Paul Mavima

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Professor
Paul Mavima
Prof
Paul.jpg
BornPaul Vurayayi Mavima
ResidenceHarare
CitizenshipZimbabwean
EducationFlorida State University, USA
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare
  • Member of Parliament for Gokwe Sengwa
Known forBeing a politician
Political partyZanu-PF
Parent(s)Gabriel Tranos Mavima and Theresa Mavima

Paul Mavima is a politician, academic and certified financial planner. [1] He was the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and the Member of Parliament for Gokwe Sengwa Constituency.

Personal Details

Born: 25 September 1963, to Gabriel Tranos Mavima and Theresa Mavima. Children: his children are Shingirirai, Michelle, Rumbidzai and Takunda Mavima. [2]

School / Education

Primary: Grade 1 at Globe and Phoenix School in Kwekwe. He moved back to his home area in Gokwe where he did Grade 2 at St. Hugh’s Mazinyo Primary School. He went to Dzvuke Primary School for Grade 3 and 4. He did the last years of Primary School at Mateta Primary School.
Secondary: Form 1 to 4, Professor Mavima went to Amaveni Secondary School in Kwekwe. He did “A” Level at Fletcher High School in Gweru.
Tertiary: 1984 - 1986, Bachellor of Science in Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Zimbabwe.
1987 - 1990, Master of Public Administration. In the pioneer group for this programme which was only offered on a part time basis at the University of Zimbabwe.

In 1994, he was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship to go and study for a doctorate in Public Administration and Policy at the Florida State University’s Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in the United States of America. He completed his doctoral studies in 1999. His concentration was Institutions and Organizations with a research focus on Institutional Capacity Development in emerging economies. Mavima is also a Certified Financial Planner, and has developed capacities in the areas of Programme Planning and Evaluation and Strategic Planning.[3]

Service/Career

Mavima started his professional career as an Administration Officer in the Ministry of Public Construction and National Housing in 1987. In 1988 he moved to the University of Zimbabwe where he worked as a Teaching Assistant as he pursued his Master’s in Public Administration. He was promoted to the position of Lecturer in 1990. In 1994, he went to the United States of America to pursue a Doctorate in Public Administration on a Fulbright Fellowship. During his stay at Florida State University, he served as a Research and Teaching Fellow in the Askew School of Public Administration and in the School of Education.

From 1996 to 1997 he was the Principal Investigator for a USAID funded ABEL (Advancing Basic Education and Literacy) project which investigated the effect of public/private collaboration on non-formal education efforts in Senegal, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. In 1997 he served as an Associate Research Director for an ADEA (Association for Development of Education in Africa) funded research program for Eastern and Southern Africa. In 1998 he was part of a team of evaluators from Florida State University responsible for designing and undertaking an evaluation of the State of Florida’s Blueprint Transition Program from school to the community for students with disabilities.

In January 2000, he joined the Office of Public Policy Analysis and Government Accountably (OPPAGA) an organ of the legislative arm of the State of Florida as a Policy Analyst. In this role, he was responsible for designing and implementing evaluations of policies and programs of the State of Florida (e.g., Post-secondary Workforce Development Education) in order to inform the Legislature and the Public on how the policies and programs are performing.

Professor Mavima joined the Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA in August 2000, as an Assistant Professor. He taught in the School of Public and Non-Profit Administration. In 2007, he received his promotion to Associate Professor and was granted tenure. He designed and taught graduate level courses in public and nonprofit administration.

In 2008, he decided to relocate back to Zimbabwe. He set up Myriad Consulting Services a company that he led until March 2009. The company was involved in consulting work in the areas of program and policy planning and evaluation, strategic planning, and organization development.[3]

Political Career

In March 2009 he accepted an appointment into the Zimbabwean civil service as Principal Director in the Office of then Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara. He held this position until July 2013 when he was elected to represent Gokwe Sengwa Constituency in the National Assembly. After the election, he was appointed Deputy Minister for Primary and Secondary Education in September 2013. [3]

In 2017 when President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed his cabinet, Mavima was appointed as the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. Following a cabinet reshuffle on 8 November 2019 Mavima was appointed Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

Following the 23-24 August 2023 elections, President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced his new cabinet on 11 September 2023. The new Ministry of Skills Audit and Development is headed by Prof Paul Mavima.

Events

Exam Resit Lawsuit

In February 2018 Mavima was reported to have been taken to court over O'Level English Paper 2 resit. Two parents, Victor Mukomeka and Chingasiyeni challenged the decision by the Primary and Secondary Education Minister, Professor Paul Mavima to nullify the results of November 2017’s O Level English Paper 2 exam and ordering a rewrite for all candidates. The parents who were represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) cited Prof Mavima and the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) as respondents. The parents argued that Mavima breached constitutional provisions by annulling the results when only Zimsec could do so. Part of the High Court application read

(The examination) be declared null and void as the minister acted beyond his authority of which the Act empowers, in Section 34, only the examinations board to annul examination results.

The minister confirms that the cheating was identified during the examination session. It is not clear why the English Paper 2 examination was allowed to continue, and why Zimsec proceeded to mark the exams, only to annul results on the 8th of February 2018, some months later.

It is not clear why remedial action was not taken timeously and instantly upon realizing the cheating or even the potential for cheating. Essentially, Zimsec allowed an exam in which they detected cheating to proceed and proceeded to mark it, only to annul results afterward.

The costs attached to this kind of action and the rationality and reasonableness of this decision alone does not withstand scrutiny. [4]

Publications

Mavima has authored a number of academic books and papers. Below are some of his works:

Books

  • Sovereignty, Corruption and Civil Service Reform Implementation in Zimbabwe (2008)

Articles

  • “Local Forces and Implementation of Internationally Prescribed Reforms: The Case of Zimbabwe’s Administrative Reforms 1991 to the Present” in the journal Public Administration Review co-written with Richard Chackerian.

References

  1. ‘It’s a goal-getting team’ , , Published:3 December 2017 , Retrieved:4 December 2017
  2. Paul Mavima, prebook, published: No Date Given, retrieved: September 27, 2016
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Professional Profile for Professor Paul Vurayayi Mavima Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, published: No Date Given, retrieved: September 27, 2016
  4. Minister Dragged To Court For Ordering Students To Rewrite Zimsec Exam, , Published: 10 February 2018 , Retrieved: 12 February 2018

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