On 16 February, the sad news that Soul Jah Love, the Zimdancehall icon had died reverberated across the country. Indeed, dai hupenyu hwaitengwa “if life could be bought”, many a Zimbabwean would have funded that wish. Such is life, the maestro is gone and we can only remember him for his good tunes and his antics on social media. The Zimbabwe Government declared Souljah a provincial hero. This is an award given to those who are believed in the eyes of ZANU PF to have contributed to the national liberation struggle and lately those who have been recognised for “actively advocating for the emancipation and liberation of people in post-independence Zimbabwe”. Soul Jah has been placed in the second strand joining the likes of the legendary liberation war song maestro Cde Chinx Chingaira. One cannot start to argue about the hero status awarded to Sauro. The one question that begs answers is why ZANU PF is doing it now? From its antics when DJ Fantan was released and pictured with the Mnangagwa twins, Collin, and Sean, and now this accord to Sauro, it is clear that someone is whispering to ZANU PF that they need to tap into the youth sector of Zimbabwe’s population looking to gain votes come 2023. Zimbabwe’s youth need to wake up and not be fooled by such antics.
Zimbabwe’s youth need not be reminded that ZANU PF has failed them in several many ways and the political party is not about to change now. The mere fact that they failed to come up with a proper schooling program when Covid 19 hit Zimbabwe shows that they will not be bothered about the youth in Zimbabwe. Instead, what matters and what mattered then was them responding to the public outcry that DJ Fantan and the notorious Dhama be released from prison and appease the masses in Mbare. ZANU PF could have scored big by pulling that stunt but we know them better from the days they looted the bogus Kurera/Ukondla youth fund.
In Souljah Love’s death, ZANU PF is showing its claws and its opportunistic character. The strategy is to appeal to the desperate youth in the ghetto and hopefully grab the votes. However, the same ZANU PF remains inept to come up with new jobs for the young people of Zimbabwe 3 years into the infamous coup that felled Robert Mugabe. The same ZANU PF that is giving national accolades and posting pictures with these young Zimbabweans is still the same ZANU PF that fails to fund or give loans to these young people to fund their recording studios and grow their music talents. Moreover, instead of arresting people who are accused of peddling drugs such as bronco and mbanje in Mbare and running supplying chains in the whole of Harare, some people in the same Government are busy posing for photo shoots with them.
Is it not tragic that the same ZANU PF government still finds it difficult to fund science and innovation projects for young people in Zimbabwe’s ghetto schools has all the money and time in the world to fund funerals of the same youth?
Something will have to give at some point. The people who are advising ZANU PF that by embracing Zimdancehall artists they will endear them to Zimbabwe’s youth is living in cuckooland. The situation on the ground is different. Zimbabwe’s youth do not have any clear paths to sustaining their livelihoods through credible careers in music, arts, or education. The Government does not have a clear plan for its young people and it will be foolhardy to think that the youth will fall for such antics. ZANU PF just needs to look at elections data and voting patterns from the past to know that youth especially in urban areas will not be easily swayed.
Anyway, Go well Sauro! Rest in Peace Chibaba, Makuruwani! You had your own fair share of success. The Government of the day could have done better to help you manage drugs and other personal mental health issues but they chose to look the other way. Today, we will allow them to take care of your funeral expenses for we know them for whey are – Opportunists!
On 16 February the Herald newspaper announced that the First Lady would be carrying out a national competition to train Zimbabweans on the use and preparation of traditional foods to improve their health and also fight the Corona virus pandemic. The Herald report hailed the competition as some version of the world-renowned MasterChef. To the uninitiated this would be a noble idea indeed from the one who calls herself the “mother of nation”. But that cannot be true – the initiative is naïve, insensitive to the plight of Zimbabweans and some puerile grandstanding of someone who does not understand the nation’s problems but is hellbent on proving some strain of stubbornness and arrogance.
The activity the First Lady is spearheading dubbed “Amai’s Traditional Cookout Competition” is first of all nothing but a plagiarized version of a program that was introduced by Michelle Obama when she was still in the White House. Michelle fought several intelligent battles to turn around the fast-food industry that was significantly contributing to the unhealthy meals American children were consuming. The initiative led to nutritious schools meals being introduced and misleading adverts being banned from television and radio channels.
Secondly, the First Lady seems to want to suggest that Zimbabweans simply need to be able to prepare the traditional dishes and that would be it. That is simply not the case! The majority of Zimbabweans live under the poverty datum line and cannot afford even the most basic of foods to make these so-called nutritious meals she is harping about. There is a very misleading assumption that traditional foods are abundantly available and people can just pick them and prepare meals. Has she ever done a quick survey to understand how much some of these so called “traditional” foods cost on the streets, supermarkets, and veggie shops around the country? The issue is not that Zimbabweans do not know what eating healthy means or how those meals should be prepared. They simply cannot afford the meals.
Then, there is the whole issue of accountability. The first family seems to have this notion that they have these “Offices” in the President’s office and that they are part of the leadership that governs Zimbabwe. They seem to be oblivious of the fact that it is only her husband and their father who is in the Executive. So, a simple question would be, where are these funds being used to gallivant across the country coming from to hold these cooking competitions? Who even holds her accountable for the expenditure of those funds especially if they are public funds? How much exactly is being expended to cater for such? One hopes that the funds are not coming from the national fiscus.
Add Covid 19 to this whole circus, then it will be a cocktail for disaster. Zimbabwe is currently under a lockdown until the 1st of March with inter provincial travel restricted and only necessary travel allowed. Instead of leading by example and staying at home, the First Lady is scoring firsts in every way by moving around the country with her security, media, and office entourage. For what and to achieve what really? – Super spreader Covid 19 events blessed with a tinge of Presidential power – that is what the events are simply are. Surely, should the First Lady be playing MasterChef games in the middle of a debilitating economic and health crisis in the country?
The issue of hunger and nutrition in Zimbabwe does not need all these “Mother this – mother that” antics. The problem needs to be dealt with from a point of food production which hopefully will be achieved through the Pfumvudza concept. Then there is the whole scenario of urban hunger and poverty which the whole government and Amai seem not to address. The best advice for Amai Auxilia Mnangagwa would be for her to talk to her husband and ask him to boost the buying power of Zimbabweans, stabilize the economy as well as deliver on the “Jobs Jobs Jobs” mantra that he promised when he got into office. She might also need to look at her handlers and the people that advise her because honestly they are sleeping on the job and leading her astray.
On 6 February, the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) announced the release of the 2020 Grade 7 examination results. The tabulated report shows that a total of 327 559 learners sat for the exam but only 37.11% managed to obtain a pass. A large portion amounting to 62.89% of the learners failed the exams. A number of government leaders have blamed the poor results on the Covid 19 pandemic. It is true that schools in Zimbabwe were closed in late March 2020 and there was no education for the better part of the year especially for public schools that could not afford to set up online learning systems. However, this reasoning could be too simplistic for several reasons. For example, the fact that close to 90 schools had zero percent pass rates are located in historically marginalized places such as Matabeleland raises eyebrows. It is not a secret that throughout 2020 there were labor actions that resulted in strikes by teachers across the country rendering learning in most public schools a nullity. However, a simple perusal of the results also shows that the Government of Zimbabwe dismally failed to rise to the occasion. For instance, it would not be surprising that the schools that had zero percent pass rates did not have enough teachers as well as reading materials. Moreover, in places where there were poor results, it is also true that the pupils are not fed nutritious meals because their parents and guardians could not afford to feed them well. Moreover, the distance from the schools attended by some of the learners is another cause for concern. The marginalization of some of the areas that had poor results shows that Government has not invested adequately in the schools for example in providing proper school buildings and incentives for the learners to attend school. Some of the challenging issues will be discussed below.
Covid 19 disrupted learning
That the Covid 19 pandemic disrupted the education system and took almost everyone by surprise is indisputable. All schools were closed indefinitely and were only opened for exam classes in early October 2020. The Zimbabwean Government has for a long time neglected the education sector especially in rural areas and was not prepared for the disruptions that were caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. A negligible number of affluent schools, especially in the private sector managed to arrange online lessons through different platforms such as Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp and some even by text. The results from the 2020 examinations shows that most of these schools had good results.
The same cannot be said about the primary schools in rural areas as they did not have facilities to continue with online learning as an alternative to the disruption. The sheer cost of acquiring laptops for teachers and learners as well as the data needed to sustain such platforms was inhibitive enough. The Government of Zimbabwe will need to look into providing alternative learning platforms so that Zimbabwe’s children are not left behind.
No cushioning funds were availed to the learners and their schools
When the Government of Zimbabwe announced the Covid 19 regulations, there was a promise that they would give vulnerable families assistance through cash vouchers, food etc. A small portion was allocated to all civil servants through a $75 USD allowance they called the Covid 19 cushion fund. This was helpful generally to the majority of civil servants.
The government, however, did not set aside any funds to assist schools to provide any form of learning for schools. Instead there were lessons that were conducted on radio and television. However, with a country that is not served with tv and radio reception, the overture did not go far to alleviate the problem. Government through its Ministry of Education and the one on ICT should have come up with mechanisms that would allow learning to continue without exposing the learners to the deadly Corona virus. Judging from the cellphone penetration levels in Zimbabwe the use of simple text messaging packages would have gone a long way. In 2019, there were 90.1 mobile subscriptions registered for every 100 people which means that even in the rural areas it would have been possible to reach a huge majority of the leaners, including those in remote rural areas. Without such assistance from the government, it would have been impossible to see a higher outcome for the learners.
Lack of learning facilities for learners
It is a well-known fact that Zimbabwe’s rural areas remain underfunded with little or no basic amenities such as brick and mortar classrooms as well as running water and even ablution facilities. While some sections would want to argue that they went through the same scenario and still made it in life, that reasoning does not give the Government any reason not to be able to facilitate the building of such amenities.
Where schools are available, some learners have to walk distances of up to 20 kilometers to and from school in some instances crossing flooded rivers.
Government will need to assess the pupil teacher ratio especially in the schools that performed dismally. In most instances, it has been noted that there can be up to 80 or more leaners in one class. This scenario is unacceptable and Government needs to provide more teachers as well incentives to make sure that teachers can stay comfortably in those rural schools.
In most rural areas, the schools and homesteads are not electrified. This situation makes it difficult for the learners to study in the evenings or when its dark. Government could also partner with international organizations in the UN and the private sector to provide low cost solar energy power production which would be used by the learners to study.
This state of affairs also contributed to the poor results in some rural areas. Hundreds of schools and teachers’ unions have been lamenting this state of affairs for a long time and the Government has unfortunately failed to heed their calls.
General lack of development in some parts of the country
It is common knowledge that the Government of Zimbabwe has not made any significant moves towards uplifting rural schools. Thus the lack of electricity, running water and even hospitals close to the schools results in teachers not wanting to be deployed to such areas. As a result the leaners in some of these areas are disadvantaged and could have led to the dismal performances seen in the 2020 Grade 7 results. The disregard for rural and remote areas when it comes to budget allocations by the Government is a major concern and the Government of Zimbabwe must remain seized with this matter until it is resolved. One of the biggest challenges in Zimbabwe is that the country is run by a group that does not pay attention to the needs of its people. Their children attend private schools or study abroad and thus did not suffer any setbacks in the 2020 Grade 7 examinations.
The wellbeing of the learner in the Covid era affected learning
Most leaners in remote rural areas of Zimbabwe suffer from widespread malnutrition. While it would seem farfetched, the truth of the matter is that generally a hungry, malnourished child cannot concentrate well in class and neither can he or she be expected to attend school consistently. When the Covid 19 pandemic hit Zimbabwe, most peoples’ livelihoods were affected. Due to the fact no movement was allowed, most families failed to go to work and thus lost significant income which would have been used to look after their families.
Malnutrition
There are local and international organizations that have helped Governments set up such school feeding schemes thereby ensuring that more learners attend school and not worry about hunger. A random survey of the Food Consumption Score would most likely reveal a correlation between the schools with low or poor pass rates and the nutrition levels in the same communities.
Gendered dimensions that explain the results
If the Government of Zimbabwe had lived up to its promise of giving vulnerable citizens relief aid this would have helped in alleviating hunger and malnutrition that was related to Covid. Generally, however, there is every need for the Government of Zimbabwe to work with experts such as the World Food Program and either civil society organizations to ensure that school meals are provided at least in the schools that attained poor marks in the examinations.
Girls usually bear the biggest brunt when it comes to inequalities that are brought about by poverty. A majority of girls fail to attend school because of child labor, early marriages, period pain and even the lack of sanitary ware. Considering that the menstrual cycle lasts for a week, girls in some part of Zimbabwe end up losing three weeks of learning because they will not have menstrual pads, water to clean themselves up and even simple painkillers to alleviate the pain.
The Government of Zimbabwe could put more effort to ensure that the girl child is empowered to attend school without the fear of soiling themselves because of natural processes they cannot stop. It would be interesting to test the girls’ school attendance and their Grade 7 results vis a vis the availability of sanitary ware and clean water in the same schools.
Conclusion
Corona or no Corona, the 2020 Grade 7 examination results are a serious indictment on the Government of Zimbabwe. The failure of close to 63% of the young learners cannot solely be explained by the lockdowns and “Stay at Home” policies resulting from the Covid pandemic. As noted above, there are different factors such as the lack of financial support from the government, the high poverty in households levels which leads to learners missing school or failing to concentrate because of hunger, the gender imbalances that see young girls missing school because of natural issues such as their menstrual cycles and even archaic practices of child marriages. Zimbabwe has committed to upholding their UN Vision 2030 goals that emphasize “leaving no one behind”. The time has come for the “Zimbabwe’s Listening President” to pay attention to the youth of the country and its future leaders’ plight by allocating more funds to their education as well as supporting the teaching fraternity to deliver learning in favorable conditions. Ignoring these signs will only lead to an uneducated youth who will not be able to help the country in any way. President Mnangagwa’s patriotism should be seen in the way he will respond to this matter going forward.
On 31 December 2020, the overly populated ghetto neighborhood of Mbare played host to a New Year’s Eve bash that was said to have been organized by DJ Fantan and reportedly sponsored by some boy popularly known as “Dhama” in Mbare. That the event was illegal and contravened the country’s Covid 19 regulations was in no doubt. That the arrest of the organizing crew by the police was justified was a no brainer as there was video evidence showing the bash in action. However, scores of local celebrities and politicians foolishly bemoaned the incarceration of the three people who were said to have organized the event. Hordes of people country wide also protested the arrests arguing that there had been other Covid “super spreader” parties that had also been hosted especially by ZANU PF big wigs and those closely connected to the state. While it could have been true that justice had been selectively applied to DJ Fantan and his accomplices, the simpleton and nonsensical nature of the protests was mind boggling. It was almost as if people were saying that Covid is not a reality in Mbare and it could never affect them. While many would want to see this issue as a simple one that is now water under the bridge, one is tempted to go deeper into the matter and discuss the problematic political and legal consequences of the arrest, the court process, release as well as the “celebratory” gatherings held after their release judging from the picture that emerged with the three posing with the controversial Mnangagwa twins Collins and Sean.
It was always going to be catch and release for anyone who is close to ZANU PF
When DJ Fantan and his partners were arrested, rumors started swelling that a mistake had been made and they would soon be released. When they were not released and were sent to court, the rumor mill was again awash with news that “the powers that be” in the military wanted them to be used as an example for those who were defying the Covid 19 regulations, so they would be soon released.
Judging from what then transpired and without wanting to question the judgements that led to their release, a obscene case of the infamous “catch and release” policy/strategy of the ruling government became apparent. The prosecution of the case was farcical at the least and nonsensical at the worst. The case was a clear own goal by the arrested trio and what was needed was just to ensure that all the evidence was placed before the courts and argued strongly. But, what do we know?
What is clear is that ZANU PF and the government would never have been rattled by these three goons from Mbare or their supporters who kept calling for their release. However, ZANU PF and the government as opportunistic and duplicitous as they are saw an opportunity to appease the masses and harped along and hooray, the trio was released on bail when there was a clear case that could have seen the trio jailed for some time.
ZANU PF’s bastardized justice – when the right hand chooses to ignore what the left hand is doing
The ZANU PF led government went to the extent of putting up Covid 19 regulations and setting a whole country into panic mode but chose to ignore its bigwig party supporters who openly violated the same regulations on 31 December 2020. One party the protesters kept mentioning was that of business mogul, Kuda Tagwirei which was held on the same day and was reportedly publicized but no one was arrested or questioned by the police. Several videos emerged online on social media of the police bundling up scores of young people all over the country into police stations and having them pay fines for violating the Covid 19 regulations. That the charade of justice was effected in the case of DJ Fantan and his accomplices is clear. For ZANU PF and the Government it would have been more than embarrassing to continue incarcerating the three when all the other COVID “SUPER SPREADERS” were out enjoying or nursing their Covid without questions.
In terms of policy coherence, it becomes very clear that ZANU PF and its Government is incoherent but in an organized manner. They put up laws and regulations for everyone else but then ensure that the same laws should not touch the “anointed” of ZANU PF or those close to the party.
Opportunism for ZANU PF protects drug dealers, spreads Covid and just reveals crass reckless in governance
Information that came out quickly on social media was that such bashes as the one organized on 31 December 2020 by DJ Fantan were used as drug peddling platforms in Mbare for a lot that had seen dwindling sales during the Covid shutdown. Popular reggae chanter, Soul Jah revealed in a video posted online that the same people who support and organize such parties are the ones that produce, procure, and import the bronco, crystal meth and marijuana among other drugs that are being abused by young people in Zimbabwe.
Conveniently, these issues were never investigated. The people who were arrested were simply arrested for organizing an illegal gathering under the Covid 19 regulations. How the same police that was sent to shut down the party failed to arrest the people that were reportedly pushing drugs there remains baffling. However, it also known that for cases in Zimbabwe to become weak, those charged with investigations simply need to bastardize the charges and everything else will fall into place. Indeed, the trip were released on bail without any questions asked.
The ZANU PF Government has not investigated or revealed any information on potential cases of Covid that could have come from the party in Mbare. To them, that exercise is not necessary. What is important is for them to “keep up appearances” by “Catching and Releasing” those they think could boost their image with “THE PEOPLE” . ZANU PF’s Lady Luck of Opportunism shined on them and this time it gave them DJ Fantan and two of his rogue accomplices. The released the trio and they think that they have “managed” the masses in Zimbabwe.
ZANU PF’s childish, drunken, and stoned political stunts breeding a LOST generation of young people
Someone close to ZANU PF observed the protestations from the people of Mbare and the public countrywide and thought that the trio should be released so that the “people” would be happy. One wonders where these same advisers get such kind of nonsensical advise. ZANU PF has always lost in urban areas and where they have resoundingly won elections it has not been because of the same “ghetto youths”. To a seasoned ZANU PF strategist, these three would not have mattered much. However, due to the fact that the “People” asked genuine question about selective justice, ZANU PF felt it did not have an answer and thus decided to level the playing field and released DJ Fantan and crew.
That the Mnangagwa twins were seen posing with the released trio was a major media and publicity boob – but who cares?
That a whole police force has not yet investigated these three for possible drug peddling remains an issue for another day.
That a whole Government, with a Ministry dedicated to Youth does not see the damage that such kinds of “youth role models” are not good for the future of Zimbabwe’s children is mind boggling.
That Zimbabweans will be killed more by corruption and less by Covid 19 is clearly abundant for all to see.
It is a shame that the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” ZANU PF Government has its priorities set elsewhere and not with its people. Bastardizing the justice system to serve populist strategies that blindly support drug dealers, fuel corruption in the police force and leaves its huge population of boys and girls hooked to cough medicines and crystal meth is not the legacy that President Mnangagwa and his sons would want to be remembered for.
Tendai Chabvuta 