By Own Correspondent| The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) has called on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to facilitate and guarantee that teachers recruited as polling officers for the upcoming polls are not disenfranchised.
In a letter dated July 4 2018, the organisation wrote to ZEC urging the elections body to set up mechanisms that ensure that teachers who have been deployed far away from their polling stations are able to vote.
Wrote the ARTUZ:
Attention: Mrs Justice Priscilla Makanyara Chigumba
RE: REQUEST FOR THE FACILITATION OF TEACHERS DISPLACED FROM THEIR POLLING STATIONS TO VOTE.
1. The above matter refers to the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) which is set up in terms of section 65 of the Zimbabwe Constitution and a duly recognized Public Service Association, in terms of Public Service (Formation and Recognition of Associations and Organizations) Regulations (1998), representing the secondary and primary school teachers employed by the government of Zimbabwe and working in rural schools.
2. ARTUZ notes that according to the Electoral Act, ZEC recruited both Primary and Secondary teachers to be polling officers in the forthcoming general elections.
3. We have established that some teachers who were recruited as polling officers were deployed far away for the polling stations they were dully registered during the BVR process which practically makes it impossible for them to vote on the 30th of July 2018 general elections.
4. ARTUZ is a clearly interested party in this process as it has a legitimate interest to represent a constituency of teachers who fall under its membership in that process.
5. It is against this background that we request your office to urgently facilitate that all teachers recruited as polling officers and displaced from their polling stations are enabled to vote.
5.1 Our request is made in terms Chapter 4, Part 2 of the Declaration of Rights in the Constitution of Zimbabwe, particularly Political rights in terms of Section 67 (3) (a) which guarantees that every Zimbabwean citizen who is of or over eighteen years of age has the right to vote in all elections and referendums to which the or any other law applies, and to do so in secret;
6. We look forward to your positive and prompt response on this urgent matter.