HARARE – Sacked and rehired Higher and Tertiary Education deputy minister Simelisizwe Sibanda has praised President Emmerson Mnangagwa for pardoning him, adding that he has learnt his mistakes.
Sibanda was fired after he publicly rebuked Winnet Mharadze, a non-Ndebele speaking teacher for taking an Early Childhood Development (ECD) class at a Matabeleland North school when she was not conversant with the local isiNdebele language.
It is a government requirement for teachers in charge of elementary schooling to be familiar with the local languages.
In a leaked audio that went viral, Sibanda ordered the educator’s immediate transfer from Clonmore Primary School in Bubi Constituency.
Sibanda, who got back his job last week, told journalists after retaking his oath of office at State House on Tuesday that Mnangagwa did what any forgiving father would do.
“It shows the confidence that His Excellency has in me and also it shows that we have a forgiving father and that’s basically what a father does,” he said in interviews with journalists soon after his swearing in.
“It shows the President is interested in continuity so that we carry whatever task that he had given to us so that we carry forward his vision 2030.”
Sibanda said he has learnt from the mistake which cost his job.
“As a person, you grow from mistakes. What’s important is how you pick yourself up and move forward. Definitely, I have learnt a lesson,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mnangagwa also swore in new Commissioners for the Zimbabwe Land Commission and the Commission of Inquiry into the Governance of the City of Harare.
