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Striking
teachers beaten up, forced to eat chalk in crackdown
ZimOnline
February 22, 2007
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=919
HARARE – Police
yesterday immediately followed a ban on political rallies and protests
in the capital’s restive townships by beating up schoolteachers
striking over low salaries.
The attack on
teachers at several schools in Harare came after weekend clashes
between anti-riot police and opposition Movement for Democratic
Change supporters who had gathered in the high-density suburb of
Highfield for a High Court-sanctioned rally.
The crackdown
also came as the main Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) announced
it had joined the strike started by the smaller but militant Progressive
Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) on February 5.
ZIMTA represents
the majority of Zimbabwe’s 96 000 teachers and their resolution
to join the strike might have incensed the government.
Armed police
details reportedly stormed Shiriyedenga, Ruvheneko and Chembira
schools in the high-density suburb of Glen Norah, allegedly assaulting
teachers and forcing some of them to eat chalk.
Eyewitnesses
said schoolchildren had to scurry home, with some scaling perimeter
fences and walls to safety.
“I went for
an in situ inspection at the affected schools in Glen Norah
but when I got there they had been closed,” said PTUZ secretary-general
Raymond Majongwe.
“There was nobody
at the schools but we got reports that children had to stampede
out of schools as soldiers harassed and beat up teachers. We understand
they also went to schools in Epworth (a semi-urban settlement just
outside Harare),” added Majongwe.
Police spokesman
Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena could not be reached for
comment.
However, the
government last week called in the military and spy agents to intimidate
teachers into backing off the industrial action, which Education
Minister Aeneas
Chigwedere said was meant to serve a “political agenda”.
President Robert
Mugabe, who turned 83 yesterday, is battling to preempt possible
civil unrest as doctors, nurses, university lecturers and lately
schoolteachers strike to press for higher remuneration and better
working conditions.
“It’s nonsensical
for anyone to say the teachers’ action is a political issue. It’s
a matter of life and death because surely one cannot survive on
a monthly salary of $84 000,” Majongwe said.
Teachers rank
among the worst paid civil servants, earning between $84 000 and
$150 000 – meaningless figures with inflation nearly 1 600 percent
and the breadline pegged at $460 000 for a standard family of five
people.
Chigwedere warned
the striking teachers might be fired and replaced or alternatively
have their salaries cut and withheld.
However, Majongwe
vowed the teachers would not end the strike until their demands
were met. “The strike continues as long as our minimal demands are
not met,” he said.
ZIMTA president
Tendai Chikowore said: “The action is countrywide and we won’t stop
until government comes up with something better.” - ZimOnline
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