Dramatic Twist: Popular thief-catcher Tafadzwa Chidawa ARRESTED!

THE irony of life has caught up with Tafadzwa Chidawa, also known as Detective Kedha on social media, as he is now facing theft charges. Detective Kedha is popular for viral videos in which he targets and ‘apprehends’ thieves in the Harare CBD. The for…

THE irony of life has caught up with Tafadzwa Chidawa, also known as Detective Kedha on social media, as he is now facing theft charges. Detective Kedha is popular for viral videos in which he targets and ‘apprehends’ thieves in the Harare CBD. The former cop appeared in court yesterday accused of stealing a vehicle […]

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LATEST: Army issues statement

The Zimbabwe National Army has warned the public to be aware of a fake ZNA recruitment advertisement circulating on social media. In a statement, on Wednesday, ZNA Director of Public Relations, Colonel Alphios Makotore, said the fake advertisement was …

The Zimbabwe National Army has warned the public to be aware of a fake ZNA recruitment advertisement circulating on social media. In a statement, on Wednesday, ZNA Director of Public Relations, Colonel Alphios Makotore, said the fake advertisement was misleading and meant to defraud the public. “The ZNA would like to inform members of the […]

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ZRP officer to cough up US$10 000 as punishment for misdemeanours

Source: ZRP officer to cough up US$10 000 as punishment for misdemeanours A ZIMBABWEAN police officer has been ordered to fork out US$10 000 in damages to compensate a man, who was unlawfully arrested and arbitrarily detained by law enforcement agents over a bilateral contractual dispute. FILE IMAGE:   Joseph Tambu, the Director of Prod Software […]

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Source: ZRP officer to cough up US$10 000 as punishment for misdemeanours

A ZIMBABWEAN police officer has been ordered to fork out US$10 000 in damages to compensate a man, who was unlawfully arrested and arbitrarily detained by law enforcement agents over a bilateral contractual dispute.

FILE IMAGE:

 

Joseph Tambu, the Director of Prod Software Enterprises, was arrested by Shingirai Givemore Mayimbo, a Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officer, on 15 June 2021 after he voluntarily appeared at Bulawayo Central Police Station, where he had been summoned to appear in order to answer questions in relation to the delivery of a camera.

Tambu had been summoned to answer to questions related to the terms of a contract of sale concluded by him in his capacity as a Director of Prod Software Enterprises and Gwanda State University, represented by Sifundo Ntini, the university’s Procurement Officer.

After presenting himself at Bulawayo Central Police Station, Tambu was quizzed on the delivery of the camera, where he provided a detailed explanation on the reason for the delay of the supply of the camera, which Mayimbo did not accept and proceeded to detain him without just cause or explanation of his rights and stated that he would only be released after the camera was delivered to Gwanda State University.

On 17 June 2021, Tambu was released from the police custody after spending two nights in detention without receiving any further criminal sanction and did not appear in any court answering to criminal charges as should have been the case.

After his release and ordeal, Tambu engaged Prisca Dube of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who filed summons at Bulawayo Magistrates Court, seeking payment of damages amounting to US$10 000 as compensation for violation of his fundamental rights.

In the summons, Dube argued that Tambu was deprived of his liberty and inconvenienced as he could not conduct his business activities and was subjected to emotional strain as he was in confinement and could not see his family while his reputation as an entrepreneur was tainted.

In a ruling handed down recently by Bulawayo Magistrate only identified as Ncube, Mayimbo, together with the Officer In Charge of Bulawayo Central Police Station, Godwin Matanga, the Commissioner-General of ZRP and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Hon. Kazembe, were ordered to pay US$10 000 to Tambu as damages for wrongful arrest, unlawful detention and pain and suffering.

Magistrate Ncube ruled that Tambu was deprived of his liberty during a dangerous period of the outbreak of coronavirus and his health was put in danger owing to Mayimbo’s actions.

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A Teacher Exodus Threatens the Future of Zimbabwe’s Education System

The country’s economic turmoil has led thousands of teachers to quit. Students don’t have that option. Source: A Teacher Exodus Threatens the Future of Zimbabwe’s Education System By Gamuchirai MasiyiwaSenior Reporter ILLUSTRATION BY WYNONA MUTISI HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Kudzai Chideme, 42, stepped into the teaching profession after completing her diploma in marketing and failing to […]

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The country’s economic turmoil has led thousands of teachers to quit. Students don’t have that option.

Source: A Teacher Exodus Threatens the Future of Zimbabwe’s Education System

A Teacher Exodus Threatens the Future of Zimbabwe’s Education System

ILLUSTRATION BY WYNONA MUTISI

HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Kudzai Chideme, 42, stepped into the teaching profession after completing her diploma in marketing and failing to secure a job in the private sector. It was 2008. At the time, finding work in public education was relatively easy, but Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation had led to a severe devaluation of teacher salaries.

Chideme recounts how her first monthly salary amounted to the equivalent of about 15 United States dollars, not enough to afford groceries in the rural community 143 kilometers (89 miles) west of Harare where she lived and worked. Her first assignment was teaching geography and Shona, one of Zimbabwe’s official languages, in secondary school. “Things were really bad,” she says. “I remember with my first lump-sum salary [equal to three months’ salary], I was only able to buy a reed mat and clay pot.”

A glimmer of hope emerged a year later when, in 2009, the government dollarized the economy to bring financial stability to the country.

Civil servants’ wages were gradually reviewed and increased. By 2013, Chideme’s salary was bumped to 540 US dollars (3.3 million Zimbabwean dollars) a month. Together with her husband, who is also a secondary school teacher, she managed to buy a piece of land in Harare, where they built a three-bedroom cottage. The couple could even afford a live-in maid to help them take care of their two children. For the first time, Chideme could afford a comfortable lifestyle, but it didn’t last.

In an effort to stabilize the exchange rates and manage the country’s liquidity challenges, Zimbabwe reverted to using the local currency in 2019. That year, due to a loss of currency value, teachers’ salaries plunged. After the government introduced the so-called “cushioning allowances” to civil servants — a measure to protect public sector employees from hyperinflation — Chideme’s salary and that of her husband fluctuated around 280 US dollars (1.7 million Zimbabwean dollars) a month. The comfort they’d previously enjoyed vanished. “I had no peace of mind after getting paid,” she says. “I survived like someone who was not going to work.”

In May 2023, Chideme resolved to quit her job and leave her husband and children, including the latest addition to her family, a newborn, and migrated to the United Kingdom to work as an adult care worker. “It was a very difficult and horrid experience for me to leave my small baby,” she says. “It still pains me, but I had no option. I told myself that the sacrifice is worth it.”

Chideme hasn’t been the only teacher in her school to quit because she couldn’t make ends meet. Out of 38 teachers who worked at her public school in Harare, six resigned in the last year.

GAMUCHIRAI MASIYIWA, GPJ ZIMBABWE

Students walk home after school in Harare.

It is a nationwide pattern. According to the latest available data, from a report by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, in 2019, 826 teachers in Zimbabwe resigned, out of a total of 7,307 who stopped working in the school system for various reasons, including retirement and discharge. Education experts say that teachers’ resignations are driven by salary erosion and that the exodus is showing no signs of slowing down, with some teachers leaving for other professions and some for other countries.

Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), estimates that in the last year, 20,000 teachers have quit their jobs for other professions while remaining in the country. “Some have joined private organizations and others have been taken up in their family businesses,” Majongwe says, adding that many are leaving the country entirely.

“As far as the PTUZ statistics are concerned, between 2022 and 2023, we lost between 1,000 and 1,800 teachers who left the union for prospects in various countries,” he says.

Obert Masaraure, president of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, says that a survey his union conducted between October 2022 and October 2023 revealed that about 4,000 teachers leave the country annually.

Global Press Journal was not able to independently verify the data shared by the two unions.

“Teachers are leaving in droves,” Masaraure says. “Those who are still in Zimbabwe are desperately searching for exit routes.”

The monthly starting salary for public school teachers is currently about 1,003,700 Zimbabwean dollars (164 US dollars) plus a monthly US dollar allowance all civil servants receive. In July 2023, the government increased the civil servant allowance from 250 to 300 US dollars, but teachers say it’s still not enough to meet their basic needs. The cost of a family basket of six — which refers to monthly expenses for groceries and utilities, as well as education and health care — stood at 540 US dollars as of July 31, 2023, according to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education did not reply to Global Press Journal’s request for comment.

The exodus of teachers is adding to an existing shortage. According to the education statistics report published by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Zimbabwe needs 197,000 teachers to meet its workforce demand.

GAMUCHIRAI MASIYIWA, GPJ ZIMBABWE

Chloe, 15, who asked to be identified by her first name for fear of reprisal, says that her grades were affected last year when she spent a whole term without a math teacher.

Experts say the current teacher shortage has built up over the last decade and a half. According to a 2017 South African Journal of Education article, Zimbabwean teachers began migrating abroad to escape the poor conditions that prevailed in the country during the early 2000s, which included economic and political uncertainty and hyperinflation. Over 35,000 teachers had left Zimbabwe by 2009, primarily for Botswana, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

“Educators don’t necessarily go back to the teaching profession as they migrate to other countries,” says Sifiso Ndlovu, chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association, one of the main teachers’ unions in Zimbabwe. While it’s more difficult to find employment in education for those who move to Europe, some who relocate to other African countries can find higher-paying jobs as teachers.

Rose, who asked to use only her first name for fear of stigma, migrated to Mozambique in September 2022 for a teaching opportunity. Her salary is now 1,100 US dollars (6.8 million Zimbabwean dollars), while in Zimbabwe, as a secondary school math teacher in the capital, Harare, she was making about 235 US dollars (1.4 million Zimbabwean dollars) a month. “I could not afford to buy professional clothing in a proper shop. [I] relied on secondhand clothes, like someone who was not a professional,” she says, explaining that she’s now earning nearly fivefold what she used to earn. “I have managed to make savings.”

While Rose says she’s content with her choice to leave, she’s aware that her departure has created problems for her former colleagues.

A 41-year-old teacher who worked with Rose at her previous school in Zimbabwe, and who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, says teacher migration greatly affects those who stay. When Rose left, the remaining teachers had to cover her classes because it took months to find a replacement. “If you had three classes, you ended up with eight classes, which is a huge load,” Rose’s former colleague says.

According to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education 2021 Annual Statistics Report, the teacher-to-learner ratio in Zimbabwe’s secondary schools stood at one teacher for every 25 students, which is within the thresholds recommended by the ministry. But teachers say the ratio is often higher.

“In government schools, teacher-pupil ratio does not exist. It has always been high,” says the 41-year-old teacher, who has three classes with an average of 45 students in each.

Many believe the teachers’ exodus has made the situation worse and is now affecting the quality of education in the country.

“Teachers are leaving in droves. Those who are still in Zimbabwe are desperately searching for exit routes.”AMALGAMATED RURAL TEACHERS UNION OF ZIMBABWE

Eurita Nyamanhare, the director of community service in the office of the vice chancellor at Zimbabwe Open University, who has spent 40 years working in the education system, says teacher migration compromises students’ education. “Once the [teacher] is not there, it means the learning aims and goals will never be fulfilled as expected,” she says.

Nyamanhare adds that when a student is left without a teacher, they lose focus and interest in learning.

This is true for Chloe, 15, Rose’s former student, who asked to be identified by her first name for fear of reprisal. She says spending the whole term without a math teacher last year affected her grades.

“I was not getting the marks I expected. My grades decreased. I got scolding at home for failing. The teachers who assisted us with math only came for two days during the term because they were also tied up with their own classes,” she says.

Chloe says that during their math lessons, she and her classmates chatted and basked in the sun because they had no guidance. This year, her English teacher left, too, and was replaced after almost a month.

Chloe’s mother says she has seen the impact of teacher migration on her child’s performance and that it’s jeopardizing her future. Chloe dreams of becoming a doctor, but her secondary school grades will determine her medical school acceptance. “I had to look for money for extra lessons, which is expensive because you pay at least 10 dollars per subject, but it’s a sacrifice I must make to help improve her grades,” Chloe’s mother says.

According to Macrotrends, an online research platform, Zimbabwe’s adult literacy rate is 89%, one of the highest in Africa. But experts say Zimbabwe’s ranking may be compromised if skilled teachers continue to leave the profession.

“In the long term, it will impact education development in our country,” Ndlovu says. “Not only that, but our learners will also become less competitive in the world.”

For Chideme, though, her move has changed her life.

“I can now send enough for my children’s upkeep,” she says. “I recently afforded to pay for my child’s trip, something which a teacher in Zimbabwe is unable to do.”

Gamuchirai Masiyiwa is a Global Press Journal reporter based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Global Press Journal is an award-winning international non-profit news publication that employs local women reporters in more than 40 independent news bureaus across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

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Zimbabwe Insists on Retaining Spurned Local Currency

Source: Zimbabwe Insists on Retaining Spurned Local Currency – Bloomberg To buy a loaf of bread in the local currency of Zimbabwe, you need to count out 100 bills of the highest denomination. Grocery shopping in the southern African nation invokes painful memories of 2008, when hyperinflation prompted the central bank to issue a 100 […]

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Source: Zimbabwe Insists on Retaining Spurned Local Currency – Bloomberg

To buy a loaf of bread in the local currency of Zimbabwe, you need to count out 100 bills of the highest denomination.

Grocery shopping in the southern African nation invokes painful memories of 2008, when hyperinflation prompted the central bank to issue a 100 trillion dollar note, pensions were lost overnight and many resorted to barter.

The biggest bill is currently 100 Zimbabwe dollars, which is worth less than 1 US cent. The unit has lost a third of its value against the greenback this year and even more on the streets.

A Zimbabwe One Hundred Trillion Dollar Note
A one hundred trillion dollar Zimbabwe note that was issued in 2008.Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

The official response has been bewildering.

John Mangudya, the governor of the central bank, attributes recent currency turmoil to a temporary loss of confidence.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and President Emmerson Mnangagwa have previously played the blame game. They’ve lashed out at a range of supposed culprits for undermining the Zimbabwe dollar — a telecommunications billionaire, the stock exchange, banks, Western sanctions against some politicians and one of Africa’s biggest insurers.

The minister, who insisted on reintroducing the local unit in 2019, a decade after it was scrapped, has announced plans to tame demand for the US currency by increasing supply to the market — ignoring the inconvenient fact that state coffers are empty.

With the economy in free-fall and citizens having been burnt by breakneck depreciation before, predictions of a reversal in the Zimbabwe dollar’s fortunes appear to be a pipe dream.

Those who can avoid using it are already doing so: 80% of transactions are carried out using the greenback. Restaurant customers presented with bills containing multiple zeros routinely find a more comprehensible hard currency amount written on the other side.

The government may have to accept what citizens and businesses already know. The Zimbabwe dollar is all but dead, again. — Ray Ndlovu and Antony Sguazzin

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