"As ARTUZ we are resolute that our members deserve better salaries that are commensurate with their labour. We will not go back on our demand for a US$ indexed salary to the interbank rate,"stated the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) statement in response to the latest government pay offer.
"To save our country from the current economic malaise, we urge the government to urgently restore the purchasing power parity of civil servants to stimulate productivity.
"The genocide in the education sector was brought by the underpayment of teachers. Destroying our education staggers the developmental plans of our nation. It is imperative that we urgently reverse the erosion of our education system."
The Zimbabwe economy has been shrinking for years now; this is a historic fact. And yet the teachers, doctors, nurses and all the other civil servants have been demanding that government, their employers, must improve their conditions of service. This is just unattainable, whether or not they deserve the improved conditions of service is irrelevant. The employer cannot improve the conditions of service when the source of funds is shrinking.
What the teachers, doctors, etc. have not asked why is the country performing badly? And, as the follow up question, what can we do bout it? For the last 40 years they have avoided asking themselves these questions and meanwhile the country has sunk deeper and deeper into the morse.
The answer to the first question is obvious; four decades of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has left the country's once upon a time robust and promising economy in ruins.
The answer to the second question is equally obvious, the nation has been stuck with the corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime for the 40 years because the party rigged elections.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state governed by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs. And as long as the country remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Period!
The problem of bad governance is one that affects us all and one we have ignored at our own peril. And so if our teachers, doctors, etc. are serious about ever being paid a living wage; they must first demand democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections and only thereafter can they ever hope to get a living wage.
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The Botswana government said it continues to monitor the situation closely in consultation with the World Health Organisation.
There are serious fears that the virus could wipe out a significant amount of Zimbabwe's population if it spreads to the troubled nations.
Faced with an economic collapse that has seen the the collapse of services including health, Zimbabwe is not prepared to deal with the Corona Virus.
Zimbabwe is not prepared to deal with even the most easily treatable ailments given there are no doctors, no nurses, no medicine, no equipment, no clean water , no electricity, etc., etc. Even if the international community was to give Zimbabwe the kits to detect and treat the corona virus the country will have no doctors and nurses and just getting the kits from Harare to Bulawayo or Gweru is a logistic nightmare given the health department has very few working vehicles and there is fuel shortages!
There is no denying that Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis is a man-made problem. 40 years of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and tyrannical rule has left the country in economic ruins and political paralysis, stuck with a dysfunctional dictatorship in which the opposition is just as corrupt and incompetent as the ruling party, Zanu PF.
For 40 years we, the people, have allowed Zanu PF to rig elections and rid roughshod over our rights, hopes and dreams. We are now paying dearly for our folly and, unless we snap out of our sloth like slumber, there will be no end to our suffering and death!
The Executive reaffirmed the party's unstinting pursuit of the national democratic struggle in pursuit of personal security, freedom, transformation and prosperity for all Zimbabweans. The executive strongly reaffirmed that 2020 is the year of action where the people of Zimbabwe will peacefully and constitutionally express themselves in their demand for a return to legitimacy, which is at the core of the national crisis.
This is a sick joke! Chamisa’s 2020 Agenda was a none-event in that it did not offer the nation any way out of the economic and political mess the country has been stuck in for decades now. The best chance the country had of getting out of the mess was during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when MDC was tasked to implement the reforms.
Sadly MDC leaders took their eyes off the ball and failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!
“The Executive reaffirmed the party's unstinting pursuit of the national democratic struggle,” we are being told here! MDC has failed to bring about even one democratic change in the party’s 20 years on the political stage, for Pete’s sake!
Of course, many Zimbabweans, especially teachers since they are the ones manning the polling stations, know that Zanu PF has been rigging elections. Still you will be hard pushed to get many of them to say anything about it much less do something to stop it. These people will demand a living wage but will say nothing about corruption and bad governance even thou they know these are the main causes of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown.
Yes, it is true that Zanu PF thugs have usurped the people's freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life. Still, it must be said that many Zimbabweans have given up their freedoms and rights without much of a fight.
After 40 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption one would have thought the penny has dropped by now that the country's political system was working for the good of the few but at the expense of the many. These teachers and doctors would have woken up to the futility of asking for a living wage in a country facing economic meltdown.
Sadly, the penny has not dropped the teachers will continue to demand their US$ indexed pay increases regardless the corruption and the country remaining a pariah state! Sadly the country is fast running out of time, if nothing is done soon to end the economic meltdown the country may well descend into economic chaos and political instability.
In the long run, those who will not defend their freedoms and rights including their right to a meaningful say in the governance of their country almost always end up losing pretty much everything else.
He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’
Matthew 13: 11-13.
In this case we, Zimbabweans, have elected to close our eyes. Even now after 40 years of misrule that has dragged the country to the edge of the precipitous abyss, we still refuse to open our eyes. There is no one more blind than he who closes his eyes and mind.
@ Mike Ndlovu
“Zim simple needs a transitional authority while we do the much needed reforms, to move this once prosperous nation ahead, we cant be held at ransom by a few greedy , hopeless, clueless , corrupt , incompetent people. Otherwise the story will on and on.”
Could not agree with you more, we certainly need a transitional authority to take us out of the present illegitimate government till we can have a legitimate government. We need a transition authority that will implement the democratic reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections.
Having Zanu PF and MDC in this authority, which is what Chamisa is calling for, is a waste of time because Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office. We need to pressure Zanu PF to step down and stop holding the nation to ransom.
If everyone, including these stupid teachers, doctors, everyone demanded free and fair elections and good governance; the Zanu PF thugs will know the game is up. Of course, it is idiotic to be demanding a living wage in a country whose economy has been in meltdown for decades now.
@ Simple
"Pack your bags and find alternative employment. Preferably employ yourselves!"
In a country where unemployment has soared to 90% most street corners are already occupied by other self-employed vendors. And, let me tell you something else, vendors do not buy from other vendors and so this army of vendors are all looking to the few in full time work but under paid to buy from them! As you can see, the situation is dire.
The right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country is one that most Zimbabweans have always considered a luxury, not worth fighting for and for good reason too. Zimbabwe’s two main political parties, Zanu PF and PF Zapu, had each ditched all pretensions to one man one vote and democracy in favour of a autocratic one party dictatorship.
The barbarism of the Gukurahundi years left no one in any doubt that political dissent in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe was something the regime would not tolerate. Any one who dared cross swords with the regime on this was ostracised and punished.
There is no doubt that all these teachers, doctors, nurses and the other professionals from every corner of Zimbabwe society know and understand that the root cause of the country’s economic meltdown is decades of bad governance. Rigged elections and bad governance is a scared cow many will not dare admit much less do something to end.
Many of these professionals are hoping against hope that something will happen to spur the economic recovery. They refuse to accept the reality that there will be no meaningful economic recovery as long as the country remains a pariah state, even with all the evidence of 40 years to prove the futility of their hope.
If the professionals will not leave their comfort zone and demand democratic reforms and good governance it is not likely that the working class and the peasants will. The working class and the peasants tend to focus on the here and now and to see the connections between economic recovery and good governance one must, necessarily see beyond the tip of one’s nose.
Any revolution, violent or peaceful, that does not restore good governance will accomplish nothing but it will only be a matter of time before those in power once again erode the individual freedoms and rights to establish a de facto one party dictatorship.
@ Mike Ndlovu
Zanu PF will not implement the reforms nor will the regime step down to allow those who will. Yes Zanu PF is holding the nation to ransom, the billion dollar question is how are we going to break the impasse?
You are not thinking of going back to Zimbabwe too are you?
At times like this, it would be nice to be back home but we need to think carefully here. Given the reality of Zimbabwe's health care has all but collapsed would it not be better to stay where you are with access to better health care. Given this is a public health emergence one would expect everyone to receive the best health care at no extract cost to the individual.
I dread the prospect of the corona virus outbreak in Zimbabwe, the country has no capacity to deal with the problem. In the last 40 years we have spend more on building mansions such as the Blue Roof whilst our hospitals such as Pararenyatwa, Mpilo, etc. are starved of funds and collapse.
If VP Chiwenga or any of the Zanu PF ruling elite are sick, they would be coming there to China! The Chinese will charge them an arm and a leg for the privilege, of course. They will pay the bill, they are filthy rich! The money spent on Chiwenga's last health trip to China is probably enough to run Pararenyatwa Hospital for a year! What a nightmare!
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