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NewsDay

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Mugabe should rein in Dokora

Opinion & Analysis
AS schools open for term two today, we take this opportunity to call on Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora to issue an order to education authorities to hold in abeyance his much vilified National Pledge.

AS schools open for term two today, we take this opportunity to call on Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora to issue an order to education authorities to hold in abeyance his much vilified National Pledge.

NEWSDAY COMMENT

Given the furore that this has caused, it can only be prudent for government to stall the implementation of this policy until such time that the consent of citizens, parents and guardians of all the country’s school-going children have given their seal of approval.

If indeed as President Robert Mugabe always claims that his government operates and governs with the will of the people, there may be need to consult widely and not dictate against the will of the affected majority.

We believe that given the fact that this government was elected, bar the howls of disapproval from the opposition and cries of electoral theft, it is still committed to fulfilling the wishes of the people of this country.

A litany of legal proceedings is already pending in the country’s courts including the Constitutional Court. Hence, there is no need to rush the implementation of the National Pledge unless there is something sinister, of which we would want to give government the benefit of doubt until proven.

Our children deserve protection from abuse and clearly Dokora is definitely on a path to abuse them by forcing the National Pledge on them. Even if the National Pledge had been challenged by one parent, that should have been enough for a people-centred government to stop, look itself in the mirror and find common ground with that citizen.

But what is worrying is Dokora seems to have suddenly gone deaf and is hell-bent on pushing through with his plan. There are more important issues the minister should be focusing his energies on. Teachers countrywide need the right tools — accommodation and better remuneration — to be able to their jobs well.

Besides, the Education Act needs to be aligned to the new Constitution and Dokora, like all his colleagues in government, has done nothing to correct this legal anomaly. Instead, he has concentrated on “designing” a National Pledge that is not only undemocratic, but is divisive and against the letter and spirit of our supreme law as it appears to discriminate against other religions.

It is time Mugabe called Dokora to order like he did with his wayward nephew, Indigenisation minister Patrick Zhuwao, over the “investor poison” we call the indigenisation law.

The so-called National Pledge is nothing, but a ploy by Dokora to buy time while doing nothing at the ministry. He just wants to be seen to be doing something while the education sector regresses by each passing day. Only Mugabe can save our children.