Mlungisi Kunene.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – With doctors at public hospitals having threatened to go on strike this week, teachers in Zimbabwe are set to begin their job action next week to demand the release of 2016 bonus dates.
Despite assurances by President Robert Mugabe last year, the Zimbabwean government is yet to pay bonuses for civil servants.
Doctors at public hospitals have threatened to go on strike on February 15 to protest against the government’s failure to improve their conditions of services.
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) President, Obert Masaraure in an interview said that Zimbabwe will be ungovernable as long as the welfare of workers and the poor is not addressed.
“On Monday (20 February 2017) we begin our job action demanding the release of bonus dates. The employer has remained silent on details of when and how our outstanding 2016 bonus will be paid. We have since notified our employer of our intention to express our disgust with the irresponsible behaviour of the employer. In line with section 65 of the new constitution we have a right to engage in job action.
“That right cannot be withdrawn by an act or any statutory instrument, thus our strike is justifiable and legitimate. We urge all teachers to brace up for the 20th of February strike. The job action will send a clear message to the heartless employer who is also government that teachers’ issues and the welfare of all the poor must be prioritized or this country can become ungovernable,” said Masaraure.
He added that teachers under the banner of the ARTUZ have been receiving threats of unspecified action from the Civil Service Commission as well as State agents if they heed the call to go on strike.
Masaraure said they were not moved by the threats adding that his union stands in solidarity with doctors who have threatened to go on strike on February 15.
“Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, (ARTUZ), also stands in solidarity with doctors who commence their strike on February 15. We will not be moved by the empty threats that we have been receiving from both the Civil Service Commission and desperate state agents,” said Masaraure.
Of late, morale has hit bottom low among civil servants owing to the government’s failure to improve their conditions of service.
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