Soldiers and youth militia accused of harassing teachers to end strike

By Tererai Karimakwenda
15 February 2007

Officials from the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe have alleged that the government is using army personnel and youth militia to intimidate teachers who have been on strike for two weeks. The Harare province chairman of the PTUZ Jacob Rukweza said reports had come from other provinces that soldiers and youth militia had been deployed to harass teachers and force them to go back to work.

Meanwhile, the PTUZ administrator Abigail Machokera confirmed that police in Masvingo released their president Takavafirei Zhou on Wednesday afternoon after failing to find anything to charge him with. Zhou had been arrested the same day while addressing teachers at a school. Machokera said the secretary general Raymond Majongwe and McDonald Mangauzana were due to appear in court Thursday but were returned to the cells at Harare Central as they were about to be taken to a hearing. She added: “No reason was given by the police except that a call had come in to say they should be returned to their cells.” The 2 were were arrested Wednesday in Harare where Majongwe was addressing teachers.

Harare province chairman Jacob Rukweza said he had been visited by CID agents at his school in Chitungwiza. They demanded to address the teachers whom they accused of participating in an illegal action and threatened there would be consequences. Rukweza said government was employing all sorts of dirty tactics meant to intimidate and this was not the first time. He recalled incidents from 2002 when he said the trained youth known as the “green bombers” were deployed at schools in the rural areas.

As for allegations by state agents that teachers were engaging in politically motivated action to topple the government, Rukweza said: “This is nonsense. In the first place what is political about demanding a better salary in line with the PDL to support your family. We are the bread winners.” Rukweza reaffirmed the teachers’ resolve to strike until their demands are met. He said the political argument by the state is an attempt to detract from the struggle and not look at the real issues.