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One of the schools being constructed by the ZDF

Talent Chimutambgi Review Correspondent
Previously, the sight of soldiers brought fears of blood and tears following a protracted liberation struggle with the Ian Smith settler regime, but today the Zimbabwe Defence Forces have managed to diffuse that perception by identifying themselves with the people.

This has been through undertaking various projects to civil communities as its secondary role during peacetime.

The ZDF recently completed a classroom block at Kambira Primary School, a development that saw hundreds of children in the catchment area of Bindura north in Mashonaland Central Province benefit.

The classroom block was commissioned last week by Chief of Staff Administration Staff, Major General Douglas Nyikayaramba during a ZDF Community Assistance week traditionally celebrated during the first week of August.

Maj Gen Nyikayaramba said the ZDF was committed to improving the lives of communities through creating an enabling environment of access to quality education.

He chronicled how President Mugabe toiled to receive education during difficult moments when he was incarcerated by the Ian Smith regime following his decision to join the liberation struggle.

“ZDF community week was set aside to give members of the Defence Forces an opportunity to interact with the communities within their tactical areas of responsibility through undertaking projects such as construction of schools, hospitals or any other infrastructure, free health facilities and other projects to assist communities to fight challenges they are facing” said Maj Gen Nyikayaramba.

He spoke of several projects that were undertaken this year by the ZDF, one of which included the handover of a clinic to Chingwizi community in Masvingo.

“We were also in Mashonaland East province at Nyadire Teachers College where we constructed an Early Childhood Development block which was a state of art and one of the best in Southern Africa,” said Maj Gen Nyikayaramba.

He also chronicled several strides taken by Government to break the colonial bondage created by settler regime that inhibited blacks from accessing education.

“This led us to take arms against the white regime so that we could restore our dignity and redefine ourselves as a people. A good illustration is our President, Cde Robert Mugabe, who survived difficult conditions in accessing education while he was incarcerated.

Kambira junior school head Mr Gibson Chigama narrated challenges faced by pupils at the school.

“We had no classrooms, we were using tobacco grading shades and barns for curing tobacco at Retreat Farm as classrooms, and you can imagine what we went through. There were no benches, and the barns have no ventilation as well as poor lighting system.

“There were no ablution facilities as both school staff and children had to resort to the bush system. We had divided the bush into three categories of which the other side was for school staff, the other one was for girls and the other was for boys which means any pupil caught on the wrong side would face severe consequences,” said Mr Chigama.

He said these challenges saw the number of school drop-outs escalating.

Mr Chigama said most children resorted to drug abuse while hiding in the bush.

The school was almost closed owing to poor infrastructure and it took the intervention of Mr Emmanuel Gatsi, a retired soldier who approached ZDF.

“Our pass rate was very low not because teachers had no experience but the learning conditions were not conducive.

Former school head Mrs Nyarivinga Chirwa said the school faced a litany of challenges at its inception in 2002 during the fast track land reform programme as there was no clean water and poor staffing.

She said the school had since improved since the chipping in of the ZNA including the enrolment to the extent that student teachers from Madziva Teachers College were seeking places for teaching.

“Our enrolment rose from 262 pupils to 512 students, many became interested after recognising these developments being undertaken by the ZNA. Those who had dropped school had since returned to continue with their school work owing to ZDF intervention. Our pas rate has since improved since last year.”

School Development Committee chairman Mr Augustine Manyara said the school still had a number of challenges bedevilling its operations.

“We had no textbooks, no chairs and our children were exposed to diseases such as cholera and typhoid due to poor ablution facilities, most of the schools in Bindura especially the northern part are in a deplorable state.” he said.

Mashonaland Central provincial education director Mr Lloyd Tapiwa Mudiwa hailed the intervention by ZDF saying several vices had plagued children in the area because there was no meaningful learning.

He said the school was now qualified for registration as it previously operated as a satellite for Avoca Primary School

“As the education officer responsible for planning, closing, registering and closing learning institutions I have rescinded the decision to close this school,” he said.

He said the Government has availed $350 000 for developing junior schools in the province.

He added that a total of 100 primary schools and 97 secondary schools were operating unregistered of which 11 junior schools and 10 secondary schools were in Bindura.

Commander of Artillery Brigade, Brigadier General Stanly Mangena who was the chief architecture of the Community Assistance Week programme in the province said he was determined to improve the education infrastructure in the area.

“We are going to soldier on in improving access to education to our community despite the harsh conditions that we are operating under as result of illegal sanctions imposed on us by the European Community and their American allies that continue to take toll in our everyday lives,” he said.

Kambira village head Mr Kenneth Kanyenze Bushu bemoaned poor learning environment resettlement areas.

Member of Parliament for Bindura North Constituency Cde Kenneth Musanhi applauded the ZDF for undertaking such a project in his constituency.

“I sincerely urge you to consider doing more in demonstrating how the quality of lives of our children can be improved through access to education. I wish this programme to be extended to all constituencies in need,” said Cde Musanhi.

The ZDF also constructed classroom blocks at Murongwe School and Matepatepa recently and officially handed them to the community.

Apart from infrastructural development, the ZDF is also involved in undertaking humanitarian work of removing anti-personnel landmines planted along the boarders by the Ian Smith regime in a bid to inhibit the movement of liberation war fighters to other nearby countries to receive military training.