Zimbabwe Teachers Diaspora Forum (ZTDF) salutes Artuz for confronting suicidal policies in the education sector!
04 June 2021
The Zimbabwe Teachers Diaspora Forum would like to appreciate and laud the courage and determination displayed by the leadership and membership of Amalgamated Rural Teachers’Union of Zimbabwe( Artuz)when they dramatically turned Mbuya Nehanda statue into a protest square demanding a living wage. As an external teachers movement fighting against the abuse of teachers by the regime in Harare, we applaud the vibrant firebrand teachers union for staging a flash protest at the towering Mbuya Nehanda statue in the capital on Wednesday clamouring for better salaries and a conducive working environment.
The Coordinator of the Zimbabwe Teachers Diaspora Forum, Robson Ruhanya urges all Zimbabweans in the teaching fraternity in Zimbabwe and across the globe to unite and confront the stubborn Public Service and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Ministers against these unsalted peanuts given to our diligent teachers as remuneration. As an organisation,we are ready to work towards the emancipation of the teaching fraternity. It was quite inspiring to see dozens of picketers waving placards bearing touching demands from “Give us a signal ” to “Save Our Education”. As citizens, we must be ready to pay the ultimate price fighting against slave wages.
The fascinating part of the demonstration was when the Secretary General, Robson ‘Nikita’ Chere directly appealed to the spirit medium : “Mbuya Nehanda we have come with the grievances of the downtrodden teachers”. The appeal unearthed that the business of the liberation struggle remains unaccomplished until educators and learners are exempted from this personal aggrandisement that we witness under the incompetent Zanupf regime. Our message to this insensitive government is that Mbuya Nehanda and other icons of the liberation struggle sacrificed to better our livelihoods as Zimbabweans. They fought so that our children can also enjoy their lives in the country, they did not suffer to impress rapacious Careerist Politicians who are eating on behalf of the starving educators.
Moreover, together with Artuz, ZTDF shall commit itself to the fight for a living wage because our dream is to go back to our country so that we can participate actively in the socio-economic transformation of our country. Our mandate is to ensure that the education sector has been transfigured through restoring them to a living wage. We are quite aware that some students in the countryside are dropping out of school due to lack of resources, a pathetic situation that the organisation says shall try to mobilise resources to aid those victims of gross misgovernance manifesting in senseless looting and corruption. In Southern Africa, there is still free education in South Africa, Namibia etc, learners are supported by the caring and sensitive governments, a dream that will come true in the motherland.
The Zimbabwe Teachers Diaspora Forum absolutely condemns the barbaric conduct of the captured law enforcement agents who always want deny labour unions their right to express their disgruntlement peacefully and democratically as stipulated in the national constitution of 2013. This was evidenced when the protesters fled the scene after law officers called for a backup to quell the freedom of expression by the disgruntled teachers who can’t afford to send their children to school, their children cannot manage to have a single nutritious meal per day. It is a public fact that teachers across the breadths and lengths of the country are currently on a go-slow , only going to class two days a week instead of five. We support their legitimate and constitutional demand to be restored to their 2018 October salaries of US$540 or equivalent in local currency.
Furthermore, ZTDF coordinator consulted with other colleagues in different countries in the SADC region pertaining salaries of teachers and these were the submissions; A person working in Teaching /Education in South Africa typically earns a handsome amount of 33 000 Rands per month an equivalent of more than 1800$US. In Namibia , teachers receive 24 000 Rands per month an equivalent of US$1.759.46. In Zambia a person working as an educator earns around 6,370 ZMK per month which is close to US$ 300. And finally in Botswana, teachers earn salaries ranging from 5,970 BWP (lowest average) to 22,700 BWP(highest average) , actual maximum salary is higher.
The above salaries reflect the incompetence and carelessness of the satanic regime in terms of its mandate to pay our teachers handsomely. Teachers in Zimbabwe deserve a living wage that will cater for their families. We encourage teachers to work hand in glove with all progressive educators in Zimbabwe and the diaspora to improve the sorry scenerio that has befallen our own intelligentsia of Zimbabwe.
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Zimbabwe Teachers Diaspora Forum(ZTDF)
Coordinator Robson Ruhanya
