Mysterious ailment gags minister for two weeks

Zim Now Writer

Primary and Secondary Education minister Evelyn Ndlovu is said to have been afflicted with an unnamed condition for which she has been advised to avoid media for two weeks.

“The minister said she was advised to stay off the media for two weeks on medical grounds, so she will not be able to address you today. We apologise for having you wait,” ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro told journalist at a scheduled tour and media briefing to assess how the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council secures examination papers and how it runs national exams.

The ministry organised the media tour following embarrassing large scale examination leakages in 2022.

Minister Ndlovu, accompanied by ministry and Zimsec officials, toured the printing press while the media waited after being barred from entering the facilities for security reasons.

Minister Ndlovu left immediately after the tour without giving the waiting media her promised brief. It was then that Ndoro informed the waiting journalists that the minister was on a two week-media hiatus as advised by her medical practitioner.

Journalists present were left to wonder why they had then been invited to a media tour in the first place as they could not tour the facility and the minister could not address them.

Several stakeholders have called for a complete overhaul of Zimsec in order to restore integrity in local exams and leakages have eroded credibility of the examination board certificates.