Parties differ on Venson-Moitoi redeployment
Oarabile Mosikare | Thursday April 3, 2014 12:28
On Tuesday President Ian Khama appointed the minister to undertake a special assignment within the MoESD.
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) spokesperson, Moeti Mohwasa disputed the view that Venson-Moitoi had failed at the embattled Ministry.
Rather he reasoned that the MoESD was falling apart due to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)’s policies and not Venson-Moitoi.
Mohwasa argued that the BDP had failed to implement the Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) of 1994 that was headed by Vice President Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe.
He explained that one of the RNPE recommendations called for policies to be formulated for provision of pre-primary education but this was still not the case. “A child is likely to fail if he/she did not attend pre-primary school,” he said.
Mohwasa also bemoaned the teacher-to-student ratio at government schools saying it was very high compared to the private English medium schools. He said in some schools, students are still taught under trees and, compounding the situation, teachers are poorly paid.
“Venson-Moitoi is not a problem. You can bring another minister and he/she is also going to fail. The problem is the structural policies of the BDP. The best thing is to remove the BDP government and replace it will another with good policies,” Mohwasa said.
For his part, Botswana Congress Party (BCP) spokesperson, Taolo Lucas described Khama’s Cabinet reshuffle as “a glaring and dramatic leadership failure”.
“President Khama has announced a Cabinet reshuffle with bizarre dimensions. Five months before the elections, Minister Venson-Moitoi has been removed as Minister of Education to serve as some sort of consultant in the same ministry.
“This is a strange development and one that clearly demonstrates the failure of leadership on the part of President Khama,” said Lucas.
Lucas lamented that Khama did not have the courage to dismiss a non-performing minister but instead had elected to appease her with “some undefined and ambiguous position within the ministry”.
“Since assuming office President Khama has pursued misplaced and self-fulfilling priorities. He has prioritised security over education; wildlife over cattle and charity over job creation.”
He said the BCP had been calling for Venson-Moitoi’s resignation for some time now but the President had not heeded their call.
After so much damage has been done to the education system and after such grave consequences have been visited on the future of our children, Khama’s action is inconsequential and mundane, Lucas said.
The BCP man said five months would elapse before Venson-Moitoi’s replacement, acting Education Minister Mokgweetsi Masisi, could appreciate the breadth and challenges of the education sector.