Hi Eddie
I am actually quite shocked by this article below. It does not take into account the total collapse of our public services, the on-going battle with ZESA and council rates. The total collapse of the government school system, and in fact totally ignores the fact that the major private schools are in collapse mode as well. St. John's College is a perfect example. There are things happening there that as, having been described to me, are little different to the scenario that has led up to the anarchy going on in the UK right now.
Staff are leaving in droves, or, if staying, have to sell their properties and move into sub-standard digs just to survive. The pupils are no better than in the UK, as they have long lost the concept of decency or rule of law. Having witnessed the lack of respect for staff by pupils at St. John's first-hand, I know what I am talking about.
But it is not the pupils at St. John's that are finally ruining the school...It is the school development council that are committing educational suicide, by not letting the professionals get on with the job, and instead enforcing their own idiotic concepts. It would seem that a professional Headmaster at a private school in Zimbabwe has to accede to the whims of the parent body and therefore is in a no better position than a Head Teacher in the UK...an invidious position.
It may be a different story in junior schools (doubt it), but not in secondary level, and in neither as far as the Government sector is concerned. The education system here is gangrenous with corruption and self-interest still, and it doesn't seem to be getting much better.
It also strikes me, as I drive through Harare, that there are a huge number of “schools” popping up all over that advertise themselves as primary and secondary centres of education. Are they licenced? Are they legal? They seem to be centred on private properties...what are their “curriculums” What examination boards are they associated with? I shudder to think!
As far as the health sector is concerned, we all can only afford to get ill if we can afford Medical Aid. I certainly can't! My wife, who is a professional singer, is faced with a US$ 3000 dental bill, and simply can't afford it! Get real, Eddie! It's all very well trumpeting the private hospital facilities if you can afford them, but if you can't, you might as well curl up and die! At least in the UK, you have the NHS, who will at least try to save your life without immediate up-front payment! The people who left citing fears over health and education maybe should have stayed to ensure that it did not happen. However, I don't think they should have, as I seriously doubt they would have made any difference! Our recent dealings with medical aid societies have revealed nothing but total incompetence and corruption.
You mention the new supermarket "The Bridge"...yes, it's not bad, pretty good by African standards, but it is about the fifth of the size of the local Tesco store we used to shop at in Hove, Brighton, and there is no comparison for quantity or quality, except, I do admit British meat products are appalling compared to those in Southern Africa. What you need to remember, however, is that none of the produce in that store, or any other here now, (including the meat) are locally produced, they all come from South Africa! In fact, I fully believe that the shop referred to is a subsidiary of SPAR South Africa! When we have proper power supplies and then water 24/7 365 per year, industry operating at 100 %, then is the time to boast about a new supermarket!
Finally, I would like to reply to your continual reference to sport as a high-light of of the excellence of what is on-going in this country.
Through-out the Rhodesian years, and post-independence, sport was the be-all and end-all of the education system here. One could fail O' Level three or four times and still be kept on for the equivalent number of years in the First Fifteen Rugby as long as one was a good forward or prop. Same thing applied to every other sporting discipline.
Never was there enough emphasis on real academics. Little world class science was apparent in Rhodesian days, and much of the scientific world in-put took place on a "informal" level by individuals who were self-trained...especially in the field of astronomy, which is my area. It was done by private societies that operated on an Honorary basis. The same prevailed after independence until these bodies collapsed and dissolved.
Today, Zimbabwe stands as a intellectually, scientifically bereft country, with our technology very far behind that of most of the world. I blame both the Rhodesian and Zimbabwe regimes for this, but the second much more than the first. If this country is to move forward after a new dispensation, then the whole concept of education, values, and discipline in this country must be re-evaluated, just as it now has to be addressed in the United Kingdom and indeed in the whole First World.
MB
-
Eddie Cross: Marvelous Zimbabwe
Marvelous Zimbabwe
For all our troubles this is a great place to live and raise children. I was
attending a birthday party for my grandson who has just turned 8, he had
invited 29 little boys of his own age (no girls) and they had a “Pirate
Party” organized by my daughter. Those boys had a great evening and some
stayed over to sleep in tents on the lawn.
One of the parents, sitting on the stoep coined the phrase “marvelous
Zimbabwe” as it was a beautiful evening, blue skies, about 25 c and no
humidity. Nearby the national cricket team was busy beating Bangladesh in a
5 days test at the Harare Sports Club – a great Dutch style complex of green
grass and bars in the center of town, next to the magnificent Royal Harare
Golf Course. I recalled meeting a businessman in London who said to me (we
had just won the ICC Trophy) “there is nothing wrong with a country that can
play first class cricket!” In a way he had a point.
My one nephew is coaching the Zimbabwe team, another is coaching the English
team and he has transformed that team since he took charge. My grandson
attends a local private school where for $4000 a year he is getting a
world-class education without government subsidy. Our private schools are
really first class, somehow the kids come out of those schools well rounded,
achievers and hard working.
At Independence people who were leaving the country said to me that their
great fears were health and education – I said that if that was the case, we
should stay and make sure that our needs were met in both areas through
private enterprise. The private schools that have mushroomed in the country
since then have fully supported my views. Last week I got confirmation of
the same for health services. My wife had a severe pain in her stomach and
we suspected an ulcer. My daughter suggested we try a new facility near
where we stay in Harare when I am there for Parliament.
She went to this new private clinic and when I got home from Parliament she
said that I should accompany her to see this place. We arrived at nearly 6
pm and it was humming. She saw a doctor in 5 minutes and was referred to a
specialist after some tests and scan. Fast, efficient, courteous, modern
equipment, beautiful surroundings – world class in every sense and our
medical aid paid for it in full, there were no charges. It was black funded,
managed and staffed with only one of the doctors who were white on the
staff. Once again, the private sector at work.
Then there is our medical aid societies – we belong to one, totally local,
pay $50 a month and in return get $60 000 of emergency medical insurance
cover, ambulance and air ambulance services on call 24 hours a day, cover
for doctors visits, dentist and optician services and if the service we
require is not available locally – access to the best in South Africa. When
I had a stent inserted in the back of my brain three years ago it was at a
private hospital in South Africa, local specialists but they held a
videoconference with a specialist in Texas and Paris while I was on the
operating table. Medical aid costs as little as $6 a month and gives you
various stages of cover. It is just amazing – no government involvement,
private capital, private investment and management, all world class, all
African.
Marvelous Zimbabwe does it again and again. We have yet to fix the main
problem, but that is work in progress. It may look a mess right now but we
are working on this in our own way and gradually a new society is emerging.
Near to where we live in Harare is a new supermarket, the “Bridge”. I want
to tell you that not many people anywhere in the world would have access to
a store of such modern and sophisticated design. It’s new, it’s locally
designed and constructed, locally managed and owned and it’s world class.
Can we do it? Yes we can and are, and all those skeptics out there who
thought otherwise must come and take a look.
We have the best climate in the world, do not have earthquakes or tornados
and are so far out of the mainstream of world financial affairs that we do
not matter and Wall Street is a curiosity. Our Polo Crosse team just came
second in the World Championship – all dispossessed farmers who decided that
while the farm situation is being sorted out, they would play Polo. Now we
watch the Yobo’s of London and Liverpool trash their cities and burn their
future while the Police seem totally incapable.
We have made sacrifices by staying in Zimbabwe and joining in the fight for
a better world for our grandchildren to live in but it has been worth every
thing and more and the fact that we are in fact winning is just a bonsela.
Just come and sit on the sidelines of a school rugby match and watch the new
generation setting the standards for a new world. They play hard and they
work hard, they are the kind of kids that will make us all proud.
Just to return briefly to the global financial crisis. The public debt of
China is 150 per cent of their GDP – the same or worse than Greece, in the
USA its nearing 100 per cent of GDP – ours is about 90 per cent. It is all a
question of perception and confidence, smoke and mirrors. The US Congress
did nobody any good quibbling over an issue that was clear from the start.
The private sector may be doing marvelous things in Zimbabwe, but let me
tell you, no country can afford to take on the markets. If you do dumb
things you pay the price and the first black President of the USA is not in
anyway responsible for the loss of confidence in the US financial system.
That lies squarely with the House and the Senate and I hope they are duly
warned.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 10th August 2011
|