Ray Nkosi | Teachers have rejected a proposal by government to offer them stands for bonuses, a situation likely to lead to another showdown in a strike action by the teachers similar to what doctors are currently undertaking.
Doctors today entered the fourth day of their strike action with the army being roped in to avert a serious health crisis in the hospitals.
Below is the RTUZ statement;
22 February 2017
Rural teachers and the generality of teachers have rejected the bogus offer of stands for bonus which the government is saying to be offering as bonus.
In a nationwide survey being conducted by the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), teachers have rejected the government’s offer demanding that their bonuses be paid in cash.
The survey comes in the wake of the government cancelling a meeting to finalise the bonus issue which was scheduled for 20 February 2017. On the same day ARTUZ automatically embarked on a strike action as the date coincided with the 14 day notice it had given to government to issue dates for bonus payments.
In its miserable defense, the government claims that it has deployed Civil Service Commission (CSC) inspectors across the country to consult civil servants on the option of stands offer as bonus.
This however is patently false and cheap propaganda as no such inspectors have visited any known school to date with such information save to intimidate the teachers who are on strike.
What is clear though is that the CSC Inspectors that were seen in schools were collecting forced donations for President Mugabe’s birthday junket.
So far the ARTUZ survey has covered the 3 Mashonaland provinces and some parts of Manicaland an average of about 90% of the respondents rejected the government offer.The major reason was that shelter is a constitutional right and can not be used as a package for bonuses. Further most of them are already part of developmental schemes that are offering stands and housing units including those being offered by their unions and building societies.
Meanwhile, the strike action continues to gather momentum with an increase from 30% on day 1 to 45% of ARTUZ members across the country.
We will keep giving you updates on the strike .
Released by;
ARTUZ Information Department
+263 776129336/ 775643192
Mwaite zvakanaka. Ma stands acho anode kuvakwa nge mari inobvepi? After so many years musaka vaka, mwotorerwa.
Munoguma mwaita vana Rezen Muruzazvese zita renzuzu.
The idea of giving them stands was a nonsense; people should be free to spend their earnings as they see fit and not be told what to buy by someone else!
Mugabe has no money to pay teachers but has $20 million to splash on 365 new off-road vehicles for his party! We have tolerated this madness for far too long, we must do something to stop it!