Teachers
I am a practising Christian, born and brought up in Wedza. I am a proud Zimbabwean wishing to see so much of our country’s potential realised. After education at Springvale and Falcon, I attended Rhodes University in South Africa where I graduated with a degree in History and English. I represented the University at hockey and rowing. I was fortunate to spend my first nine years of teaching at Ruzawi in Marondera. During that time I met my wife who is also a trained teacher. We have two married daughters; one in Chipinge and one in Adelaide, South Africa. I was fortunate to study for my Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Exeter, England for a year in the late 1980s. I became Head of Lomagundi College Primary in Chinhoyi in 1992 and of the College in 2004. After three years we moved to Bryden Country School in Chegutu where I served 13 happy years until the end of 2019. I am excited to use my experience and energies at Bernard Mizeki College, returning to the Marondera area. We aim to challenge the young men of BMC to a globally-accepted education of the rounded personality, ready to meet the every hurdle ahead. We have perfect surroundings to develop them.
Joined Bernard Mizeki College in January 1984 as a newly qualified graduate from the University of Zimbabwe. I was immediately appointed Head of Department for Shona, which subject I was teaching for years, from form 3 to 6. In addition, I had “O” level English classes. In 1987, I was appointed Senor Master, a post I held until 2008. I was Acting Deputy Head from 2008 until 2016 and have been substantive Deputy Head since 2017.
I was a Shona Examiner with Zimsec for 30 years, from 1984 to 2014. For the first 7 years, I marked ”O” Level Shona and was an “A” Level Examiner for the next 23 years. I was made a Team Leader at “O” level after serving as an Assistatnt Examiner for three years. Four years after joining “A” Level marking, I was appointed Assistant National Chief Examiner and was elevated to the post of National Chief Examiner two years later. I retired from marking in 2014 after serving as National Chief Examiner for 18 years. Because of the vast experience I acquired over the years, for a number of years I was invited to several high schools throughout Zimbabwe to offer tips on examinations and to assist both teachers and their pupils on complex topics.
Together with Professor Pedzisai Mashiri, we produced the first Shona Grammar text book to be written in Shona in 1999. The book won the third prize at the Book Fair held in the same year. The book, titled Dudziramutauro, is used by “A” Level students and their teachers, as well as by undergraduate students studying Shona at university level. I have also contributed to publications like A Unified Standard Orthography for Shona Language Varieties (Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) which provides the basis for the standardisation and unification of the Shona language varieties used across the southern African region. I am co-author of another Shona Grammar text, Dudziramutauro ReChiShona, edited by Professor Wiseman Magwa. In addition, I have just finished writing a reference book, Kunyora ChiShona, which is a text that is intended to assist all users of Shona in the areas of orthography and syntax. This book is, however, yet to be published.
Because of my extensive knowledge of Shona grammar and orthography, I was invited to workshops organized by the University of Zimbabwe’s Department of African Languages Research Institute which were meant to come up with terminology to be used in compiling the largest Shona dictionary to date- Duramazwi Guru ReChiShona. The dictionary is the enlarged version of the one published in 1996.
For a number of years, I sat on the syllabus panel which is jointly convened by the Curriculum Development Unit of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and Zimsec to select Shona Literature text books for use at both “O” and “A” Levels. Occasionally, I am asked by different publishing companies to edit new books written in Shona.
Witness was born in Mutambara and grew up in Nyanyadzi in Chimanimani District. He went to Nenohwe Primary School and then went to Mt Selinda High School.He studied for a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Information Technology at the Chinhoyi University of Technology.Currently,he is studying for a Postgraduate Diploma in Science and Technology Education with the National University of Science and Technology. He has been teaching Information and Communication Technology and Computers Science since 2018. He loves showing pupils new technology and believes I.T as a subject, is a great way of teaching problem solving skills.
