The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE inclusion of the previously disadvantaged San community in national service training programmes has started to bear fruits with 20 recruits who joined the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) having been recognized recently by visiting Botswana Prison Service Commissioner Dinha Marathe.
The recruits got a chance to interact with the Commissioner after hearing of their plight. The Commissioner was in Zimbabwe on a benchmarking exercise to take notes from ZPCS as they seek to implement best practices from the country’s correctional and rehabilitation facilities.
The Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Cde July Moyo pushed for the Implementation of Development Programmes for the Tjawo (San) Community, following an interactive meeting he held with the community.
As part of the drive to improve the lives of the San people, the community has been encouraged to enrol with the police, military and prison service. According to ZPCS, they have already enrolled 20 recruits at Ntabazinduna Prisons Training Depot.
Commissioner General Moses Chihobvu said the inclusion of the San community followed a directive from Cabinet to include them in national training programmes as they were considered a disadvantaged group.
“For the San Community, it’s the first time they are being trained. Cabinet approved that we also consider the San community as a disadvantaged community and we included them,” he said.
The entry qualifications for training at ZPCS training depots include five Ordinary Level passes, among other requirements. However, Comm Gen Chihobvu said those were waived particularly for the recruitment of the San community.
“Also, when we recruited them, we had to disregard the qualifications needed, so these ones did not consider the educational qualifications. But only health issues that we considered. If they pass the health test then they qualified to be trained,” he said.
Director of the Tsoro-o-Tso San Development Trust Mr Davy Ndlovu said the move to include the San in Government programmes was welcome and shows that the Second Republic was committed to engaging all communities into national development programmes.
“We have got children from the San community that are at ZPCS and we have some who are now at Hwange National Park who have trained as game rangers by the National Parks and Wildlife Authority and more are going for training in a few months. We have all in all over 40 who are now doing something productive from the San Community.
Before such things never happened and the elders in the community always complained that the children were being left out. They also raised concerns on why Government departments in the area were not employing the San for some jobs like cleaning. Their argument was based on the fact that sweeping floors and cleaning the office does not require educational certificates,” said Mr Ndlovu.
He said the San were now inspired to do more to get educated and employed.
“Our hope is that other Government departments will open up and engage the San in their activities and they become just like other communities in Zimbabwe.”
Projects so far identified by ministries to improve the livelihoods of the San communities in Zimbabwe include goat rearing, market gardening and dam scooping.
The San community in Tsholotsho had over the years been divorced from the rest of the country and were lacking basic day-to-day needs including national identity documents which saw them failing to get basic education, travel documents, access health and even affected their right to vote. In response, the government sent officials to process national documents for them.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has however, said they will construct primary and secondary schools for the communities in order for them to gain an education in their home area. Last year, three students from the San Community made history by enrolling at the Midlands State University for degree programmes, something that has never been archived by children in that community before. – @NyembeziMu
