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Enough is enough
Comment, The Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
August 13, 2004

http://www.fingaz.co.zw/fingaz/2004/August/August13/6262.shtml

ZIMBABWE’S education system has been the envy of many a country across continents. Standards however plummeted over the years and it was rapidly losing its creme de la creme status, but Education Minister Aeneas Chigwedere, whose actions even this country’s best brains have failed to understand, now threatens to destroy what was left of it with a single swing of a political blade!

Indeed, thanks to the Minister’s arrogance and conceit, the country’s education system has been plunged into an unprecedented crisis which could see it terrifyingly deteriorate into a disastrous condition as did the health delivery system before it. Notwithstanding that the ruins must not obstruct the prospects, it goes without saying that in the short term, Zimbabwe will find it difficult to restore integrity and credibility in the education system to return it to its pre-crisis levels.

First, it was the bungling in the country’s discredited public examination system administered by the much-maligned Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC). Who would forget that embarrassing debacle where pupils reportedly studied wrong set books or syllabi and received results for subjects they did not sit for? Then came the scapegoating Ministry’s specious and spurious but self-evidently absurd and ludicrous claims that they delayed registering candidates for this year’s "O" and "A" level examinations because of the drought of all things! Unbelievable? Well this was how it was matter-of-factly "explained" to Parliament by one Isaiah Mushayamwando Shumba, Chigwedere’s deputy, without any tinge of irony!

As if that was not enough, Chigwedere, who many had been hoping against hope to return the education system back onto the rails and peace back to our souls, sought to destroy private schools, the odd shaft of light amidst the ruins of what was once a quality system of education. Admittedly, expensive does not mean discerning but these schools had a critical stabilising influence in the troubled education sector given that there are no functional libraries, laboratories, recreational facilities and not to mention the debilitating acute shortage of teachers at most of the public schools. Of course, this obvious fact was conveniently lost on Chigwedere who, in his ruinous "wisdom", believes that the schools are a bastion of capitalistic privilege and racial discrimination. Nothing could, however, be further from the truth because the majority of pupils at the schools are black. And the evidence is there for all to see.

Chigwedere started off by instilling the fear of God in private school heads who had been targets of much unjustified rhetoric after they refused to yield to the Minister’s arm-twisting tactics to reduce fees to ostensibly cushion hard-pressed parents against exorbitant fees. Unfortunately, there is no obvious merit in the altruistic-sounding Minister’s destructive actions which do not create even a remote semblance of a false impression of novelty. "Reducing fees to cushion the parents", who have the passion to sacrifice for their children’s life-time meal-ticket, is a big lie. It is an old, worn-out, threadbare platitudinous cliche, which dovetails with populist policies of a government for whom there is a credibility gap between election pledges and policies implemented but is now desperate to appease a sceptical and disenchanted populace.

What seems lost on Chigwedere, who cuts the image of a control freak, and those of his ilk is that while the magic influence of populist phraseology — the opium of Zimbabwean politicians — can be strong and irresistible, the voice of reason and influence of realities should not be ignored except when making politically expedient decisions.
But typical of some of Zimbabwe’s misguided ruling clique who think that they monopolise patriotism, common sense, reason and objectivity, he ignored this and the fate of private schools is hanging by a thread. These schools are haemorrhaging and they face the spectre of bankruptcy proceedings as creditors could soon be scrambling for their assets. And if they do not get a stay of execution, which is very likely, this could have far-reaching consequences for scores of pupils on whose scholastic development, the salvation of this great nation is dependent.

Chigwedere’s frontal attack on private schools has left many with purely psychological questions. Does Chigwedere who has the knack for turning everything he touches into dust (Remember how President Mugabe had to order him to back off matters football?) — understand the scale of catastrophe that could befall the education system? Does he have a strategy as regards the future of these schools? Highly unlikely! Forget about his constant hollow assurances that government would take over the schools. This cannot mislead even the common ruck of folk who previously would swallow hook, line and sinker, government’s empty declarations.

The capacity just isn’t there. In any case, the cash-strapped government has since scaled down on its services to the public as can be exemplified by the appalling state of affairs at institutions such as Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Harare Hospital, Mpilo Hospital, the University of Zimbabwe, Harare Polytechnic and scores of government schools dotted around the country — the list is endless. How then can Chigwedere pretend that government has the financial wherewithal to take-over the troubled schools? Please! Or if government has the financial resources as Chigwedere would like us to believe, why can’t it channel those resources towards propping up collapsing government schools throughout the country? Why was the situation allowed to deteriorate to those desperate levels? Is Chigwedere implying that it was just a question of upside-down priorities? The mind boggles! We wonder what the fractious and irascible all-knowing individuals whose duty it is to defend the government will have to say about the state of complete disorder and confusion wrought on education by Chigwedere!

We have said this before and we will say it again. With Ministers like Chigwedere, who do not seem to know that government has pledged that education is at the centre of its social development agenda, what government needs saboteurs? True we have had this strange policy called collective responsibility in government which tends to mask the gross incompetence and ineptitude of a number of government officials. But this one should be blamed squarely on the shoulders of the bungling Ministry of Education. And heads must roll starting with Chigwedere — who remains in Cabinet simply because government does not have quality control. That is why we said in our editorial of November 21 2003 that Chigwedere must go: As has been said before, a fish rots from the head! He will not be missed. It will be good riddance.

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