Inclusive govt in critical condition

The stuttering revival of the education sector is a litmus test of Zimbabwe’s faltering and fragile progress since President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara’s inclusive government was formed in February.
Teaching used to be a well-paid  profession, when Zimbabwe’s schools were the envy of Africa. Not any more. Like all civil servants, teachers are now earning an “allowance” of US$100 per month. Some are still waiting for their first payment to come through.
“One hundred dollars is very, very little,” Makhado said. “If I was in my own home, paying US$60 rent and electricity and water bills, I couldn’t afford it, so I’m having to stay with my brother.”
Zimbabweans seem willing to give the government of compromise a chance, but patience is running thin.
“The unity government at the moment seems to be an 80 percent failure,” Makhado said. “The things we want to be addressed are not yet addressed.
“The salaries of civil servants are pathetic and not enough for people with families and extended families. Tsvangirai still has a lot to do to prove he can deliver something to us.”
The price of failure will be the loss of people like Makhado from the country’s schools.
“If the salary remains like this I’ll be sorry and I will see to it that I resign and change professions to do something better than this. I’ll give them 18 months at most.”
Tsvangirai, leader of the bigger formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), set off last week on a tour of the United States and Europe, seeking to persuade US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other heads of state that this tormented nation is now on an upward trajectory.
While in the Netherlands, he said he was not touring with a “begging bowl”. But from a base of rock bottom, it could hardly be getting worse.
Last year Zimbabwe — once the region’s biggest economy after South Africa — stared total collapse in the face: hyperinflation at a world record 500 million percent, unemployment at more than 97 percent, shops and supermarkets empty, 5 million people in need of international food aid and nearly 5 000 dead from Africa’s biggest cholera outbreak in 15 years. A superficial normality has since returned to the streets of the capital, Harare, with traffic flowing, people shopping and children walking to school in smart uniforms.
The city hosted a jazz festival at the weekend and is striving to rebrand itself as a tourist destination during next year’s football World Cup in neighbouring South Africa.
Zimbabwe, however, is a place where appearances can be deceptive.
“If you’re not confused about Zimbabwe, you haven’t been here long enough,” said Eddie Cross, policy co-ordinator general for the MDC-T. “On the surface, it looks pretty civilised, but look beneath the surface and the human situation is still very grim.”
Hospitals have reopened and up to 90 percent of doctors and nurses are back at work, many receiving top-up wages from British government aid. But half of basic drugs are unavailable. Pregnant women in need of caesarean sections in rural Bulilima must walk 12 miles to the nearest hospital, according to the development agency Cafod.
Inflation has been neutralised after the dollarisation of the economy and food is back on the supermarket shelves. But the economy is broke, agriculture is in crisis and many people still cannot afford a loaf.
Incidents of cholera have been curtailed after a huge effort by aid agencies, but access to clean water is limited, sewage pipes continue to burst and Oxfam warns of an “eight in 10 chance” of a fresh cholera outbreak later this year.
Aids claims 400-500 lives per day.
Rumours abound of dissent in the army and police amid signs that President Mugabe’s grip on the state apparatus might finally be weakening, but invasions and beatings on white-owned farms have accelerated and there is no respite from the arbitrary arrests of journalists and human rights activists.
Schools, of which only 10 percent were open last year, are back to 100 percent with 12 000 teachers having returned to their posts. But one textbook is shared on average by 30 children in rural classrooms, which are often in disrepair. Universities are in even worse condition and effectively closed.
“Teachers are in school, but the truth is they are not teaching,” said one head, who did not wish to be named.
“They maintain a presence because they don’t want their allowance to be cut off, but real teaching is not taking place.”
Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, said: “The teachers are there, but there is nothing in terms of teaching and learning materials.”
But he also struck an upbeat note: “The unity government has brought back food and smiles for many Zimbabweans. In the past six months we have smelled democracy.
“As a union we have been able to go to places without being arrested where we have never been before. But we can be optimistic only if the correct people ultimately take the reins.”
The chief concern for most Zimbabweans is money. Just six percent of the workforce has a job. Dollarisation has stabilised the economy but excluded many citizens, especially in rural areas.
Oxfam believes that dollarisation has caused poverty to increase, possibly even double, and forced companies and banks to close.
Stephen Maengamhuru (60), a pastor in the city of Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe, said: “Scratch the surface and people in rural areas simply have no chance to get dollars.
“I had to give my grandmother one dollar to go to a grinding mill because she couldn’t get any money.
“Most people are relying on a son or daughter working in town to pitch up with money. The unity government was our hope for survival, but we have a lot of principals dragging their feet and throwing spanners in the works.”
Families cannot even afford to bury their dead. Hospital mortuaries intended to store 20 corpses have become overcrowded with five times that number. Some bodies have reportedly been nibbled by rats.
Harare hospital was recently forced to clear its mortuary of corpses unclaimed for up to six months and give them pauper’s burials.
Some women have turned to prostitution. Vanessa (22) standing at a notorious pick-up point in daytime, said: “We want to survive with our children, pay rent and take care of our parents. Some days I earn US$40-50. Other days I earn nothing. I have a three-year-old daughter and I need the money for her.”
Many people see the unity government as their last best hope. It remains delicately balanced between ZANU-PF and the two MDCs. A trial of strength is under way between President Mugabe’s hard power — the army and police — and Tsvangirai’s soft power, with ministries such as education and health.
David Coltart, the MDC’s education minister, said: “If we can deliver on health and education, then in the minds of millions of parents, the MDC will be associated with delivering.
“The counter to that is that if we fail, we will be seen as no different from ZANU-PF. There’s no doubt in my mind that there are elements trying to set us up to fail.”
He added: “We’re dealing with a partner that doesn’t know what democracy means and has been dragged into this process kicking and screaming. It could take months or years, but the process is almost irreversible.”
Optimists hope the ZANU-PF hierarchy will accept an amnesty and pay-off from Tsvangirai to step down. Pessimists fear that they will lash out when they see power ebbing away.
Cross said: “The people who have run this country as a military junta, killing and maiming thousands and pillaging with impunity, are facing defeat and marginalisation. They’re going to fight back.”
Zimbabwe has come back from a near-death experience. The patient is recovering slowly, but remains in a critical condition, and the danger of a relapse is real. — guardian.co.uk.