The statement below published by the Bulawayo Agenda will be a shocker to many Zimbabweans. If you thought traffic police were chasing after commuter omnibuses to get bribes to line their pockets you might want to think again . . .

Traffic police in Bulawayo have virtually closed all entrances into the city centre from the suburbs. Commuter omnibus crews had to drive around the city in a bid to gain entrance. Some commuters were dropped out of town as crews avoided being arrested by the police, who were on both feet and on patrol vehicles. Some allege that the police have been instructed to raise money for elections, which President Mugabe wants as soon as possible.

(Bulawayo Agenda is a civil society organisation that conducts advocacy on issues of democracy. It is committed to providing an apolitical platform for people to express their views and debate on matters that affect their lives. It has active chapters in Gweru, Gwanda, Plumtree, Victoria Falls, Matopo, Hwange, Binga, Nkayi, Lupane and Tsholotsho.)

Attending primary school was really tedious for me as a youngster. As Grade 7 pupils we had to be the first at school so we could write some tests before the teacher came. We were the last ones to leave too, in order to attend the remedial classes. We knew no holiday as most of it was spent at school reading and preparing for the final examinations.  My school’s hymn was, “The light that shines so bright”. However, in as much as we sang the school hymn with great energy and enthusiasm that could awaken the dead, we still failed to reach the top of the Grade 7 pass rate in the region.

What amazed me the most was the same school came tops for the years I spent in my primary education. Their pass rate was always high and you really wondered what teaching method was being used that other schools were failing to implement to achieve high pass rates. Word on the street had it that they opened the exam papers and gave them to the pupils before they sat for their final examination. Thus maintaining the same outstandingly high pass rate.

Today The Herald published a story that proves that headmasters and their administration might well do nasty tricks to get their pass rates high. In this particular story the headmaster (61) actually sat for different papers on behalf of six pupils. The accused headmaster had this to say in court, “The school development committee and parents had given me a last chance to improve the school’s pass rate and I agreed with my administration staff that we would help our best pupils to improve the pass rate”. Emmanuel Manokore of Nyamakate Primary School in Hurungwe committed this crime.

Now I am really wondering what that school did to keep tops despite all the efforts we made to try and beat them. Did they really open the examination papers? Or did the headmaster sit for examinations on behalf of the pupils?