By Mandava Blessing| Teachers and teacher Unions have blasted the Government for being an insincere and uncaring employer which is not concerned about the workers’ plight or welfare whatsoever.
The government in a dramatic u-turn has made a major climb down from it’s vitriolic attacks on teachers and threats which saw the President Mr ED Munangagwa attacking and threatening teachers in his address in Mutare recently.Not to be left out in the attack were some high ranking Government Officials such as Nick Mangwana who threatened the unarmed teachers with war for allegedly arm twisting the Government to consider their welfare seriously.
Speaking to the Change Radio in Hurungwe,a senior teacher who requested anonymity accused the government of politicising the teachers’ welfare demands.Mr Bernad Of Masvingo noted that there is no political will by the Government to remunerate the teachers well or to improve their conditions of service.
Speaking to the Change Radio the Secretary for Mobilisation in the Professional Educators Union Of Zimbabwe Mr Maltin Mukusha described the move by the Public Service Commission to convert the teachers’ Covid19 allowance to RTGS as “nonsensical and a lack of seriousness by the Government”.He angrily retorted that,”teachers are not morons who can be taken for a ride”.The PEUZ President Mr Wilson Makanyaire simply noted the PSC deception as a circus.
The PTUZ responding to the Public Service Commission on its Twitter handle said,”The announcement is actually Hot air.The deception won’t work.Our members remain incapacitated”.
The Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Union in a communique issued by its Secretary General Mr Fambai Fambai echoed the PTUZ stance and noted that ,”teachers won’t be Hoodwinked into dropping the incapacitation action by piecemeal solutions which are not sustainable”.
The majority of teachers that were interviewed by this publication bemoaned the Government’s segregatory tendencies which has seen it prioritising the security sector ahead of the teachers.Many have showed no trace if fear of dismissal as they equated their current situation as far worse than that of the unemployed in the streets.
Investigations by The Change Radio have revealed that most teachers are now eking out a decent living from vending,fish mongering or by engaging in illegal mining activities.
The announcement by the Public Service Commission Secretary Ambassador J Wutawunashe unearthed the Government’s hypocrisy and monumental deception.The Government has not increased the civil servants salaries but has infact converted the workers’ existing Covid19 allowance into RTGS and will pay this allowance on the pay day.
The PTUZ President Dr Takavafira Zhou summed it up by sadly noting that the Government is “urinating on teachers and has not moved an inch to make thing better for both the pupils and the teachers”.
The teacher Unions are now calling on parents to withdraw their pupils from school as they are roaming freely without anyone to monitor them.
Efforts to get a comment from the Public Service Commission were fruitless.Other Teacher Unions had not responded to this publication by time of going to press.
