Teachers flee violence in Mt Darwin after war vets attack

By Lance Guma
15 June 2007

Online publication Zim Daily reports that war veterans and Zanu PF militias unleashed violence on teachers at Mutondwe Secondary School in Mt Darwin. According to the news site, a Zanu PF district coordinating committee youth chairman Lameck Reza led the group demanding a meeting with teachers in the staff room. They made allegations that teachers at the school sympathise with the opposition and that a former student who visited the school wearing a Zanu PF T-shirt was ridiculed by one of them. Its alleged the teachers refused to have the meeting and the war veterans and militias started beating them up.

Several teachers and students bolted out of the schoolyard and are said to have sought refuge in a nearby mountain. Zim Daily also quoted Perkins Nyamupfukudza one of the victims who works at the school as a history teacher. He alleges that since the violence broke out 12 out of 19 teachers have since fled the school. ‘They accused me and fellow teachers of being arrogant and disrespecting war veterans and said they were going to teach everybody a lesson. I was dragged by the belt and humiliated in front of the students that we teach everyday. They were beating up every teacher,’ he is quoted as saying.

The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) is reported to be organising a safe house for 5 of the teachers. ‘We are in the process of organizing a safe house for the five teachers who currently housed here at our national offices. They have nothing to eat and no-where to go. They are traumatized and they urgently need psychological therapy,’ Majongwe is quoted as saying. The Mashonaland Central Provincial Education Director is reported to have confirmed receiving a report on the incident from the school head but insisted all was now under control.

Newsreel spoke to Majongwe on Friday and he confirmed the PTUZ ‘accepting 5 teachers’. He said he was yet to be briefed on the full details of their ordeal and could not comment in full. Harare Province Chairperson for the PTUZ Jacob Rukweza also confirmed the incident. He said teachers nationwide are facing similar threats to their safety and this was not helped by coming parliamentary and presidential elections in 2008. Asked if the Ministry of Education was offering any protection for teachers, Rukweza said the minister responsible was actually at the forefront of threatening teachers who are perceived to support the opposition.