Zanu PF congress disrupts examination marking

By Henry Makiwa
18 December 2007

Teachers marking ‘O’ Level examinations in Harare were last week forced to pack and leave after Zanu PF demanded their living quarters for use by their own delegates. According to sources the move has seriously disrupted the marking process, which was meant to end on Wednesday.

Exam markers at the Harare Institute of Technology, Belvedere Teachers’ College and Harare Polytechnic were on Tuesday ordered to abandon the marking and vacate the centres to make way for Zanu PF members arriving from across the country to attend the party congress. The markers were then moved to Chinhoyi University of Technology in Mashonaland West Province, about 120 kilometres west of Harare.

Top Zanu-PF officials told the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council to find alternative marking centres, as it’s delegates had to be accommodated in government colleges close to the venue of the congress, the Harare City Sports Centre. According to sources the markers were “summarily ejected” and were forced to mill around outside while the ruling party members took up residence in their living quarters.

Examiners who spoke to Newsreel said subjects such as ‘O’ Shona Paper 1, Mathematics Paper 2 and History Paper 1 have been affected by the disruption. The marking exercise, which started on December 4th at different centres countrywide, was scheduled to be completed in two weeks but some markers have said that it would be difficult for them to meet their deadline after the two-day disruption.

“We did not mark the whole day on Tuesday and we only arrived in Chinhoyi on Wednesday. We were treated like second-class citizens really as if the Zanu PF congress is more important that everything else in this country,” said one marker who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Other markers have now returned home after their eviction from marking centres in Harare, citing degrading treatment by the authorities. You can’t blame them because we are not earning much doing this anyway,” he added.

Besides taking over markers’ accommodation the ruling party also commandeered the National Railways of Zimbabwe and the government-owned ZUPCO bus company to transport delegates.

Observers have criticised Robert Mugabe’s continued abuse of state resources for his party’s benefit. On many occasions travellers have been left stranded at international airports after Mugabe commandeered Air Zimbabwe planes for his personal use. The latest incident is just a continuation of this abuse of state resources, and a disregard for ordinary Zimbabweans.