Some Zimbabweans believe that limited job opportunities are causing tensions due to the nepotistic deployment of incompetent personnel, fueling resource competition and regional discontent.
This observation comes after the recent firing of former Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Simelisizwe Sibanda, for directing the transfer of a non-Ndebele speaking Early Childhood Development (ECD) teacher at Clonnmore Primary School in Matabeleland North.
Sibanda, a Zanu PF Bubi Constituency legislator, was officiating at a handover ceremony at Clonnmore Primary when he became irritated after learning of the presence of a teacher who reportedly could not speak the local language.
He then ordered the school head to ensure the teacher was transferred from Clonnmore, and in response to his action, the president fired Sibanda.
However, some citizens and analysts believe Sibanda was unfairly dismissed, as he was raising a pressing concern in Matabeleland.
Read more: Outrage as Deputy Minister Fired Over Support for Indigenous Languages
Participants in a discussion on the ramifications of language instruction at Early Childhood Development (ECD), held on CITE’s X space on Wednesday, highlighted how the competition for resources in Zimbabwe underscores the hiring and deployment crisis of incompetent personnel causing tensions.
“The problem in Zimbabwe is due to limited job opportunities. The deployment of people who are not competent in local languages, in the views of most people, is a form of nepotism,” said Mlungisi Dube, a participant.
“We have a Ndebele-speaking person from Bubi who is not deployed in that place, but someone who cannot understand the local language is deployed to fill a vacancy meant for the local people’s needs.”
Due to limited opportunities, Dube said the country’s hiring system appeared skewed or riddled with nepotism.
“We are seeing a manifestation of tensions because of the competition for resources. As long as our government fails to fairly distribute these limited opportunities, these tensions will persist,” he said.
“I have seen people complaining about this in Plumtree, Victoria Falls, and Beitbridge, where you hardly see someone at the border post who is competent in local languages for basic jobs that don’t need qualifications.”
Dube claimed that sometimes communities discover that personnel deployed in their localities are there due to bosses from the region where the deployment takes place.
“This is the challenge of the distribution of limited resources in this country,” said the participant.
In response, Former Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo, who was leading the conversation, agreed with Dube’s observations, as they drew attention to resource shortages.
According to Prof Moyo, training and capacitating teachers require resources.
“Whether it’s teachers from the community or anywhere in Zimbabwe, capacitating them with the language competencies required to teach any given language takes resources to deploy and redeploy them,” said the former cabinet minister.
Prof Moyo, a former Tsholotsho North MP, emphasized why representatives of people and communities must speak out on resource allocation and distribution.
“Whether it is at the ward or constituency level, as MPs or at the provincial level as Proportional Representation MPs, these are the issues that should occupy them. When the opportunity for allocating scarce resources comes in the form of a national budget, their voices representing communities should be heard because the issue of resources cannot be overstated,” Prof Moyo concluded.
