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Walter Muchinguri

Senior Researcher & Writer Zimpapers Knowledge Centre

 THE recently appointed Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Evelyn Ndlovu has her work cut out for her as she has to continue from where her predecessors left, while also charting her own course for the ministry. 

 Some of the important work that needs to be done is ensuring the provision of quality education that responds to the needs of the country as well as ensuring that there are adequate schools and that pupils do not walk for more than 15 kilometres to attend school especially in the rural areas. 

 She also has to ensure that there is continuous learning, especially now when the country, together with others across the globe, are grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic that has forced many nations to adopt new ways of doing business. 

 Dr Ndlovu said she is committed to ensuring that the ministry’s vision of delivering quality education that addresses the needs of the nation through full implementation of the competence-based curriculum is met. 

“My vision is also to enhance the current competence-based curriculum as we move towards development of the skills that are required for national growth and self-sustenance,” she told The Herald recently. 

 “I have an obligation to ensure that the education system is aligned to the broader vision of becoming a Prosperous Upper Middle Income Nation by the year 2030. 

“We have a vision of being the leading provider of 21st century inclusive quality education for socio-economic transformation.” 

 In her interface with journalists soon after she was sworn in, Dr Ndlovu said she was looking at harnessing information, communication technologies (ICTs) to ensure continuous learning and mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the education sector. 

 While the task ahead might seem enormous, Dr Ndlovu appears to be up to the challenge as she has literary hit the ground running. 

After being sworn in by President Mnangagwa last week, Dr Ndlovu boldly declared that she was joining her colleagues in Cabinet and to show her seriousness she brought all her files with her. 

 On the other hand, she is no newcomer to Government, having had an illustrious career as permanent secretary in the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development spanning 16 years. 

 She will also leverage on the experience she gained in the private sector where she scaled to dizzy heights before she was called into public service. 

At one point she was the leading figure in the clothing industry as managing director of the Industrial Development Corporation’s clothing unit Delswa Central Africa (Pvt) Ltd and chairperson of the Zimbabwe Clothing Manufacturers Association. 

 She was the chairperson of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, Small-scale Industries Sub-committee from 1994-1996 and the first vice president of the Mashonaland Chamber of Industries in 1999. 

 Dr Ndlovu was also a founding member of the Women’s Multi-Million Dollar Round Table and Sunganayi Club based in Marlborough. 

 Other positions she has held are the vice president of the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) board and chairperson of the Finance and Audit committee of the same board. 

 She has also been a board member of the Zimbabwe Export Processing Zones and a committee member of the Midlands State University’s Work-related Learning Advisory Board. 

 But who is exactly is Dr Evelyn Ndlovu? 

 She was born Evelyn Moyo in Malalume Village, Bulilima District in Matabeleland South province to Mr Tomole Dabengwa Moyo and Ms Mtubane Makhwebu. 

 She did her Standard 1 to 3 at Malalume Primary School between 1959 and 1963 after which she enrolled at Dombodema Primary School, about 20km from her home, where she did her Standard 4 to 6. She proceeded to Inyathi Secondary School and passed her ordinary level with high grades in 1970. 

 After school she worked as a sales lady in Bulawayo before leaving the country to teach at Sethlalekgosi Secondary School in Botswana from 1973 to 1975. 

During her stay in the neighbouring country, she became active in politics. In 1976 she joined the Zimbabwe liberation struggle in Botswana. 

 She first stayed in a camp in Francistown before being transferred to Zambia’s Victory Camp after an outbreak of a deadly disease. 

 In 1978, Dr Ndlovu was elected section commander in Zambia and she actively participated in resource mobilisation for the establishment of a school for those who had joined the liberation struggle as teenagers. 

She also taught and empowered young girls with life skills. 

 During the same year, she briefly underwent military training at Mkushi and was reassigned to join a team of freedom fighters that were sent to study in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), now Russia, in preparation for a new Zimbabwe. 

Later in the year, Dr Ndlovu enrolled at Donetsk State University in Ukraine and spent one year preparing for university entry. 

In 1979, she studied for a Master’s degree in Economics specialising in National Economic Planning and Development with the same university and graduated in 1984. 

 She returned home and in January 1985 started working for the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development as a senior administration officer. 

In 1987 she obtained a GTZ certificate in participatory project planning, development, management and monitoring for rural communities.

 In February 1988, she left the ministry to join the Industrial Development Corporation as an economist. 

 She obtained a certificate in project planning, management and development from the Yugoslavia State University in 1989. 

The corporation then seconded her as acting manager of its clothing unit Delswa in December 1994 and she was confirmed as substantive managing director the following year. 

 She managed to turnaround the fortunes of the company after instituting a restructuring programme that involved trimming the workforce from 250 people to 116. 

 In the year 2000, Dr Ndlovu attended a UNDP funded course and was awarded a certificate in strategic planning and management and followed this up with a computer literacy course at the University of Zimbabwe in 2002. 

On November 18, 2002 the late former President Robert Mugabe appointed her secretary for Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development, a position for which she was re-appointed in May 2005.

She became Dr Ndlovu after obtaining a Doctorate in Public Administration at the Commonwealth University in 2017. 

 She left Government service in February 2018 and was elected Member of Parliament (Proportional Representation) for Bulilima during the July 31, 2018 harmonised elections. 

 Dr Ndlovu was subsequently appointed Minister of State in the Office of Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga’s Office in the new and leaner Cabinet that was announced by President Mnangagwa on September 8, 2018, a position she held until her latest appointment. 

 She is married to Bulilima East legislator Siqhoza Mathias Ndlovu and the couple has three children.