By Dr Takavafira Zhou – PTUZ President.

Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) – The instruments of combat have been sharpened over a long period and today teachers are pulling the trigger to send them clanking into gear. Teachers across Zimbabwe are embarking on a total withdrawal of labour in order to push for the improvement of their salaries and conditions of service. Any profession or even nation that continues to produce soft-minded professionals (men and women) purchases its spiritual death in an instalment plan. In order to get a reasonable salary and improvement of conditions of service, it is important to totally and peacefully abandon classrooms, school libraries, staff rooms and administrative blocks.


Never in history have teachers been united as now, more so following Ptuz and Zimta joint declaration of strike and other teacher unions (Artuz, Peuz, Zrtu, Zdtu, Zineu) amplification of industrial action. Only Zinatu,Tuz and Dzatsunga’ led Colaz have dissociated themselves from the strike. This is not surprising since they virtually have an insignificant membership, and given their flitation and romance with employer and hope for some emoluments.

The causes are loud and clear, viz, that both the pathetic cushion of $54 up to March and the 18% on $284 starting salary post-dated to April, fall far short of ameliorating pathetic salaries and conditions of service of teachers, more so given the erosion of the purchasing power of their salaries by bondrisation, hyper inflation, sky rocketing of basic commodities and needs. Worse still government has failed to show common sense by engaging civil servants in endless negotiations when under normal circumstances all issues must be resolved in three meetings after which issues are referred for arbitration or workers resort to industrial action to open a new chapter in negotiations.

The 4th of February witnessed unprecedented attempts to stifle the industrial action with inundation of schools by security forces, some threats by party functionaries to jettison teachers from their employment and replace them with some unemployed teachers. Union officials were also taken to police stations for interrogation in all provinces, while some party officials incited youths to eject incapacitated teachers from schools. This is regrettable and callous in a country 39 years after independence. Such elements must be reported to union officials indicating their full names, nature of their threats and targeted teachers. We also need to reiterate that ours is a legitimate labour dispute with our employer with no political overtones what so ever. All teachers will be protected by their respective unions, and also have a legal reprive under section 65 of our National Constitution in which the right to strike is a fundamental right guaranteed. A legal notice of 14 working days was given which lapsed without any better offer from the gvt.

Our progressive school heads must be reminded to report the situation in schools as accurately as possible rather than fanning presence of absent teachers. It is the absence of teachers that would prod even the president into finding a lasting solution for teachers. We also remind you that you have no locus standi to provide any information on the situation in schools to strangers, be they police officers, security forces claiming to be coming from President’s office and political party officials and functionaries. Such personnel must get such information from the DSI, PED or Head Office. Needless to point that you are bound by the official secrecy act and must therefore not create legal lacunas in schools.

The employer would as usual try to threaten teachers with dismissal and circulated attendance registers in schools. Mere papers that are circulated in schools and phone calls by school heads for teachers to sign attendance or absentee registers must be ignored by teachers. Any logging in on log book or appendage of signature on attendance registers must be avoided. It is only the legitimate union leaders who have called for the industrial action who can call off the action after consultation with members. ZBC, any news paper and discredited Apex Council leaders cannot call off the industrial action.

Parents are encouraged not to waste money by sending their children to schools as all level headed teachers would be away. The few cowards urinating in their pants, wives and husbands of rich gvt officials who may unwillingly turn up will not even be teaching but pondering over how much will their hubands or wives reward them for being so naive as to consider themselves as appendages of their spouses.

Our dear students must realise that it is the intransigent and irresponsible employer that has forced us to embark on this industrial action. They must realise that ultimately they would be the major beneficiaries of this industrial action as well paid teachers would return to classes with vigour and enthusiasm to design better methods to cover up for any time lost, let alone impart life serving skills to students. It is dangerous to entrust the future of students in the hands of dejected, disillusioned, miserable, and angry teachers.

Our message to all teachers is that we cannot stand silently when our profession is targeted for vandalism by capitalist exploitative and ruinous austerity measures. Austerity for the immiseration of Zimbabwean teachers is unacceptable. Teachers are human beings too and must be treated with the inalienable dignity of all human beings. The current treatment of teachers in a degrading and servitude manner is unacceptable. Together teachers can restore the status of teachers that has fallen with monotonous regularity, from grace to grass. Teachers are a vital cog of societal and national development with legitimate demands that must be addressed as a matter of urgency. All teachers must ask themselves whether they are part of the solution or part of the problem? Great teachers should surely be part of the solution. The only Way Forward is going Forward. Forward ever and backwards never. Retreat is not part of our combat strategy and tactics.

For our dignity, we must!
For our profession, we must!
For our children, we must!
For prosterity, we must
Forge maximum unity in pursuit of better salaries and conditions of servive

Viva vision and power viva?
Viva unity of teachers viva
Viva purchasing power parity viva

Venceremos

Dr Takavafira Zhou (Ptuz President)

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