After matriculation, rather than do conscripted military service (as was required of all white male Rhodesians at the time) he successfully applied and was accepted to join the BSAP and served from October 1977 to Jan 1978.

[3] Whilst at university, Coltart was also elected to serve on the Law Students' Council and was director of the Crossroads Legal Aid clinic, which provided services to indigent black South Africans.

In June 1981 Coltart became a professing Christian, an event which had a profound impact on his life and which has informed his thinking greatly ever since.

As a partner of Webb, Low and Barry, Coltart handled many human rights cases relating to the Gukurahundi genocide in Matabeleland between 1983 and 1987.

Coltart played an instrumental role in the first detailed investigation into the genocide committed by the Mugabe regime in Matabeleland between 1982 and 1987.

The publication of the report led to Coltart being publicly criticised on national television by Robert Mugabe in February 1999,[8] who stated that: "The likes of Clive Wilson and Clive Murphy, complemented by the Aurets and Coltarts of our society, are bent on ruining the national unity and loyalty of our people and their institutions.

But we will ensure that they do not ever succeed in their evil machinations.... Let them be warned therefore that unless their insidious acts of sabotage immediately cease, my Government will be compelled to take very stern measures against them and those who have elected to be their puppets.

[10] In 1992 Coltart was appointed legal adviser to the opposition Forum Party, established that year and led by Dr. Enoch Dumbutshena, Zimbabwe's first black Chief Justice.

[4] In 1999 Coltart was asked to join the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) by trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai who appointed him interim Legal Secretary for the party.

[13] On the evening of 4 October, Coltart's house was raided by eleven armed police looking for equipment that was allegedly in contravention of the Radio Communications Act.

ZANU PF accused Coltart of involvement and imprisoned his former campaign manager for five weeks before dropping charges.

[17][18] During this time, Coltart's family were reported to have evacuated to South Africa[19] but this was refuted when his wife, Jennifer, went to the offices of The Chronicle with their two-month-old daughter to prove they had remained in the country.

[20] Coltart was again linked to Nkala's death in ZANU PF's 2002 presidential election campaign, which also emphasised his former role in the BSAP and falsely accused him of being a former member of the Rhodesian Selous Scouts.

[21] Mugabe accused him of being an instrument of the British and announced in September 2002 that such people, "like Bennett and Coltart, are not part of our society.

He received numerous death threats,[16][23] and was arrested and briefly detained in February 2002 for allegedly discharging a firearm in a public place.

[29] As Minister for Education, Coltart brought an end to the ongoing teacher strikes, enabling schools to re-open in 2009.

[33] He has also set in motion a curriculum review, the first since the 1980s,[34] and planned to establish Academies of Excellence in each province, with full scholarships available for talented disadvantaged children.

[37] Coltart's term of office as Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture ended on 22 August 2013 after he lost the Bulawayo east Parliamentary seat by 19 votes.

[39] Coltart is opposed to the use of violence as a solution to the problems facing Zimbabwe, believing that political transition must occur gradually through democratic means.