beasts at Independence Day celebrations. In those days, the Member of Parliament paid for the two beasts. But allowing people to simply receive from the MP or the chiefs caused dependency. Even when times are hard like now, you hear some people say, “The chief must donate a big live beast.” The chief has been telling everyone to stop looking to donors or Government for help all the time.

We must learn to help ourselves the way we used to do before the NGOs came.

Then Jemba points to Mupositori Sameri and praises him for setting a good example of self sufficiency. “Humba, we never see you queuing for food when the donors come. You and your four wives eat what you grow. That is the way it should be.” Mupositori Sameri smiles and pours his fifth cup of tea. He adds five teaspoonfuls of sugar and stirs.

“But having such wives who have only seen the door to the classroom for less than seven years denies the girls opportunity for education,” says Piri. We all look at each other thinking, oh no, Piri wants to talk about the taboo. Child marriages happen in several villages around here within the church. People say Mai Hagar came to live with her husband when she was 12.

The other senior wives looked after her.

When she was “of age” she became a wife and got pregnant. She lost the first two babies at birth. She is no more than 19-years-old now.

“Were you really old enough to have your first baby?” Piri asks Mai Hagar, laughing, like it was very funny. But I know she is not laughing at all. These girls become wives and mothers when they are very young and even below the age of consent. Mupositori remains calm and very composed, sipping his tea.

I calculate that he is only 32, since he had said earlier that he was born three years after independence and knows nothing of the war. At his young age, he already has four wives and eight children, a few of them dead at birth or later because it is against the rules of the church to get the babies immunised.

After a long pause, Mupositori says, “The tradition of polygamy has been with us since time immemorial. It is not going to stop now.”

Jemba then stands up, grabs a piece of burning twig from the fire and lights his cigarette. “Baba Samuel, keep your wives. Some people say ‘Do not marry the girls. Let them go to school.’ To do what?”

I then try to argue that with education, the girls have better opportunities in life. The girls can end up doing teaching, nursing or choose a profession of their choice. “You are going too far,” Jemba interrupts me. “Where do they get the money to go to Form One? Who will pay for their school fees when a family cannot afford $1 for the grinding mill? Leave them alone. These girls are safe and secure. Besides, polygamy is all about sharing. Who wants a husband all day every day 24 hours a day the way Europeans do?” Everyone laughs, including Mai Hagar.

Then Piri leans over towards the fire to turn one side of her maize cob so the other side can be roasted too. She blows the fire and a flame comes alive. “You are right Moyondizvo, a man and woman should not always be together every day and every night.” Murume nemukadzi vasagare vese zuva nezuva.

My brother Sydney puts on his teacher’s voice and explains that back in the days long before the white man colonised us, men went to hunt for days and brought back wild game meat. They also went to war and some of them never came back. The men who went to the gold mines in Johannesburg were gone for years. And yet, the wives stayed and did not moan or complain about loneliness. Marriage was not for two people. It was for the community. Mapositori are using the old African traditions and those of the Old Testament to practise polygamy.

Mupositori Sameri claps and says, “Sekuru Sidney was my teacher at St Columbus School. I know he is against polygamy because he is a Catholic. But I thank God for the opportunity to sit here on Independence Day celebration. God said, let it rain so people can stay, talk and learn something new.” Everyone claps and there is a lot of joking and laughing.

Independence Day celebration will come back again next year. And we shall sit in the same smoky kitchen hut and treasure the memories of the pain and the joy of how independence was won.

Dr Sekai Nzenza and is an independent writer and cultural critic.

Independence, the flame that cannot be doused

Godwin Gomwe
Over the weekend Zimbabwe celebrated the milestone of 35 years of Independence. To the country, Independence is not just political rhetoric, but a reality. It means freedom from dependence and control by another group, organisation or state. To the youths of Zimbabwe, it is freedom from political, social and economic hegemony masterminded by Western supremacists.

35 years of independence is not just ‘independence’ of the flag.

We have accomplished a lot under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe.

We have achieved undoubtable political independence and have since 1980 been taking giant steps to achieve economic independence, which has proved to be successful through the land reform and various black empowerment programmes, such as the indigenisation and economic programme.

It is because of the genuine and fearless adoption of such programmes which has benefited millions of our populace;that our detractors have found it ethical to punish us through illegal sanctions.

Economic independence is a process and Zimbabwe is one country – if not the only one – in Africa which has successfully embarked on land reform and Indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes, through the noble leadership of ZANU PF.

Since its formation, ZANU PF has proved to be the only party which has stood the test of time through the tried and tested leadership of President Mugabe.

The 35 years of Independence have been a journey to safeguard our social values, shared beliefs and traditions.

This has made it possible to come up with home driven systems that do not encourage borrowed Western practices like homosexuality.

Hence, social independence has also been achieved.

Since 1980, Zimbabweans have shown resilience despite the attacks that targeted the economy via illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West. Zimbabweans have clearly shown undoubtable belief in the God-given President Mugabe.

As youths we have also been clear that we will support the vision of our ZANU-PF leadership that has stood the test of time and are true and dedicated to the struggle to safeguard our sovereignty and God-given natural wealth.

It is through the great leadership of President Mugabe, who has illuminated the importance of fully achieving economic independence, which has clearly outlined our role as youths.

We applaud the hard-earned independence that we realise in the education sector in Zimbabwe,which is among countries with high literate rates in Africa.

Through the empowerment programmes orchestrated by President Mugabe, Zimbabwe has seen youths at the forefront as drivers of the economy in all sectors.

As we celebrate 35 years of independence, we have a new battle that we are fighting and it needs us to emulate our President. We need to stand by him and realise that a revolution takes time; it’s not an overnight event.

Internally, we need to be firm in support of the President on his zero tolerance to corruption, so that we protect the legacy of those who came before us and be at the forefront of safeguarding our sovereignty and hard earned independence.

One great Zimbabwean artist once sang: “As a proud youth of this great nation and in acknowledgement of the historical significance of the youth, it is our responsibility to play our part in moulding the future of our country; the future of Zimbabwe is in our hands.”

This means that since the liberation struggle, the youths have been the epicentre of the revolution as the vanguards of Zimbabwe. It will take disciplined, dedicated and determined youths to take the country forward.

The country is also in need of youths who have the courtesy, consistence and commitment to work hard in all areas: politically, economically and socially.

Zimbabwe has become a living example of a country which has steadfastly stood by the values of the liberation struggle and there is no doubt that every progressive country looks up to it for inspiration.

Zimbabwean youths should therefore remain patriotic and true to the defence of our national sovereignty and carry forward the torch of freedom.

‘The place where every newsman was at’

Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
ZIMBABWE’S 35th independence celebrations are one of the occasions when every Zimbabwean should feel a serious sense of self-respect as a part of a sovereign national community. Before April 18, 1980, the people of this country were under British tutelage. We were in law and fact “owned” by the British Head of State, and that was why our national anthem was titled “God Save our Gracious Queen,” a British national hymn.

During the armed struggle for our country’s independence, those of us who were in exile used British passports which described us a “British protected persons.”

It is the considered opinion of the author of this article that the happiest day of most Zimbabweans who were old enough to understand what was happening to this country was on April 18, 1980 when the British flag was lowered, and that of Zimbabwe was raised. That signified the birth of a new nation for which hundreds of thousands had laid down their lives, and others had sacrificed limb and property since Cecil John Rhodes’ Pioneer Column pegged camps and stands in what they named Fort Salisbury on September 12, 1890, officially called Occupation Day.

The struggle for Zimbabwe’s independence had been bitter, and protracted. The media throughout the whole world had carried news items about the freedom struggle of the people of Zimbabwe, especially from February 1959 when the Southern Rhodesian colonial administration outlawed the African National Congress (ANC) and detained its leaders and prominent members.

Those media that did not regard the issue as newsworthy changed their stance in 1962 when the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo presented the Southern Rhodesia question before the United Nations.

The British government argued that Southern Rhodesia was “a self-governing” territory in whose internal affairs the British government could not get involved.

However, the UN Colonialism Committee examined the matter and concluded that Southern Rhodesia was a British colony, and that the British government was duty bound to decolonise it in the same way as it had handled the Indian sub-continent, the Gold Coast (Ghana) and all other former British colonies.

The issue assumed major world interest, and the media kept their ears very close to it right up to the country’s attainment of nationhood on April 18, 1980.

Media representatives from most nations descended on Salisbury, now Harare and sought interviews with President Robert Mugabe and Cde Nkomo, Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu leaders respectively. When Cde Nkomo came from exile on January 13, he was accompanied by a large public media group from Zambia. It represented The Zambia Daily Mail, The Times of Zambia, The Zambia Broadcasting Service (ZBS) and The Zambia News Agency (Zana).

President Mugabe returned from Mozambique on January 27 and a large number of media personnel were with him. They included Mozambique’s radio broadcasting and television transmission journalists as well as those from the country’s newspapers.

Many of these media people remained in the country and covered the election campaign with Salisbury as their base.

Pre-independence elections were held on February 27, 28 and 29 and President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF won 57 seats when results were announced on March 4, 1980. That figure represented slightly more than 63 percent of the total votes cast.

Cde Nkomo’s PF-Zapu won 20 seats, representing 24 percent of the votes cast.

Zanu-PF won all the 14 elective Senate seats voted for by the House of Assembly on March 19.

Other political parties that were registered to contest in those historic elections were Henry Chihota’s National Democratic Union (NDU), Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s United African National Council (UANC), Chief Kaiser Ndiweni’s United National Federal Party (UNFP), Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole’s Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu), James Robert Dambaza Chikerema’s Zimbabwe Democratic Party ((ZDP), Peter Mandaza’s The National Front of Zimbabwe (NFZ), Chief Jeremiah Chirau’s Zimbabwe United People’s Organisation (Zupo) which, however, later pulled out of the electoral contest.

The atmosphere in Salisbury at that time was electrifying with excitement.

Happiness was visible on virtually every black person’s face, but gloom was written on those of white people, understandably because their life of racial privileges was coming to an end, and that of democratic freedom, opportunities and personal dignity beginning.

The media were internationally represented. Algeria’s El-Moudjahid and An Nasr sent their reporters and photographers, so did Angola’s A Journal De Angola, and Nigeria’s Nigerian Chronicle, Nigerian Standard, New Nigeria, National Concord, Daily Star.

From South Africa, there were journalists from the Citizen, Die Burger, The Natal Mercury, The South African Press Association (Sapa) and a few other print media. Tanzania had its news teams from the Daily News as well as Ngurumo.

Some Japanese journalists were prepared to give “presents” to President Mugabe and Cde Nkomo if they could give them interviews. They were strongly advised by Eddison Zvobgo for Zanu-PF, and Willie Dzawanda Musarurwa for PF-Zapu to keep their “gifts” as President Mugabe and Cde Nkomo would feel insulted by such obviously corruption-tainted offers.

From the United States and Canada, Australia, India and China, the then Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic (the GDR), from Cuba and Brazil, Chile and Mexico, journalists descended on Salisbury, turning the city into what some Americans would describe as “the place where every newsman was at.”

Ethiopia and Somalia were also represented by journalists from the Ethiopian Herald and Addis Zemen, and from Somalia, there was a photo-journalist from Ziddigta Oktobar.

At that time, Somalia was under General Siad Barre’s presidency and Ethiopia was headed by the famous anti-imperialist Lt Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Morocco was also represented by a journalist who, having failed to meet and interview Cde Nkomo in Salisbury, followed him all the way to Pelandaba (Number Six) in Bulawayo.

Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo-based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734328136 or through email. [email protected]

Health milestones impress minister

Thandeka Moyo Chronicle Reporter
ZIMBABWE has made great strides in the health delivery system by constructing more hospitals and clinics as well as destroying barriers that previously kept locals from exclusive “whites only” hospitals before Independence. Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa commended President Robert Mugabe and his government for improving and transforming the health care sector in the past 35 years.

He said Zimbabwe is among the first developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of treating and preventing new HIV infections and reducing mother to child infections from 22 percent to 18 percent.

“One of our greatest achievements since Independence is that we’ve managed to take health care to the people. We achieved this by building more clinics as well as district, provincial and central hospitals.

“We used to have two central hospitals now we have six. The government has built eight more provincial hospitals compared to the two we had before independence,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

He said the government had empowered indigenous people by destroying barriers that reduced them to second class citizens before 1980.

“If you go back to the era before independence you’ll discover that there were hospitals for black and white people. Mpilo Central Hospital was for Africans, that’s why its corridors are narrow.

“When we came in as a government, we changed that. The name Parirenyatwa Hospital was given to the then Andrew Fleming Hospital which was built with white people in mind.”

The Minister said the country, which had only 10 district hospitals before independence, now boasts of 52 district hospitals.

He said the immunisation programme was now a priority as opposed to colonial Rhodesia.

“We’re confident to say that not only have we been able to educate our people in terms of health needs, but people now know more about how to prevent certain diseases.” he said.

Dr Parirenyatwa, son to the first black Zimbabwean doctor and national hero, Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa, said the government had led in achieving universal access to ARV and treating HIV which had a very high prevalence rate at one point.

“Look at how we’ve fought HIV. It came in a very strong way, 31 percent prevalence rate in 1999 and now we’re talking of 13 percent.

“We’ve done that because we’re doing prevention, prevention and prevention. We used to deny people ARVs because we were told that ARVs are expensive, now we give ARVs free of charge because we believe that’s the right way to go,” he said.

The Minister said sanitation among Zimbabweans had increased since the attainment of Independence in 1980, which has seen a decrease in people who use the bush to relieve themselves.

“I could go on and on but it’s also important to note that we now have medical schools with black students.

“We only had one medical school that used to take about 15 students and out of those 15 maybe eight would be white. Now we’ve changed all that. We now take 200 students in Harare (University of Zimbabwe) and about 25 students in Bulawayo (National University of Science and Technology).”

He said in spite of such achievements, the government was still looking forward to other milestones.

“I think with those achievements we’re now looking at how we can build another Mpilo Hospital because this is an old hospital, we’re looking at how we can build another Harare hospital.

“We’re looking at how we can make Mpopoma Clinic have more services than it has, we want all our clinics to have X rays instead of coming to Mpilo hospital for X rays.

“We want to decentralise our services as we still want to achieve more in this sector for our people,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

Imbube still lives on

Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
REGA kusarira by Amabhubesi and Unity by Black Umfolosi are some Imbube hits that come to mind when one reflects on the musical genre that has brought the masses together since the country’s attainment of Independence in 1980. Imbube, taken from the Zulu word “bhubesi” (lion), describes the presentation of the songs which are loud and powerful a cappella four part harmonies, accompanied by dancing.

Imbube is a form of South African vocal music, made famous by the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

The music genre, according to Thomeki Dube of Black Umfolosi, has its roots in the townships dating as far back as the 1930s but shot to prominence in the 1960s.

“When we were growing up, Imbube was part of society. Our elders used to listen to the music. I developed an interest in Imbube when I was very young,” said Dube.

He said during the 1960s, Imbube was popularised by groups such as Crown Figure, which would mix traditional dances such as isitshikitsha and ingquzu with their a cappella music.

Dube said Imbube was popular because it was a form of social commentary that spoke to the masses about the goings on in their lives before, during and after independence.

“Imbube shows were held egcekeni, near Big Bhawa in Makokoba Suburb on weekends. There would be up to 15 groups performing there, including Crown Figure, Dubaduba and Thethindaba among others. Imbube was part of tradition and the music conveyed messages of counselling to married couples and correction to the youth,” he said.

Dube said the trend continued until the mid 70s but was disrupted by the war of liberation as a number of groups lost their members to the armed struggle.

Million Mpala, now a member of Ndlela Zimhlophe, lost friends to the war when he was part of the group Thethindaba Choir that was formed in 1953.

“The 1970’s were a dark period for Imbube because a lot of groups stopped performing simply because most of their members had gone to the war. They wanted to liberate the country and sacrificed their love for music. Others such as Themba Ncube became prominent in the war for their music.

“Ncube carried his love for music even during the liberation struggle,” said Mpala.

He said after independence, the genre was revived by groups such as Black Umfolosi.

“There was a need to revive the genre after the liberation struggle. Fortunately, there were young boys who looked up to us.

“Black Umfolosi comprised of some of these young boys and they’ve made a name for themselves in Zimbabwe and beyond,” said Mpala.

Amabhubesi and Sunduza have also become popular outfits.

Oscar Siziba of Impumelelo Shining Stars, which shot to prominence in modern day Zimbabwe, said Imbube was still relevant in the country.

“All the songs we sing have a message for everyone. That’s why I say Imbube is relevant in the country as it encourages social cohesion and unity among people from different walks of life,” said Siziba.

He said the genre had evolved over the years as artists have moved to isicathamiya that incorporates traditional dance moves.

“We now perform isicathamiya which focuses more on achieving a harmonious blend among the voices. The name also refers to the tightly-choreographed dance moves that keep the singers on their toes. Unlike Imbube, which was traditionally loud and powerful, isicathamiya that’s derived from the Zulu word cathama, which means walk softly or tread carefully, is more subtle,” said Siziba.

Marked development in education sector since 1980

Nelson Masukume
ZIMBABWE celebrates her Independence Day on April 18, 35 years after the end of a bitter, protracted armed struggle. Since the country’s attainment of independence in 1980, there have been significant efforts to consolidate its gains. The transformation of the education sector and economic reforms are some notable developments the country has seen over the years.

Educationist and esteemed curriculum researcher, Bernard Gatawa says tremendous strides have been taken by government towards the domestication of education since 1980, when the country inherited a racially skewed education system which favoured mostly whites.

One of the major features of the colonial education system was the F1 programme and the F2 pathways which separated blacks from whites.

A product of the 1966 Education Plan, the dominantly white only programme prepared whites for the administration of industry, education and law while the F2 concept, viewed as a watered down curriculum, sought to create a pool of semi-skilled and half-educated poorly paid labourers to serve in white owned industries.

The colonial education regulatory frameworks and statutory provisions created very glaring inequalities which affected black students’ advancement opportunities.

The abolishment of the pre-independence education system saw the phasing out of the F1 and F2 programmes to allow an inclusive education and all academic system which set five ‘O’ Levels as the basic entry requirement in both tertiary institutions and the job market.

Student enrolment ballooned in both primary and secondary schools following the opening of schools that had been closed due to the war especially in rural areas. The general expansion in enrolments proportionally called for increased infrastructural demands exacerbated by massive vandalism of educational infrastructure that had occurred in the years leading to 1980.

According to the 1991 Ministry of Education, Art, Sports and Culture ED46 Returns, there were 4,461 viable and non-viable primary schools with Manicaland province having over 700 schools.

There were 1,499 viable and non-viable secondary schools across the country with the Midlands province having nearly 300 schools while Harare was the least with 74 schools.

To date, there are over 5,000 primary schools and over 2,300 secondary schools across the country. However, long distances that rural children have to walk to the nearest school remains one of the greatest challenges in accessing quality education.

The introduction of the Early Childhood Development programme in primary schools is a new phenomenon that the government implemented in 2006 as a response to the 1998 Nziramasanga Commission recommendations on education and training.

The Zimbabwe Integrated Teacher Education Course (ZINTEC) put in place to react to qualified teacher shortages soon after independence has been lauded as one of the historic education reforms aimed at coping with the ever expanding education demands and the need for qualified teachers in the country.

Significant strides have been made in the capitalisation of both the supervision and the examination of education in-spite of a recurrent combination of infrastructural, human, financial and systematic constraints that continue to frustrate the total evolution of our noble education system which is a marvel across Africa.

But the recent introduction of two more subjects at primary school congests the school timetable raising fears that the teachers and supervisors would not give adequate attention and preparatory ability to all the 13 subjects in the curriculum.

Low salaries for teachers remain a nagging problem and educators continue to show signs of lack of motivation following a ministerial directive scrapping incentives introduced at the zenith of a teacher exodus and an unfriendly economic environment in 2008.

On numerous occasions, government has promised to review salaries to levels commensurate with teacher’s qualifications in the region. The Civil Service Commission embarked on a nation-wide human skills audit exercise reportedly aimed at weeding out ghost workers who are gobbling a huge chunk of the wage bill. It is also reported that the exercise will culminate into de-bunching of civil servants’ grades according to experience and qualification.

One of the critical developments towards quality education has been the introduction of a schools examinations body. The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) is a government parastatal that was established mainly to set, standardise, moderate, supervise, mark, and safeguard the integrity of the examination system in schools.

The increase in qualified teaching personnel and materials through government partnerships with bodies such as UNICEF through the Education Transition Fund has greatly enhanced the quality of education and performance at Grade 7, ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level, examinations in schools around the country.

ZIMSEC announced that it would be procuring state of the art examination dispensing equipment in a bid to curb examination leakages that have tarnished the good image of the body that mutated from the colonial Cambridge examination system.

Over the years, ZIMSEC has been hit by a spate of examination paper leakages that have left the body faced with huge reprinting costs with dozens of officials either tainted or prosecuted in courts of law.

Last year, ‘O’ Level candidates were ordered to re-sit exams after the initial papers were leaked.

The Education Act Statutory Instrument (SI) 67 of 1987 and S.I 379 of 1998 are part of the government statutory inventory aimed at decentralising and regulating the role of all the players in the provision of quality education and child friendly infrastructure.

The Education Act, a repeal of the Education Plan of 1966 provides and defines the role of responsible authorities in schools. The responsible authorities such as mines, churches, boards of trustees and local authorities have schools that they built across the country.

The government compels all responsible authorities to adhere to physical planning regulations that stipulate provisions on the establishment of infrastructure in such schools.

Approval prior to the setting up of any building in both private and government owned schools is a pre-requisite. Government also deploys human resources controlled under public service regulations.

In some unfortunate cases, some authorities fall wayward and through commission, contravene government regulations.

The desire by either councils or churches to control personnel deployed by government in their schools is one challenge that sometimes compromises education delivery in some schools.

The disputes sometimes spill into the courts inviting avoidable costs on institutions.

There is a need for all responsible authorities to align their by-laws with central government laws to avoid conflict in institutions. Such institutions are advised to include in their boards, people with expertise and an understanding of government regulations to curb these conflicts.

Apart from authorities, parents have a major role to play in schools. Statutory Instrument 87 of 1992 allows the formation of School Development Committees (SDCs) in schools.

Both statutes allow parents to form committees that collect levies for the development of the school. Although these bodies are necessary, they sometimes impede development and compromise the quality of education.

Because schools are business entities nowadays, there is need to elect into these committees, parents who are literate to communicate and interact with other education stakeholders. These parents must have sound minds on issues especially government policies in schools.

Schools are not beerhalls; therefore reckless behaviour is the least expected thing in schools.

Editorial Comment: Let’s celebrate Independence with pride

We celebrate our 35th Independence Day on Saturday.

This is an important day for the country, as it is a testament of our freedom from colonial bondage, a day when Zimbabwe marks her nationhood. We celebrate the political independence that we attained on April 18, 1980, at a time when the Zanu-PF government is leading the country towards economic independence.

In 1890, Zimbabwe was colonised by Britain. But blacks did not give away their independence easily; they fought against the invading forces. However, with their spears, bows and arrows they were no match against whites’ guns, dynamite and so on. They rose in 1893 and later in 1896; both uprisings ending in crushing defeats. Having won the initial wars, the settlers went on a frenzy, gobbling up all of the country’s fertile land and forcibly pushing the rightful owners of the land into arid, infertile and rocky strips of land. They pillaged locals’ cattle and minerals as well. They took away their freedom and humanity.

For almost 100 years, we had to endure some of the worst brutality mankind has ever seen. Extortionate taxes and draconian laws were imposed on the indigenous people to entrench white domination of this land.

Yes the whites took away all of the blacks’ material riches, broke their limbs and massacred hundreds of thousands, but they didn’t break their spirit.

Thus resistance to settler rule resumed in the 1940s. The movements first articulated workers’ rights but later started advancing harder political demands for independence, equal voting rights and so on. The 1948 general strike showed what blacks could do if they worked together to confront the evil political dispensation of the day.

Political parties like the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress, National Democratic Party, Zapu and Zanu followed in the 1950s to 1963 as black anger over white domination intensified.

They started discussing the possibility of an armed struggle in that period. Under the leadership of Cdes Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, Zanu and Zapu started recruiting youths for military training in countries such as Angola, China and Russia. They launched a just war, a war for liberation that had total national support. The minority system had no chance despite the facts that their security forces had better arms and enjoyed the advantage of controlling all formal systems in the country.

Seeing that a straight military loss was imminent, Rhodesian Front leader, Ian Smith, lumbered to the negotiating table and discussions were held at the Lancaster House in Britain, not on his terms, but on the liberation fighters’.

The first democratic elections were held in early 1980 and were won by Zanu with 57 seats, Zapu coming second with 20 after both were elected on the common voters’ roll. Smith’s Rhodesian Front which was elected on a separate white voters’ roll got 20 seats. Independence came on April 18, 1980.

Despite the fact that the liberators had convincingly won through the bullet and the ballot later, the leader of the winning party, Cde Mugabe, as Prime Minister was magnanimous in forming a unity government that included Zapu cadres and, of all persons, Rhodesian elements.

It has been a long, happy 35 years for Zimbabwe since then. Blacks are now politically independent and the struggle now is on attaining economic freedom to make the independence truly meaningful, enduring and total.

With Zanu-PF in charge, the government launched the first real step towards economic independence in 2000 when the fast track land reform and redistribution programme was launched. That was after the landless majority had occupied white-owned farms countrywide. Now, 15 years on as many as 300,000 blacks are proud land owners. Most are doing exceptionally well on the farms but a few aren’t doing that well. The reasons why some aren’t doing well are many, among them lack of long-term affordable financial and technical support and recurrent droughts.

The revolutionary land reform programme attracted an angry response from the landed whites and their cousins in Britain, America, Canada and Australia who sought to reverse it by sponsoring the formation of a stooge political opposition in the form of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. Illegal sanctions were imposed too to bring down the Zanu-PF government and with it the party’s revolutionary policies and ideals. That has failed, dismally.

The fight for economic independence went a gear up on March 9, 2008, when President Mugabe signed into law the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act. The law prescribes a 51/49 percent threshold in ownership of investments in natural resources in favour of locals. This policy, which is standard practice in countries in the Middle East and other formerly disenfranchised nations, should take Zimbabwe towards greater and sustainable socio-economic development.

Therefore, we celebrate our 35th Independence Day with pride, after an electoral victory by Zanu-PF in 2013. The victory was so convincing that even the detractors of the party and country are beginning to warm up to us. We look forward to a big occasion on Saturday, and better economic fortunes as we move ahead.

‘Youths should further liberation struggle gains’

Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
YOUTHS have pledged to preserve the gains of the country’s independence through active involvement in various empowerment programmes.

They noted that liberation war heroes had passed the baton on to them and now they had a duty to further the achievements gained through the liberation struggle.

“The independence that we attained and continue to celebrate every year came as a result of the liberation struggle. The liberation fighters played their part by shedding their blood so that we could enjoy the freedom that we have today,” said Moses Mhango, a youth from Plumtree.

“Therefore the ball is now in our court as youths to ensure that we fully utilise the opportunities that come with being independent in order to develop our country.”

He said youths throughout the country should desist from shunning empowerment programmes that were crafted to benefit them.

Mhango said once youths learn to appreciate their role in furthering the gains of being independent, then the country’s economy would improve.

He said the significance of work done by liberation fighters for the benefit of the youths could not be over-emphasised.

“A number of liberation fighters aren’t educated today but we can’t blame them because they took to the bush so that we could get a chance at education,” he said.

“They were deprived of a chance to education themselves but they fought to win that right for youths. Today we’ve access to unlimited heights in education and we’ve the chance to excel academically.”

Mhango said the revolutionary struggle had also brought economic empowerment for the youths.

He said a number of youths were now proud owners of valuable assets, something which blacks could not do during the colonial era.

The government has special facilities for youth empowerment. Many of them have been allocated land under the land reform programme while others are proud owners of mines. There is also the Youth Fund, meant to provide business loans to youths aged 35 years and below with no need for collateral.

Mhango described today’s government as youth friendly as a number of policies had been formulated to empower youths economically.

Furthermore, Mhango said youths were now able to freely participate in the country’s politics.

“Today we’re exercising our freedom of expression through various platforms that have been availed to us. To me, gaining independence has been more beneficial to the youths than any other group of people,” he added.

“We’ve been granted a fresh start where we’re surrounded with countless opportunities unlike the liberation fighters during their time. We’re relevant within the global village because we’ve been capacitated intellectually and liberated mentally.”

He said youths now had to direct the skills they have acquired towards developing their country and not neighbouring countries.

He said it was the duty of every youth to get educated, either academically or through acquiring technical skills, in order to contribute in developing the economy. Noting that the liberation struggle was not for the purpose of producing an ignorant generation, he said there was a need for government to revive some of the programmes that were used to subsidise the education of youths like grants. Also, he said strategies had to be put in place to broaden the coverage of government education funds like cadetship and other government scholarships.

He said a number of young people, especially those in rural areas were still failing to access education because of financial challenges.

Mhango said there was also a need to have more youths benefitting under the land reform programme through allocation of land.

Most veterans of the liberation war left school, university and their jobs while they were still young. To some extent, they were comfortable in their situations, but realised that the comfort was hollow and uneasy without independence. So they went to Zambia and Mozambique from where they took part in the independence war until freedom came on April 18, 1980.

Another youth from Plumtree, Nkosilathi Sibanda said there was need for government to formulate a deliberate policy to ensure that youths equally benefitted from the country’s resources.

“Youths can do a lot of good to the country if they are given an equal opportunity to access resources such as mines and farms as well as other investment opportunities.

“In fact, if youths are to preserve the revolutionary gains they have to enjoy its fruits first, then they will have a clear understanding of what they are obliged to preserve,” said Sibanda.

He said the youths were the best natural resource the country had, hence they had to take a leading role in reviving the economy. Attaining independence, Sibanda added, could be equated to the biblical story of the Israelites when they were taken out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land.

Sibanda urged his fellow youths to have a sense of ownership by being actively involved in celebrating Independence Day.

“It’s a pity that it’s mostly the elderly people who attach importance to the Independence Day celebrations whereas it should be us the youths at the forefront,” he said.

Leaders must empower youths economically

Opinion Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
ZIMBABWE celebrates its 35th independence anniversary on Saturday, April 18. Its population has increased from about seven million or so at the time of attainment of nationhood in 1980 to nearly 15 million.

The majority of the people are not older than 35 years. That means in effect that most of the country’s population is younger than our national independence.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is facing a very high rate of unemployment especially the unskilled, unprofessional as well as some professions such as nursing, cutting and designing, catering and tourism, journalism, driving, cookery and similar lines of domestic science courses.

Those who are hardest hit by this high unemployment rate are the youths, that is to say people whose ages range from 18 to 35 years.

Some of them have left Zimbabwe and are living precariously in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland or in various countries overseas. Some live wherever they are unlawfully. Some of our national leaders have publicly called such young people back home to help in the country’s development.

Zim-Asset, the country’s economic blueprint is meant to alleviate unemployment, among other problems. The economic policy was launched in 2013, some two years ago. We cannot say whether or not it has helped to reduce the national unemployment rate as there are no statistics to guide us on this important matter.

We hope, however, that a statistically based picture will be presented to the nation sooner or later, or, at the latest, just before the next national general elections, that is in 2018.

Before that date, the country has to deal with a large number of youths many of whom spend their time at business centres gambling and or consuming alcoholic beverages as well as other drugs such as mbanje.

That is a very unfortunate social development currently spreading throughout Zimbabwe, contributing to the commission of horrible crimes that include rape, even that of infants and elderly women by young men who are at the prime of their lives.

Murder of defenceless women by undoubtedly younger men under the influence of drugs is another common crime in both urban and rural areas. The minds of these unemployed, unskilled young people are idle, at least some of them are.

Village and ward communities would be well advised to launch skills – training schemes to turn these youths into useful and usable human assets.

If such wards were to identify suitable centres where youths can meet, councillors and MPs would be asked to engage qualified or experienced artisans who can train the youths in various manual trades such as carpentry, fishing, building, motor mechanics, welding, soldering, animal husbandry, poultry, gardening, leather work or whatever else.

We can expect the country’s political leadership to support projects of that type can be launched with the active participation of village heads, headmen, chiefs and district administrators. Each political party would, it is strongly hoped, urge its youths to join such schemes, and the government would most probably get involved, however certainly at the issuance of certificates or participation documents to the successful youths.

Commercial and industrial sectors can be requested to sponsor such projects in their respective wards, and some companies or individual business undertakers may employ some of the youths on completion of the courses of vocational training.

The primary aim in such a sphere would be to turn the majority of the country’s youths into valuable assets as opposed to a situation where some of them are without any skill whatsoever and are thus a burden on their respective parents, guardians and communities at large.

Councillors and MPs have a duty to sensitise their wards and constituencies on schemes such as this suggestion. Tools and premises for such projects can most likely be provided by some local businesspeople. School halls can be used while the participants are constructing their own accommodation.

Starting with brick moulding, the participants would put up the required structures as part of their training programme. That was virtually how Tuskegee College was built by Booker Taliafero Washington, and also Achimota College of Ghana was founded in the Gold Coast, now Ghana, by the well-known educationist, Dr Aggrey.

Councillors and MPs have a very important responsibility to develop the areas they represent. Their duty is not just to debate and pass by-laws in council chambers, or national laws in Parliament.

They have to develop their constituents socially, culturally, economically and of course, politically.

Human resources development is one of the responsibilities of the various types of leadership, the political leadership being one of them.

  • Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo- based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email [email protected]

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