MDC to march, Says No to Poll

By Vusumuzi Sifile and Walter Marwizi

A "Freedom March for a New Zimbabwe" planned by the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC will go ahead in Harare on Wednesday after the police gave the organisers the greenlight. The march comes shortly after talks brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki collapsed in Harare on Thursday.

The march, expected to attract thousands in one of the party's strongholds, will be staged to exert pressure on the government to agree on a new constitution before the elections.
President Robert Mugabe has ruled out a new constitution before elections are held in less than two months.

In what appears to be a last-ditch effort to save the talks, Mbeki flew into Harare last week to meet Mugabe and leaders of the opposition party but returned to South Africa "empty-handed and frustrated".

He failed to convince Mugabe to accept a new constitution as well as to delay the polls.
Organisers of the "Freedom March" said yesterday there was no way the opposition would participate in the polls after Mugabe had reneged on a number of promises made during the talks.

On the basis of the promise for a new constitution, the MDC had agreed to support the 18th Amendment which paved the way for the harmonised polls.

"The march is part of the pressure that has to be exerted on the government if we are to get a new constitution before the elections," said a senior MDC official yesterday.
"Talks have failed and Plan B should be these protests."

A copy of a letter signed by Chief Superintendent I.M Tayengwa authorising the procession shows the march will start at Harare Gardens 11:45 AM.
Under the old Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the organisers have to seek clearance from the police before holding any marches or processions.

The police clearance allows the political formation to pile pressure on the government which has rejected a plan to allow a transitional constitution to take effect before the elections.
The MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai and other leaders are expected to lead the "Freedom March" when demonstrators march in central Harare before heading to the Glamis Arena where speeches will be made.

The police have set strict conditions that have to be met for them to allow the proceedings to go ahead.

Meanwhile, the faction led by Arthur Mutambara is set to meet to work out a strategy to respond to Mugabe's refusal to have a new constitution before the elections..
Although the dates of the meeting were not immediately available yesterday, Welshman Ncube, the secretary general of the formation, said there was no way Zimbabweans could go for elections when the agreements made under their talks have not been implemented.

"The talks are still at a deadlock," said Ncube. "We should be given time to fully implement the agreements we made in terms of the elections, the constitution and media laws. As a party, we are saying NO, we cannot go to the elections before the agreement is met. The purpose of dialogue was to ensure that elections are held in a conducive environment."

If the elections are held before the implementation of the Pretoria agreements, Ncube said "we will have a disputed election, and the current crisis will continue".

Last year, the two MDC formations agreed with Zanu PF to sign into law the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 18 as an attempt to speed up the negotiations. It is this law that harmonises presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. The deal sparked an outcry from Zimbabweans from all corners, but Ncube said the move was necessary to resolve the crisis.

He said it was "our attempt to find each other". At the time, MDC leaders expressed hope that Zanu PF would reciprocate by co-operating on a number of issues.

But critics warned that the opposition were being taken for a ride by the ruling party.

First published in The Standard, 20 January 2008

Less than 60 days to go, but not a poll sign in sight

By Vusumuzi Sifile

IN two months Zimbabweans will go for the landmark harmonised Presidential, House of Assembly, Senatorial and Local Government elections. Yet, as of last week, there were still no signs of the cut and-thrust of a do-or-die election.

This could be the biggest election since independence in terms of the number of votes and the number of seats being contested.

By this time in previous elections, posters and election paraphernalia would be all over the country. Political rallies would be in full swing. Voters would be clear on their constituency and ward boundaries.

That has not happened yet. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which runs all elections, is still to announce the constituencies. In terms of Constitutional Amendment 18, the number of House of Assembly seats will increase from the current 150 to 210, all of them to be contested.

Yesterday, ZEC deputy chief elections officer, Utloile Silaigwana said "the delimitation is in its final stage". Once completed, the report would be submitted to President Robert Mugabe before the boundaries are announced. Mugabe is currently on leave.

"ZEC will announce the electoral boundaries in due course after its submission to His Excellency, the President in terms of Section 61A of the Constitution of Zimbabwe," said Silaigwana. "We cannot give the exact date as we are busy finalising the delimitation report as earlier on mentioned by the commission."

Although new demarcations are yet to be announced, The Standard understands Matabeleland North and South will each have 13 seats. Harare province will have 29 constituencies, one more than Midlands with 28.
Manicaland province has 27, Masvingo 26, Mashonaland East 23, Mashonaland West 22, Mashonaland Central 18, while Bulawayo, since 2000 an opposition MDC stronghold, has only 12.

Parties can only hold primaries to select candidates after the constituency boundaries are known. No primaries have been held yet. The only known candidate so far is Mugabe who was "endorsed" as the Zanu PF presidential candidate last year.

Representatives of opposition parties and civil society last week said this "laid-back" attitude was a direct result of the ZEC’s delay in announcing new constituency boundaries.
They said considering the time left before the elections, the "only viable option is to postpone the election, at least to June".
Mugabe has ruled that out.

The president of ZAPU-Federal Party, Paul Siwela, said the delimitation exercise was "suspect" as there were fewer constituencies in opposition strongholds than in Zanu PF's traditional turf.
He said: "This whole thing is suspect. It was crafted specifically to rig the election in favour of Zanu PF. The country has no money. How will we fund such bureaucratic requirements?" He said the statistics of registered voters could have been tampered with.

Both factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have indicated they may boycott the election because the voter registration used as the basis for delimitation was not properly carried out.

In terms of Constitutional Amendment 18, voter registration must be conducted by the ZEC independently, not under the Registrar General’s office.

The MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai has gone a step further, calling for the reconstitution of ZEC. The faction’s spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa, last week said the delimitation by the ZEC was "illegitimate, militarised and unilateral".

"The whole process is a scandal," said Chamisa. "The delimitation was done in an illegitimate, militarised and unilateral manner. For example, one of the officials in Manicaland is a serving army general. ZEC chairperson George Chiweshe is also a former military lawyer. We respect our military, but we cannot have them being abused as chief agents in this gerrymandering by Zanu PF."

Chamisa said the current set-up was "against the spirit of the Pretoria dialogue".
"The delimitation was supposed to be based on formal voter registration, not this haphazard process we had. The ZEC has to be reconstituted. Voter education also has to take place. Alternatively, people should be allowed to use identity cards for voting."

But Welshman Ncube, the secretary-general of the Arthur Mutambara faction, on Thursday said Chamisa’s assertions were "mere propaganda", not based on true facts. Ncube said the MDC had no reason to call for the reconstitution of the ZEC, as they were also party to the setting up of the ZEC.

"In spite of all the propaganda we make," said Ncube, "the truth is that the current members of the electoral commission were appointed by both Zanu PF and the MDC, except for the chairperson, who was appointed by President Mugabe. In fact, nearly half of them were nominated by MDC officials. We do not want to embarrass them by mentioning who nominated who."

Instead of reconstituting the ZEC, Ncube said the respective officials should take their nominees to task.
"If they (ZEC) do not act independently, then we should take them to task," said Ncube. "We put them in there confidently. So far, we believe their decisions are based on consensus, as there are MDC and Zanu PF representatives in the commission. People cannot sit there and say we want an independent commission when we already have one. Appointing another one will not solve anything."

Does this mean the faction is happy with the delimitation exercise?

"Our gripe on this is that the voter registration by Tobaiwa Mudede (Registrar General) is unreliable as he is partisan. Until such a time when we have a new constitution and fresh voter registration by the electoral commission, a delimitation cannot be completed," said Ncube.
The director of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Rindai Chipfunde-Vava on Friday said "holding the elections in March does not give adequate time to put in place all logistical requirements".

"Right now people do not know their constituencies," said Chipfunde-Vava. "There is need for massive voter education as there would be different ballot papers and different boxes. They should also consider the time needed for recruitment and training of election officials. Everything is being rushed; there is no time for consultations."

Even the newly-formed Zimbabwe People’s Progressive Democratic Party (ZPPDP) has voiced concern over the delimitation.

The party’s secretary-general, Gibbs Paul Gotora said the exercise was "nothing but madness and a cheating tactic".
But Silaigwana insisted yesterday: "All political parties attended consultative delimitation meetings at district and provincial levels . . . ZEC carried its mandate independently without the influence of any political party".

Earlier, Silaigwana had said he was "surprised" the parties were complaining about delimitation when they "have been attending meetings and making their recommendations".
"The voter registration exercise was carried out after meeting all political parties and we responded to their requests by extending the mobile registration exercise by three weeks. Voter registration has not closed, only the mobile registration exercise was closed."

Meanwhile, new political parties have begun to emerge ahead of the elections. Last week alone, representatives of two "new" parties, the Zimbabwe Integrated Party (ZIP) and United Democratic People’s Constitution (UDPC) knocked at the doors of The Standard to announce their arrival on the political landscape.

They brought their manifestos, saying they were ready to contest the elections.

This article was first published in The Standard on January 13, 2008

Education: 30 years backwards and still declining

By Vusumuzi Sifile (first published in The Standard, December 02, 2007)

TWENTY years ago, University of Zimbabwe students fought the administration and among themselves over the quality of education.
Today they fight for a chair, a plate of sadza, a textbook, a seat in a commuter omnibus, among other mundane objects.
Student leaders no longer confront the authorities on student issues.
Students go for days without a proper meal. Their fees are mostly higher than the average income parents can afford. There is an almost permanent accommodation shortage on campus.
There is an equally unending lecturers’ exodus, shortage of books and learning equipment. Girls are reportedly turning to prostitution to make ends meet.
Former UZ Vice-Chancellor Professor Gordon Chavhunduka recalls with nostalgia how it was like "a fairy tale" at the same university.
"We had everything," he says. "The library was fully stocked with new publications from the most renowned publishing houses.
We had foreign lecturers as guests. Not now."
The standoff between the government, on the one hand, and Britain and the United States of America, on the other, saw a sharp decline in the number of foreign guest lecturers. Chavhunduka said politicians, such as Ian Smith, would hold discussions at the university with students.
"We would invite them regardless of their politician affiliation. The situation today is terrible. I am told there is a shortage of library books, and newly published books from outside the country are no longer available."
During his days, Chavhunduka says, student life was good. "The environment was most ideal for their interaction. I can say we have gone back to pre-independence standards."
Chavhunduka believes the standard of education is now worse than it was 30 years ago.
Students are destitute following the institution’s refusal in July to re-open their halls of residence, effectively banning students from staying on campus.
Student leaders believe this was part of the administration’s plan to "fix them" for their demonstrations over deteriorating standards.
The situation at all State universities — Bindura, Chinhoyi, National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Midlands State University — is no better.
The president of the NUST Students Representative Council, Langton Muchembere said last week: "The current spate of victimization of student leaders in Zimbabwe by the tyranny of Robert Mugabe... is unacceptable."
Six NUST student leaders were recently suspended for "leading students’ unrest".
Muchembere said the "current learning environment is not conducive". Among other things, he said "there is a chronic shortage" of lecturers, accommodation and transport.
Just before this year’s NUST graduation ceremony, students petitioned Mugabe to urgently resolve their crisis.
"Thousands of students are expelled, suspended, arbitrarily arrested, detained, tortured or killed for demanding better education."
But the director of information and publicity at NUST, Felix Moyo said universities were not hospitality or finance institutions providing food, accommodation, and money for students.
He said most of the students’ complaints were about their physical needs, not the core business of universities.
"We are in the academic industry to give tuition of world class quality. While certain things may look like they have gone down, I can vouch that we still have the best and most effective quality control measures," he said.
Lovemore Chinoputsa, UZ Student Executive Council (SEC) president, said Mugabe "should be ashamed of himself by capping students" who wrote exams without learning much.
"There should be 1200 lecturers at UZ but there are only 450, most of them pursuing their master’s programmes," said Chinoputsa.
At Chinhoyi University, Ngonidzashe Muusha, a student leader, said: "All students, undergraduate and postgraduate, are being treated like Grade One pupils."
The academia shares Chavhunduka’s sentiments: universities are churning out "half baked graduates".
The former chairperson of Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), Dr Ibbo Mandaza, said the standards have "declined tremendously".
"We have a serious problem, I have no doubt about that," said Mandaza. "As in every other sector, we currently have a serious capacity problem. Most of our skilled personnel have left the country, and this is impacting negatively on the quality of education at our institutions."
MDC shadow Minister of Education, Fidelis Mhashu, described the situation at the country’s universities as "deplorable".
He accused government of being reluctant to address the crisis in state universities. Instead, Mhashu said, students who air their grievances are victimized.
"Even up to now they have not started renovating the halls of residence at the UZ. When students complain they are labelled anti-government and members of the opposition. They are either fired or suspended from the institution," said Mhashu, who chairs a parliamentary committee on education.
The committee, which met student leaders last week, will tour universities across the country to assess the situation.
Efforts to get a comment from the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Stan Mudenge and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) were fruitless.

Most "million" were forced to march

By Vusumuzi Sifile (first published in The Standard, December 02, 2007)


MOST people in Friday’s "Million-Man March" in support of President Robert Mugabe’s candidacy in next year’s elections were forced to take part in the proceedings, it has emerged.
Among the conspicuous absentees were Vice-President Joseph Msika, Retired Army Commander Solomon Mujuru, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Zanu PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira, Zanu PF chairperson John Nkomo, and former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa.
Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities Emmerson Mnangagwa, both said to be eyeing Mugabe’s job, attended the rally. Mujuru endorsed Mugabe.
According to insiders, Mujuru was "politically correct" to attend, but didn’t score high marks on the dress code for the occasion.
While everyone else wore something with Mugabe’s picture emblazoned on it, Mujuru wore a formal dress with no picture of the 83-year-old leader on it, nor the party’s flag.
War veterans’ chairman Jabulani Sibanda said "over a million" people took part in the proceedings, but independent estimates put the figure at not more than 200 000. The country’s largest stadium, the National Sports Stadium has a capacity of 65 000.
Veteran journalists and commentators said the crowd was much smaller than the number of people who came to the Zimbabwe Grounds to welcome Mugabe home in 1980.
Sibanda said no one had been coerced to march.
"We never forced them to close Mbare Musika," Sibanda said.
"People came on their own from all parts of the country. They were marching freely. In any case, does Mbare Musika even accommodate 500 people? There were over one million people at the Zimbabwe Grounds."
Even some heads of parastatals that "graced" the event went there under pressure from the top. But other senior government and ruling party officials boycotted the event.
Sibanda, the prime organiser of the solidarity marches, likened the absent top officials to "leaves in a whirlwind".
"Some of the people we always believed understood the reasons for the struggle have forgotten the purpose of the revolution," said Sibanda. "Most of them are not revolutionaries. They just found themselves among revolutionaries. They are like leaves in a whirlwind. The leaves are not a whirlwind, but they are part of it."
Shops, vegetable and flea markets in Mbare and Highfield were ordered to close down. Civil servants were coerced to take part in the event, virtually bringing business to a standstill.
War veterans and the notorious Zanu PF youth militia, donning their familiar green uniforms, shepherded vendors in the streets of Harare to join the march to the Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, 10 km away.
And as has become the norm, the first target was Mbare Musika and Mupedzanamo Flea Market in Harare, where vendors were ordered to close their stalls and join the march.
The vendors confirmed yesterday they were given a week’s notice.
Those who refused risked losing their stalls.
When The Standard news crew visited Mbare on Friday morning, the vegetable market was unusually quiet and most shops closed. Commuter bus touts and drivers were either sleeping in their vehicles or playing games on the street, as there were no passengers to ferry into the city.
"We were told one week ago that the flea market would be closed and that everyone must join the march. We could not defy that order because we would lose our stalls," said one vendor who identified himself as Arnold. "I personally lost a lot of business because of the useless march … I usually make up to $60 million a day."
Most affected were vendors who sell perishables such as tomatoes and fruits.
There were also hundreds of travellers waiting hopelessly at the bus terminus. They said they had been told buses were ferrying people to the march and would only be available the following day.
The Standard established that some travellers from Chihota communal lands en route to Harare were diverted at ‘Mbudzi’ roundabout and ordered to join the march.
Residents of Highfield, Glen Norah and Glen View were not spared. They were rounded up and ordered to march to the Zimbabwe Grounds — where Mugabe later addressed the reluctant marchers — to make up the numbers.
Earlier in the morning, a good number of Highfield and Glen Norah residents had been given free fertilizer by Zanu PF officials so that they would take part in the march.
"We were given fertilizer for free at Gazaland shopping centre and our names were written down to make sure we took part in their march," said 57-year-old Mbuya Sibanda of Glen Norah A.
At Machipisa shopping centre, all shops — except for OK supermarket — were closed. The vegetable market at Lusaka was also closed.
Those from the rural areas who came in buses, trains and lorries, were forced to make the journey to Harare.
In some parts of Manicaland, Masvingo and Midlands people were told that those who refused risked losing the tractors, combine harvesters, fertilizer, ploughs and other implements they received from the government under the farm mechanization programme.
But there was chaos in the evening when marchers failed to get transport home. The buses that brought them were suddenly not available.
One CEO said: "If you can’t beat them, join them. That is what is happening now. If I had not attended I would have been labelled as being against Mugabe’s candidacy.
Economists say the closure of shops and industry will have a serious impact on the economy. They said other than the closure of industry, the money spent on busing people from all over the country, feeding and accommodating them could have been used to buy fuel or pay for electricity.
"We have over 4.1 million people in dire need of food, we don’t have fuel or electricity and you have a government squandering trillions of dollars in support of an old man who is the source of our misery. My foot!" said one economist.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president, Marah Hativagoni, refused to comment saying she was attending a church service.

Mzekezeke mocks Mugabe

First published in The Standard, March 2006

MASKED controversial South African kwaito musician, Mzekezeke, has lampooned President Robert Mugabe, including him in a long list of individuals he says could be the face behind his mask.
In his track Ubani Umzekezeke (Who is Mzekezeke?) from his latest album, Ama B.E.E, the masked musician sings: "Abanye bathi u Sbu ngu Mzekezeke… (Some say South African YFM DJ Sbu Leope is Mzekezeke) …" and then goes "…What about uMugabe for Mzekezeke?"
The list of "Mzekezekes" also includes disgraced former South African Vice President, Jacob Zuma, American President George Bush, Osama Bin Laden and some controversial musicians - all dead - such as black American rapper Tupac and Brenda Fassie.
"That is Mzekezeke for you," said a South African musician who has worked closely with Mzekezeke and requested anonymity in a telephone interview. "It would be futile for anyone to seriously consider his rants, because I tell you, you never win against him. It is his habit to poke fun at celebrities of all sorts, musicians, journalists and politicians, just about anyone."
In June last year, another Kwaito star, Zola (real name Bonginkosi Dlamini) was reported to have interrupted his show in the UK and told Zimbabweans that "Mugabe has destroyed that country, and it troubles me deeply. Sometimes you wish you had a solution to a people's crisis, like the one you have."
Another renowned kwaito producer, DJ Cleo, was also reported to have made damning comments about Mugabe to a South African radio station.
US rap star, Nas, also chides Mugabe in Damien Marley's plug track Road to Zion, blaming him for "holding guns against innocent citizens".
Although neither Mzekezeke, management nor any of the artistes at his TS Records stable was immediately available for comment, the opening remarks on their website could explain his usage of Mugabe and other big names in his music.
"We live by the philosophy of constantly offering music that will always resonate and strike the cord with abantu base kassie (people from the ghetto)," says the website.
Since bursting onto the scene a couple of years ago, Mzekezeke - who performed in Harare and Bulawayo in August - has caused a stir and left many wondering who he really is. Many names have been linked to the masked musician, including YFM's DJ and TS Records co-owner, Sbu Leope, who tops the list.
Although the song tries to add to the confusion of who Mzekezeke really is, a blunder in TS Records' official website all but confirms Mzekezeke as DJ Sbu.
On the website, Manando, a member of Mzekezeke's backing group Izinyoka is referred to as a younger brother to both Sbu and Mzekezeke.
The same website says Mzekezeke's real name is Zakhele Nkumane, who was born in 1982 "Nge April Fool's Day". Before venturing into music, says the website, Mzekezeke was 'selling ama-vegetables.'"
Ama B.E.E is Mzekezeke's fourth album after 2002/2003 SAMA song of the year S'guqa ngamadolo, which earned him the Artist of the Year title. He won the same accolades the following year with Istorotoro. His 2004 release, Izinyoka was well appreciated although it did not win a major award.
The title track is about the South African government's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programme.

Workers ’sleep in’ over low salaries

BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE & VUSUMUZI SIFILE

AT least 70 men and women working for Kingstons Limited have for a week slept at the company’s head office in Harare, protesting against their paltry transport allowances.
The workers are from the government-owned parastatal’s 11 branches in the capital. The company has interests in books, music, stationery and newspaper distribution.

The workers said their salaries were not enough to cover transport costs for a month. The least paid takes home $5.7 million and a transport allowance of $6 million for 26 working days.
Combined, their salary and transport allowance amount to $11.7 million but each worker requires at least $20 million a month for transport alone, by the most conservative estimates.
Trade union activists say the workers are virtually on slave wages.

“In reality, we are not gainfully employed but are subsidising the company,” fumed one worker, who asked not to be named for fear of victimization. “Remember we have families to feed, children to send to school. Where do they think we can get the money for that, when our salaries are not enough to cover transport alone?”

The workers have been sleeping on the fourth floor of the building. They have been authorised to use toilet and shower facilities at Empire Gym, located in the same building.
Some of the workers use a toilet at a Parkade at Julius Nyerere Way. To while away their time, some workers have brought their radios from home. Every day after work, they gather in one of the rooms to pray for divine intervention.

The workers allege the management reneged on an earlier agreement to give them enough transport allowance for the whole month, basing the calculations on workers who commute to and from Chitungwiza where, at the time of the negotiations last week, a single trip cost $500 000. The fares have since gone up.

On 14 November, the workers’ committee appealed to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to “restore order in our organisation”.
On that same day, the workers notified the management of their intention to sleep-in. The letter was copied to the company’s human resources and development manager, John Majuru, the Ministry of Labour, and to the wives, husbands and guardians of Kingstons employees.
Reads part of the letter: “As employees of Kingstons Limited . Our employer has refused to review the transport allowance to the current ruling bus fares as per the agreement we signed on 26 March 2007, we are left with no option but to sleep.

“If we don’t report home, find us at No 34 Kwame Nkrumah, 4th floor, Kingstons House.”
Kingstons’ general manager Dunmore Mazonde could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The Minister of Information and Publicity Sikhanyiso Ndlovu - under whose portfolio Kingstons falls - said although this was a management and not policy issue “the plight of the workers should be attended to”.
“Our policy is clear that workers should be taken care of, and if there is a problem, they have to come to us,” Ndlovu said.
The minister promised to look into the matter.

The dilemma of Kingstons workers represents the plight of over 80% of workers in Zimbabwe, who can no longer survive on their salaries, according to statistics released by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
In most cases, their monthly earnings are not enough to cover even their rentals.
ZCTU Secretary General, Wellington Chibebe yesterday said the situation at Kingstons was an example of how workers were now being treated as “slaves” in most companies.
“This is an element of slavery,” Chibebe said. “Transport costs alone are now $40 million, yet most workers’ salaries are far lower than that. Workers are not realising anything from their efforts.”

The ZCTU has warned employers to urgently resolve the salary disparities “before the workers take the law into their own hands”.
Efforts to get a comment from Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) national director, John Mufukari, were fruitless.
This article was first published in The Standard on November 25, 2007.

At Frankfurt International Airport with Jose Six Pence, my friend from Mozambique, waiting for a connecting flight to South Africa

About Vusa

Vusumuzi Sifile Sibanda was born in July 1981 in Mberengwa District, in the south western parts of Zimbabwe, along the boundary of Midlands and Matabeleland South provinces. He did his primary and secondary education at Danangombe Primary and Matabo Secondary schools respectively. At all instances, he emerged the best in his class, winning numerous prizes.

On completion of his Ordinary Level studies, Vusa proceeded to Gwanda High School for Advanced Level, where he took up studies in Geography, English Literature and Ndebele/Zulu. In 2000, he was named the best student in the Advanced Level class.

And in 2001, he became the first ever student from the Gwanda High School Advanced Level class to enrol at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo when he became part of 19 pioneer students in the Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Journalism and Media Studies. He completed the programme in 2005.

During his days at NUST, Vusa started writing letters to the editors of some of the leading publications in Zimbabwe. This resulted in him being chosen to do his internship at the now defunct Parade Magazine, then Zimbabwe’s leading monthly magazine in June 2003. In November 2003, when it had become almost obvious Parade would not continue publishing, Vusa left Thomson publications to join the World Agroforestry Centre/International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) where he worked as an intern communications assistant for the organisation’s southern Africa regional programme. His duties involved co-ordinating information and publications distribution between ICRAF national programmes and partner organisations.

In addition to his Bachelor’s Degree, Vusa also has a number of other qualifications. In 2003, he participated in a programme on intergrating Gender and HIV/Aids in Agroforestry development. In 2004, he participated in a training programme titled “Teaching with Trees in Southern Africa”. The programme aimed, among other things, at identifying ways in which trees and the environment cpould be used for training at primary and secondary schools in Southern Africa. It was facilitated by ICRAF in collaboration with Peter Taylor from the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

In 2004, together with Parkie Mbozi, Vusa initiated the establishment of an association of Agriculture Journalists in Zimbabwe. The project flopped after it turned out that most of the journalists involved in the project were bogus.

During his internship at ICRAF, Vusa was responsible for the compilation of articles for the organisation’s two major southern Africa regional publications, Miombo Voices and Living with Trees in Southern Africa, and the website www.icrafsa.org. He was also a regular contributor to the organisation’s international weekly, Transformations. He also collaborated with Livai Matarirano in establishing Agroforestry Forum, an agroforestry newsletter focusing mostly on the ICRAF Zimbabwe national programmes and its partners.

Towards the end of 2004, at the beginning of his final year at NUST, Vusa and nine other students from his class grouped themselves to form the editorial team of The Weekly Times newspaper. Despite not being too experienced, the team managed to produce a high quality weekly newspaper, which proved to be an alternative source of information for Zimbabweans. Unfortunately, the newspaper was forced to shut down in February 2005 after publishing just six issues.

During his days at The Weekly Times, Vusa also started contributing to Tariro/Ithemba Magazine, a publication fousing on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). The magazine was edited by Parkie Mbozi, his former boss at ICRAF Southern Africa.

His experience as a communications assistant inspired Vusa to write a dissertation titled: “An assessment of the knowledge and understanding of agroforestry issues by newspaper journalists in Bulawayo”.

On completion of his studies in 2005, Vusa joined The Standard newspaper as a junior reporter and rose through the ranks to his current position of a senior staff writer.