Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Teachers being attacked ahead of presidential election run-off
Murewa Community Development Trust (MCDT)
May 02, 2008

MDC member in Mashonaland East province , Injesi Asiti has confided to Murewa Community Development Trust (MCDT) that teachers in Murewa, Mudzi, Mutoko, Uzumba, Maramba, Pfungwe and other areas in the province are the latest victims of ongoing violence perpetrated by the war veterans and the youth militia.Asiti noted that the situation in Mashonaland East remains dire as teachers in many schools are being accused of working for the opposition. The MDC official also said that many youths who are targets have left their villages, a strategy that he said is meant to dilute the effectiveness of MDC campaign machinery during the presidential run-off.

An assessment carried out by MCDT at 15 schools indicates that some teachers have not yet turned up for duty for fear of what will befall them if they return to their schools. The teachers being targeted are those who also collaborate with the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ). In the 2000 and 2002 general elections, teachers in Mashonaland East province suffered the most from State-sponsored violence, leading to the temporary closure of a dozen schools. We call upon the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education to condemn political violence in the schools system. We also call upon the government to address the worsening humanitarian crisis and assist the people who have lost homes in Mudzi, Macheke, Mutoko and Uzumba. An interview with a secondary school headmaster in Murewa whom we cannot name for his safety revealed that some teachers have requested ermegency transfers as they cannot return to their schools fearing for their lives. MCDT has got pictorial evidence of granaries that have been burnt, homes that have been razed down and activists who have lost their limbs in Mudzi, Mutoko, Macheke, Murewa.The government has got primary responsibility to protect the rights of the rural voters whose rights are being violated.

The Ministry of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare must take immediate steps and compile a list of people who need assistance with blankets, food, housing and clothing. We call upon the politicians sponsoring violence to desist from such acts and urge them to respect the sanctity of human life.The people of Zimbabwe have got a right to belong to a political party of their choice and to vote for those candidates that they want to govern. The ongoing Operation Wavhotera Papi (Who Have You Voted For ?) being instigated by the army is barbaric and inimical to democratic practice.

In defence of our rights and fundamental freedoms.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP