The real facts about the Zim situation

IF MUHAMMAD Omar wishes to proffer us a lesson on Zimbabwe (The Mercury, March 6), he should at least get some of his “facts” correct.

Firstly, it is ludicrous to suggest that the “level of education (Robert) Mugabe introduced in Zimbabwe” should be “an example for Africa” and, secondly, it is complete nonsense that Mugabe “made English the medium of instruction in all schools”.

What happened to education for the general population under Mugabe’s watch was totally negative.

Most importantly, because of institutionalised cheating and an inability to pay the costs, Cambridge University ceased providing Zimbabwe with their world-renowned O Level and A Level exams that had served the country for decades.

As a replacement, local Zimsec exams of quite dubious standard were introduced. This did not overly concern Mugabe, whose offspring attended private schools where the Cambridge exams were still offered.

And, because of soaring education costs, parents could afford to send only their sons to decent schools, sacrificing their daughters’ education.

Rhodesia was founded as a British colony where English was the official language, so I have no idea where Omar got the notion that Mugabe “made English the medium of instruction in all schools” when this has been the case since the 1890s.

Not only were the black people – long before Mugabe’s reign – the best educated in Africa, but they were also the best farmers owing to the efforts of a legion of conservation officers and district commissioners who taught them modern farming techniques in tribal trust lands.

It was Mugabe’s henchmen who destroyed dipping tanks and ruined the rural black-owned farms just as they later ruined the white-owned commercial farms.

And where does Omar get the fanciful idea “that many whites suddenly get British passports”? This is simply not possible – ask any white African who has tried. C B ROGERS

Durban