The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube Sunday News Correspondent
THE Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora, has warned school heads against procuring pirated copies of teaching and learning materials, saying it was illegal and could negatively affect schools.
He said it was time school heads observed transparency in procuring books and expressed concern over the rate at which schools were acquiring pirated textbooks.
Dr Dokora said district education officers and provincial education officers should play a more supervisory role to ensure schools did not engage in such illegal activities.
The minister was speaking after attending a court case in Marondera on Friday in which Chitangazuva Primary School headmaster Mr Tendai Mukubika is being accused of purchase, possession and use of pirated material, in a landmark case as it is the first time a school head is being brought to book to answer to such charges.
Dr Dokora said it was unfortunate it had to get this far but it was a wake-up call to all other heads of schools that they should not buy illegal material as it was against the laws of the country.
He said he was worried by the fact that when schools seek grants for teaching and learning materials they do not state they would be buying pirated copies.
“It seems there are funds being diverted to buy the pirated books at a low cost with the rest of the allocated money going to line some people’s pockets as schools set full budgets when they seek grants for teaching and learning materials.
“This is an illegality and the law will take its course with the perpetrators being brought to book. It is sad that we have to leave pressing ministry business to attend such a case.
“The worst thing is that in such cases the proceeds of an illegal activity are confiscated by the State hence schools are still going to have to follow the correct procedures in acquiring books meaning they would have wasted school funds,” said Dr Dokora.
Mukubika was arrested following the successful conviction of a book pirate, Farisai Chinokoro, following efforts by Book Publishers Association of Zimbabwe (BPAZ) to curb the piracy scourge.
BPAZ chairman Mr Blazio Tafireyi said they had a list of school heads that bought learning material from Chinokoro and they would be pursuing their arrest and conviction.
“While today’s (Friday) trial was stalled as the prosecutor requested more evidence we are happy these people are now appearing in court for their illegal actions. In March alone, we managed to apprehend four producers and we are not stopping here. We had no other option but to pursue convictions because the rate at which books are being photocopied is alarming and it is a big threat to the book publishing industry, authors and booksellers. Chinokoro was sentenced to 12 months in prison with six months being suspended for five years while the rest was converted to 210 hours of community service,” he said.
Booksellers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Mr Paul Masuku said he was happy such a case was now before the courts as it could assist in halting text book piracy.
“The reproduction of books seems to be going on unabated as schools are buying heavy duty photocopying machines to copy books instead of buying from shops.
“We are now having problems with authors who feel we are depriving them of royalties when in fact it is schools who buy one or two original copies of a book and 25 rims of bond paper to copy those books,” he said.
Dr Dokora said there seemed to be flouting of procurement regulations as headmasters were not supposed to buy books on their own but should use the procurement and finance committees who are responsible for those duties.
He said it was the onus of the two committees to visit the business premises of those they want to do business with to confirm they are legitimate and schools were supposed to only deal with companies that have vendor numbers.
“It seems as if things are not being handled correctly and there is an element of illicit deals. I emphasised to DEOs and PEDs at a retreat in Kariba on Thursday that heads should observe strict and transparent practices in procurement and the supervisors (DEOs and PEDs) should closely monitor them (school heads) in such activities,” he said.
Mr Masuku said illegal production of books had become sophisticated with those engaged in the act managing to produce copies whose difference could not be easily picked.
“There is this book, Ulimi Lwethu by PN Mnkandla that is going for $16 but it is being sold for $8 by street vendors and it would be difficult for an ordinary man in the street to tell the difference between the illegally produced copies and the original. We hope this network will be broken by arrests,” he said.
Mr Tafireyi said they had managed to get several convictions and would be pursuing the path of seeking more arrests for those involved in illegally producing books because if the trend continued unabated it could lead to the closure of publishing firms adding that two-thirds of the books in most schools were pirated.
“Street vending is posing the biggest threat to be book industry and causing irreparable damage to shops and Zimra as they do not submit taxes. Publishers are feeling the strain and the risk of closure is obvious, while the capacity to produce material for the new curriculum is being badly compromised and at this rate failure will be guaranteed,” he said.
