By Own Correspondent| A teenager from Filabusi has appeared in court for sodomising his neighbour’s nine-year-old son.

The accused (17) from Maturuwanga Village who cannot be named for ethical reasons approached the juvenile whom he found herding cattle and threatened to beat him up with a stick before sodomising him.

He was convicted on his own plea of guilty to aggravated indecent assault when he appeared before Gwanda regional magistrate, Mr Mark Dzira. The teenager was cautioned and discharged.

In passing his sentence Mr Dzira rebuked the teenager for engaging in immoral behaviour at a young age.

“You are still young and you shouldn’t commit crime at your age. A person of your age shouldn’t engage in such immoral activities. You have by your actions destroyed the future of this boy that you victimised,” he said.

Prosecuting, Mr Mncedisi Dube said the teenager met the boy who is a Grade Four pupil at Shamba Primary School on April 16 at around 4pm while he was alone herding cattle.

The teenager who was holding a stick threatened to use it to beat the juvenile if he did not give in to his demands. He forcibly removed the juvenile’s trousers and pants and went on to sodomise him.

“When the juvenile got home at around 6pm he narrated to his grandmother what the accused person had done to him.

“The matter was reported to the police resulting in the teenager’s arrest,” he said.

By Own Correspondent| Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Edgar Moyo said 56 out of 258 boarding secondary schools in the country still have vacancies for Form One.

Moyo however said while online applications closed on December 21, parents whose children are yet to secure places should go to the remaining schools and physically apply.

Moyo said parents can first call provincial call centres where they can be advised on schools with places in their respective provinces.

He said the 56 schools are left with around 1 000 places. He added that the remaining schools will continue to enrol until schools open on Tuesday.

Said Moyo:

“We have 258 secondary boarding schools in the country and 202 are already full with only 56 still enrolling. There were 24 231 vacancies for Form Ones and 22 941 have been taken.

The online application was meant to reduce expenses of travelling to schools but unfortunately some parents could not secure places on time.”

Schools with places include Eveline Girls High, Founders, Gifford, Milton and Townsend High schools in Bulawayo, Gloag Secondary in Bubi, Fatima Secondary School in Lupane, Hlangabeza Secondary School in Nkayi, Matopo High School in Matobo, JZ Moyo High School in Insiza, Masase and Musume secondary schools in Mberengwa.-StateMedia

Edward Sadomba is set for a sensational return to Dynamos, a decade after leaving the Harare giants and is part of a list of players that the club has identified to play a part in the rebuilding process they are undertaking, following their dismal performance last season.

No official comment could be obtained from the club, but NewsDaySport has it on good authority that talks have been ongoing between the two parties since the speedy forward left Libya two years ago, and a deal is said to be imminent.

Sadomba, who turned 35 on August 31, has already told close friends that he was set to sign a two-year contract with his old club, which would be his swansong to a successful professional career that started at Kambuzuma United in 2003.

“The negotiations have been on going. He has been talking to coach Lloyd (Chigowe), and he has agreed to sign a two-year contract. He should be signing the contract any day from now,” said a well-placed source.

Chigowe refused to comment on the issue, saying divulging information on their dealings in the transfer market could jeopardise negotiations.

He declined to divulge the names of the players that they were negotiating with until they had secured their signatures, revealing how they missed out on one of their major target Godknows Murwira, who would have joined the club last week before making a surprise U-turn to join FC Platinum on Wednesday.

“I’m not at liberty to disclose our dealings on the transfer market. We are on a rebuilding mission, so obviously there are some new faces coming in. But you will have to wait for the unveiling to know their identities. We don’t want to pre-empt anything because that might jeopardise the processes.

“We lost Godknows Murwira who had agreed on almost everything and we thought he would sign, but he joined FC Platinum. So wait for the official announcement by the team’s secretary-general (Webster Marechera),” Chigowe said.

Marechera confirmed that they were in the process of negotiating with prospective players, but also declined to give away the names.

However, other sources said at least four players were set to sign yesterday, including Sadomba and former Triangle and FC Platinum midfielder Hillary Bakacheza, and they would be part of the squad when they regroup for the start of pre-season training on Tuesday.

It is the capture of Sadomba though that could prove to be a major coup for Dynamos, who are looking to improve from their horrible showing last season, where they escaped relegation by a whisker.

The striker left his Libyan side Al-Hilal two years ago after the two parties agreed to mutually part ways, as the club had been rendered inactive on their domestic front due to civil unrest in that country. He has since been inactive.

His quality though is undoubted, having led the Glamour Boys to a league championship in 2007, before leading them to a group stage appearance in the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Champions League the following year.

Sadomba then broke new ground by becoming the first Zimbabwean football player to feature in the competitive and lucrative Sudanese topflight league after signing for Al-Hilal in Khartoum in 2009.

He was signed for €350 000 ($395 128) from Bidvest Wits, even before he kicked a single ball for the South African side.

While at Al-Hilal, he scored 98 times in 90 games since 2009. That time, he was also awarded the Golden Boot in both the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup.

After three successful years at Al-Hilal, Sadomba briefly joined United Arab Emirates Pro League side Ittihad Kalba on a highly-lucrative loan deal at the start of the 2013 season, before moving to Libya to join Al Ahly Benghazi and later Ahly Tripoli. The move from Al Ahly Benghazi to Tripoli was reportedly worth over $1 million and saw Sadomba earning around $40 000 a month during his two-year stay at the club.

Sadomba rejoined Sudanese club Al-Hilal in May 2016, but left barely six months in his contract due to the political strife.

-Newsday

By Showbiz Reporter| The Killer To show previously slated for Norton today has been postponed. The organisers had at the time of writing not provided the new date details.

Below was the announcement:

POSTPONED! With tomorrow’s 80% chance of rain we’ve unfortunately been forced to postpone tomorrow’s concert to a date to be advised. I sincerely apologise to you all for any inconveniences caused & look forward to setting a new date as soon as possible.

By Own Correspondent| Zanu-PF Youth League Secretary for Administration Tendai Chirau has appealed to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to allow children to attend school without uniforms

Chirau made this call after an executive management committee meeting in Harare for the youth wing’s strategic planning workshop.

The youth league’s comments come in the wake of prices of uniforms, which have skyrocketed.

Said Chirau:

“In the wake of unjustified and wanton price hikes by retailers, the Youth League calls upon the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to allow children whose parents cannot afford to buy school uniforms to attend school without uniforms. No child should be chased away from school for not wearing a school uniform.”-StateMedia

The Nelson Chamisa led opposition MDC has told President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stop blaming underhand forces for the instability ticking the health sector.

Addressing journalists at the party headquarters in Harare yesterday, MDC shadow health minister Henry Madzorera said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government was paying lip service to the health sector by prioritising security ministries in its budget allocations.

“The government cannot and should not hide behind a figure and blame doctors for this complete collapse of health services,” he said.

“Government collects taxes from people, and government has a responsibility to distribute our tax revenue in a manner that allows every Zimbabwean to enjoy the highest level of health and well-being possible.”

Madzorera added: “It is government’s responsibility to allocate 15% of total government expenditure to health, to manage additional ear marked taxes like the health levy, the Aids levy, in a transparent and accountable manner that benefits all Zimbabweans, to deal with the corruption that is haemorrhaging not only the health sector, but the entire economy and to start to improve the conditions in which our people are born, live, work and age in order to create a healthier population.”

Junior doctors have been on strike for over a month now, demanding regular supplies of drugs and equipment to public hospitals and to be paid in United States dollars, among other grievances.

The strike enters its 36th day tomorrow and several meetings between government and the striking doctors, including one with First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa held yesterday, have failed to break the deadlock.

Madzorera warned that government’s failure to handle the strike action would have devastating consequences on the country, as most of the doctors would leave for greener pastures

He said government did not need doctors to strike to realise that it has an obligation to buy drugs and other consumables required in hospitals.

MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said Zimbabwe was back to “square zero”.

“The wheels have come off completely just five months after the sham election of July 30, 2018 and over a year since the departure of President Robert Mugabe,” he said.

Teachers and members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions have threatened to down tools next week.

The labour unrest coincides with the schools’ opening on Tuesday.

Newsday

A 20-year-old Zimbabwean car salesman who has an uncanny resemblance to Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford has made such waves that Member of Parliament and former Zimbabwe Football Association(Zifa) President Doctor Phillip Chiyangwa invited the lad for a meeting and photo shoots.

The young man has caused a stir on the internet and various websites across Africa from Zimbabwe to Ghana have written something about him.

In Ghana locals have been fooled to believe he is a Ghanaian citizen.

This publication has verified that the trending pictures were actually taken in Harare and Zengeza, Chitungwiza.

The Marcus Rashford double has also been named as Ismail Austin.

Speaking to reporters Austin said he wants to use his new-found fame to develop grassroots football in Harare.

“It’s one thing to look like Rashford but it’s another to use the opportunity to change the lives of fledgling footballers who may not have the resources or platform to be seen…So we are working around the clock to leverage this opportunity to build a junior football platform and who knows we may indeed unearth Zimbabwe’s own Marcus Rashford,” he said recently.

-MyZimbabwe

ZIMBABWE’S restive civil servants have managed to nudge government into negotiations after they threatened to embark on a nationwide strike starting next week in protest over their poor salaries and the deteriorating economic situation in the country.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, in a bid to avert a crippling strike, yesterday invited all heads of civil servants’ unions to a crisis meeting in Harare on Monday to address their welfare, amid threats by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the opposition MDC to join the industrial action.

Labour and Social Welfare acting minister July Moyo said all union leaders must attend without fail.

“The meeting is part of the commitment of government to engage with all its employees in pursuit of developing common positions in relation to the improvement of employee salaries and generally resolve any matters that impact their conditions of service,” he said in a statement.

Government workers, particularly teachers, had threatened to down tools on schools’ opening day on Tuesday if government failed to pay them in hard currency or increase their salaries to at least $3 000.

Moyo said besides union leaders, the meeting would also be attended by Labour, Finance, Primary and Secondary Education, Higher and Tertiary Education ministers and the chairperson of the Public Service Commission.

The meeting comes at a time government has failed to resolve the doctors’ month-long strike over similar grievances.

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu said his union was already consulting structures to come up with a common position ahead of the Monday meeting.

“We are consulting and ready to talk with the employer on issues that affect our membership. We are ready for that important meeting,” he said.

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou said although they had not yet been officially invited to the meeting, they viewed it as an attempt to stop the imminent strike.

“We wonder why the employer had to wait until the 11th hour to attend to our issues, when it is very clear that we raised these issues long back?” Zhou said.

“It is an attempt to stop the strike or any industrial action. But we will see how the issue pans out. If they invite us under Apex Council, we will not attend the meeting. That Apex thing is a useless thing, which has a tendency to massage the employer. But if we are called as independent teacher unions, we will attend.”

Apex Council chairperson, Cecilia Alexander was not reachable for comment last night.

— NewsDay

Chiwenga dishes US dollars to beer-production not hospitals | WHAT'S THE LESSON HERE?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 5, 2019

By Own Correspondent| Government has reached consensus regarding flexible payment arrangements with a unit of Trafigura Beheer BV and Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait Ltd  that will ensure it stabilizes supplies.

The development comes amid a foreign-currency shortage that threaten the country’s economic growth.

Energy Minister Joram Gumbo said Government has struck a deal to extend payment periods for gasoline supplies to as many as six months from 30 days.

He said this enables Government to prioritize allocation of scarce U.S. dollars to strategic areas.

However, Gumbo said the situation will not stabilise overnight.-Bloomberg

By Own Correspondent| Zanu-PF Youth League has urged Government officials to fully support President Mnangagwa’s vision or risk being dismissed.

The youth league national executive management committee met in Harare for its strategic planning workshop where it also vowed it will not allow anyone to interfere with the constitutionally elected Government of President Mnangagwa.

In a statement Zanu-PF Youth League secretary for administration, Tendai Chirau said:

“All Cabinet Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Principal Directors and other civil servants who are not supporting the vision of His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa should be relieved of their duties with immediate effect.

To ensure that these programmes are fully implemented, we call upon the leadership to avail the necessary funding, failure of which will be interpreted as sabotaging the President’s vision.”-StateMedia

By Own Correspondent| Musician Andy Muridzo’s ex-wife Mai Keketso real name Chido Manyange is claiming $1 800 maintenance for the welfare of the couple’s two minor children.

However, the matter failed to kick off after Muridzo through his lawyer Sioux Shako of Mudimu Law Chambers successfully applied for postponement.

The matter was heard by Harare magistrate Gladys Moyo. Muridzo and Mai Keketso broke up last November with Muridzo paying his divorce token to the in-laws.

Recently, the musician was granted a peace order against his former wife after she allegedly caused a scene at one of his shows and destroyed some of his property. In her submissions, Muridzo’s lawyer requested for a postponement so that she could go through the record.

Initially, Mai Keketso was against the postponement saying she wanted her children’s needs attended to urgently before consenting to the application. By consent, magistrate Moyo postponed the matter to January 10 for the hearing.

By Own Correspondent| A 22 year old Gwanda man has been hauled to court for raping his 88-year-old neighbour after he unlawfully gained entry into her bedroom hut in early morning.

Trust Ncube of Kafusi Village raided the woman while she was sleeping before raping her. He was not asked to plead when he appeared briefly before Gwanda magistrate, Mrs Nomagugu Sibanda facing charges of unlawful entry and rape. He was remanded in custody to January 17.

It is the state’s case that Ncube raped the old woman who stays alone on Wednesday at around 4am.

Revealed the state:

“Ncube went to the old woman’s home on January 2 at around 4am where he found her sleeping alone in her bedroom hut. Ncube forcibly opened the door to the woman’s bedroom and gained entry.

“He grabbed the old woman and dragged her out of her bedroom hut and raped her once before running away.

“The old woman fled to her neighbour’s homestead after Ncube had left and narrated what had happened. The matter was reported to the police resulting in Ncube’s arrest.”

Chiwenga dishes US dollars to beer-production not hospitals | WHAT'S THE LESSON HERE?

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 5, 2019

As the country reflects on the cost of the month-long industrial action by junior doctors that has crippled operations at public hospitals, Health and Child Care minister Obadiah Moyo (OM) says government faces a huge task of transforming the health system beyond welfare issues that have been raised by the medical practitioners.

In an exclusive interview with The Standard’s senior reporter Xolisani Ncube (XN), Moyo said the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa inherited a crisis-ridden health sector which has a myriad of challenges, among them infrastructural, medicinal and welfare problems.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

XN: Honourable minister, can you tell us the current situation in our hospitals from a government view in relation to the ongoing strike by doctors?

OM: Well, I don’t want to talk about the strike because we have people who are in talks with the doctors. I don’t intend to appear as if I am trying to hijack or blame anyone on the matter. I might end up being misquoted and this could cause problems for the progress that has been made so far. The Health Services Board (HSB) has been mandated to engage the affected parties, so it would be fair if we are to allow them do their work without influence or commenting unnecessarily.

XN: But you could tell us the state of our health services without discussing the issues of the strike. Let us talk about the issues to do with medicines, do we have enough for the citizens, especially those who suffer from chronic illness?

OM: We are waiting for delivery of more drugs as you might be aware, we are coming from holidays. We have purchased drugs that should ensure our hospitals are turning. I am talking about essential drugs. We have also capacitated Natpharm to deliver these drugs across the country. Our thrust is to ensure that we have drugs for every need and the drugs are affordable to our people. The delivery I am talking about is different from the ones we received recently. We have also acquired protective clothing and all necessities that are required by medical staff to operate in our hospitals. I would like to thank the presidium for coming in and assisting in ensuring that we have enough stock for our people.

XN: The issue of affordability of health services by ordinary citizens has remained a challenge given the state of the economy. Zimbabwe remains one of the few countries yet to fully implement effective universal health coverage (UHC), as government what are you doing to ensure that no one dies due to the cost of accessing health services? We have countries such as Kenya that have made UHC part of their health policy.

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OM: I agree with you. We have a challenge in dealing with universal health coverage. For many years government promoted primary health care across the country and probably what we have to look at is the quality and effectiveness of the policy. Our desire as the ministry is to ensure that everyone who needs a health service can access it for less or no cost. We are looking at telemedicine as a policy to ensure that we are able to cut the costs of travelling and other things so that health care is as cheap as possible. We are also looking at exploration of means to fund UHC given the state of our economy which is highly informal with fewer prospects of payroll deductions as a viable funding mechanism. In short, the UHC in Zimbabwe has to depend more on government general revenue than payroll and that has to be taken into the context of the state of our government. We need to look at this issue holistically and find mechanisms to push it through. Yes, we have the airtime tax, but it is not enough to get the drugs we need. We need equipment, we need clinics and hospitals for an effective and reliable UHC. We also need to address the issue of fraud and other unnecessary leakages that could hinder effective funding for the health sector. As you may be aware, the World Health Organisation reports that between 20-40% of healthcare funding is wasted through fraud and inefficiency. We have to close the gaps and put every dollar to good use.

XN: Hon minister, whatever funding mechanism may be chosen for UHC, the issue has been that the scheme should not leave out those without the capacity to contribute. Access to healthcare services should be purely based on need and not the ability to pay. How do you intend to ensure that even those in remote areas are not deprived of the health services?

OM: As I said, we are looking into this issue seriously and exploring all options available given the state of our economy.

XN: The success of UHC depends on the ratio of nurses to patient or doctors to patient, which many say is very high. We have very few health personnel in our system against a growing population, what are you doing to address that challenge before we even talk of clinics and equipment?

OM: As you might be aware, government has opened up opportunities for recruitment and we are still lobbying for more to join, but we are limited by the ability of the treasury. We are also looking at the quality of our personnel so that we can be able to provide a world-class health package.

XN: What is the current ratio of health personnel to the population? Do we have enough or sufficient people to run our health centres and attend to the populace?

OM: It would be difficult for me to give you statistics from the head, but I think and I know government is working towards that. We need to have a sustainable ratio.

XN: You talked of telemedicine as a way forward in addressing the issue of UHC, do we have the equipment to undertake this initiative and what is government doing to address the issue of accessibility of the internet and the software, especially in rural areas where many are living on less than a $1 a day?

OM: We have been doing pilot projects to assess the project, but we strongly believe it could help in ensuring that healthcare accessibility in rural is improved. As you might be aware, patients endure longer appointment commutes and have trouble accessing life-saving consultations for specific diseases or chronic care plans. But telemedicine offers better and timely access to consultations and specialists. Patients can address healthcare issues quickly with real-time urgent care consultations and learn about treatment options within minutes. Patients can even be referred to the specific specialists they need, regardless of location, so with this, we are going to achieve UHC. We have improved internet connectivity and we have to tap into opportunities created by this.

XN: Lastly, can you give us the cost of the strike by doctors so far?

OM: As I said, I don’t want to talk about that at the moment because these are matters that form part of discussions between doctors and HSB. Please let us avoid talking about that issue. All I can say is as government, we are committed to ensuring that the welfare of our personnel is looked after. We are committed to ensuring that we deliver quality health services to our people. We have to understand this fundamental, we inherited a system with too many problems and we are solving them. We have so many issues that need to be fixed from drugs to welfare; equipment to research and the list is endless. We are prioritising primary health services.

Standard

By Own Correspondent| The Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA) secretary-general Mthabisi Bhebhe has revealed that there was no consensus between his association and doctors who signed a deal with their employer on behalf of striking junior doctors.

Dr Bhebhe said the deal signed by a group of doctors and the employer was unacceptable and as the association representing the health workers, they did not append their signatures to it.

Said Bhebhe in an interview with a local weekly:

“The person who signed the deal is only an Apex representative. He does not speak on behalf of the doctors. We refused to counter-sign the agreement because we do not agree with a number of issues contained in the so-called agreement. In short, the strike is still on. It is unfortunate that government wants to play to the gallery with facts.”

According to the deal that was signed by one T A Zigora representing government and a P Chivese on behalf of the workers, the striking doctors have 48 hours to return to work while disciplinary issues that had been raised against them would be dealt with by their seniors and not the Health Services Board.

The deal also stated that the doctors were not to be paid December salaries, but would be paid money in lieu of their leave days.

On vehicles for junior doctors, government agreed to give them $7 500 duty-free importation of vehicles through a loan scheme for junior doctors while their supervisors were to get $15 000 duty-free certificates and the senior medical doctors $30 000.

“Based on this agreement, ZHDA will engage its members who are on industrial action to go back to work within the next 48 hours,” read part of the deal.

The deal also stated that donor-funded allowances would be paid in the currency the funder would have availed to government and the state undertook to review working hours for junior doctors.

The state also agreed to review salaries for doctors in April, but rejected a proposal to pay the health workers’ salaries in foreign currency.-Standard

Contemporary musician Braveman “Baba Harare” Chizvino has defended the inclusion of Zanu PF loyalist musician Chief Hwenje Shumba of the ED Pfee fame on the list of supporting acts that will perform at the launch of his latest 10-track album titled Ramba Wakadzvanya on Friday.

The official release of his second solo project, produced by Maselo, Oskid and Tman, will take place at Foodnest Restaurant in Harare where Peter Moyo and newcomers Audinence as well as Samanyanga will share the stage.

Shumba is famed for political songs endorsing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s leadership and party.

Speaking to The Standard Style on Friday, Baba Harare said the Zvishavane-based Shumba had requested to perform and had been included with a condition that he does not sing his partisan songs during the launch.

“He has other songs which are not political at all and as an apolitical person, I have accommodated everyone who wants to be part of my album launch. He is the one who asked to be part of the line-up, so we could not sideline him,” said Baba Harare.

Recently, Shumba released a song that appeared to be responding to famous Zimdancehall singer Winky D’s Kasong Kejecha track, which apparently resulted in the latter aborting a Kwekwe show when political assailants threw missiles onto the stage late last month.

As a precaution, Baba Harare said they had advised the singer to desist from political songs.

“There is no way he [Shumba] will sing politics at my album launch and we have made that clear to him,” he said.

Meanwhile, Baba Harare, who leads The City Vibration band, said his followers should look forward to a better album this year.

Many will be on the lookout for a project in the mould of The Reason Why, a chart-topping mega-hit which propelled him into a household name last year, which is a jiti-inspired piece of work.

“The jiti sound is here to stay, that is why the title track [Ramba Wakadzvanya] has a jiti feel and that has been my trend if you look back at all my other projects,” he said.

Standard

THE Government last year terminated contracts for more than 1 600 teaching and non-teaching staff members under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education for not having the requisite qualifications while some were dismissed for improper relationships with pupils, it has been learnt.

From the more than 1 600, 128 qualified teachers were dismissed, mainly male teachers for cases related to improper conduct with minors from 241 disciplinary cases handled in 2018.

According to a report detailing last year’s targets and this year’s projects and targets, in possession of Sunday News, the Government terminated employment for 1 645 teaching and non-teaching staff members including 135 support staff members who did not have requisite qualifications.

The report also noted that the Government recruited an additional 1 300 teachers to fill vacant teaching posts across the country. The ministry also reported that 342 were promoted to be heads at primary schools, 173 at secondary schools while 996 were promoted to be deputy heads at primary schools and 74 at secondary schools.

This year, according to the report, the ministry intends to recruit an additional 6 400 teachers to reach the approved 127 091.

It also intends to promote 1 500 teachers to heads and deputies. Already, the process to recruit 3 000 teachers has started.

“Identification of 315 support staff without requisite qualifications will be identified for retirement,” said the ministry.

On disciplinary measures, the ministry reported it discharged 128 members from service for various offences with 241 cases of various misconduct cases documented during the year.

Contacted for comment, the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Cde Edgar Moyo, said Government was concerned about the misconduct by teachers despite the decrease in the number of cases compared to previous years. He said the ministry was working towards eliminating misconduct among educators as this was impacting negatively on the quality of education.

“As a ministry we are very much anxious on the misconduct cases recorded, yes, we are happy that there was a decrease of misconduct cases in 2018 compared to 2017, but we will continue working tirelessly to make sure they are completely eliminated as they impact negatively on the quality of education. Some members were discharged from service. This is one of the initiatives which help in the reduction of misconducts hence we will enhance this kind of measurement to ensure that we professionalise the education sector and produce quality education in the country,” said Cde Moyo.

From the report, 330 cases of misconduct were reported in 2017 and 368 in 2016 with an average number of misconduct cases recorded per province being 42 for 2018 against 64 for 2017 and 80 for 2016.

In terms of prevalence, the report noted that the offence committed most was improper association with minors with 69 cases recorded, a decrease from 84 in 2017 and 111 in 2016. Cde Moyo condemned abuse of children by teachers, adding that it was putting men in bad light.

“Improper association with minors, this is mainly done by male teachers and such behaviour always puts all men in bad light. As a ministry we condemn that and we will continue giving awareness to children through child protection committees. To teachers we are saying this year we give a stern warning against child abuse, teachers should know that such kind of behaviour attracts a severe charge,” he said.

The report also read that some of the offences that led to dismissals included financial mismanagement which affected mainly heads and their deputies. Senior teachers who were mainly affected were dismissed for absconding work. According to the report, 24 teachers (23 males and one female) were arrested by the police for various criminal acts, an increase from 18 in 2017.

“Of these five were found guilty, two were incarcerated, one was given community service, two paid fines. Two were found not guilty and the rest of the cases are pending.”

The reports said a total of 12 cases were handed to the Labour Court.

“Of these the ministry won three, lost three and six are still pending. The reduction in Labour Court Cases can be attributable to the reduction in the backlog of cases by the court. Losing cases is costly as the members have to be reinstated or paid damages. Two cases were lost on merit while one was lost due to non-appearance by the Civil Division.”

State Media