Zimpapers Logo

Tafadzwa Ponela

Dear Honourable  Minister

I hereby write this open letter to you Sir, asking you to kindly talk directly to us the children of Zimbabwe about burning topical issues which affect us. There is the National Pledge. Then we also have the debate on Scripture Union clubs in schools. We have heard many things from different sources and on behalf of my fellow children, I must admit that we are confused.Therefore we would really appreciate it if you could use this platform to tell us in simple language exactly what is happening. We are lost as your children, we can’t be seen to be arguing with our elders because we still have milk on our noses but we cannot persist in our ignorance.

Bertoit Brecht spoke about how the worst illiterates take pride in their ignorance and do not realise that by refusing to get involved they make the world a worse place.

So I have decided to plead with you to help us find out just what is going on.

We are the people affected by the recitation of the National Pledge yet our voice has been left out of the debate. No one has bothered to tell us what is going on. We know that adults are responsible for us, but we are the adults of tomorrow.

Some of us regard Zimbabwe as a Christian country. Is this the position in our Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land? What exactly are you hoping to achieve with the introduction of the National Pledge? Why has there been an outcry from some parents to the extent that someone has taken the matter to court?

Are we the first country in the world to introduce a National Pledge? We are really trying to understand just what it is that people are objecting to in the National Pledge because right now we are in the dark all the way.

Moving on, one day we read that you had banned Scripture Union meetings in schools. Then we heard that this was not true. Please tell us what is the correct position.

Even if you did not ban them, how did Scripture Union clubs ever come up for a possible ban? What evil have they brought into our lives as children?

I believe that these rumours and confusion have come from media articles. These lead to opinions by people who interpret statements. Somewhere in all that discussion the facts are lost.

Because people do not understand what is going on and are reliant on these opinions, there is resistance to change. This is where we are at. We do not want to have our future decided through ignorance and would rather rely on facts.

But I am sure that if you tell us in just your own words in a way that we children can understand everything will be alright.

We could even help our parents understand the situation better. We would be grateful if you could help

us out, please, Sir. Thank you in advance.

Yours faithfully Tafadzwa Ponela (19) (Edited)