Teachers unions' plot exposed

TEACHERS' unions and other civil society organisations have been roped in to push the Western-funded regime change agenda in the country with handsome perks being given to the unions' leadership.

The illicit funding of teachers' unions from countries like the United Kingdom and the United States has created a financial gulf between leaders and the people they purportedly represent.

At the centre of the latest regime change push against a democratically elected Zanu-PF Government, are unions such as the Progressive Teachers Unions (PTUZ) and the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), with attempts being made to bring more unions on board.

Last week, the British House of Lords exposed the extent covered in trying to create synergies between Trade Union Congress in the United Kingdom and local trade unions, as part of upsetting the status quo in Zimbabwe.

Asked what the United Kingdom is doing to corner the Zanu-PF Government, Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Mr Tariq Mahmood Ahmad said they are working closely with teachers' unions in Zimbabwe.

"We certainly have been meeting in Harare with various unions, including teaching unions, most recently in September 2021 on salaries and the impact of Covid-19. Trade unions form an important part of civil society in any country, and we engage with them at all levels," said Mr Ahmad as he exposed the UK's hand in Zimbabwe's internal political affairs.

The insidious conspiracy to engage teachers by the Western countries is part of a broader plot to use local organisations as vehicles to push for regime change after failing to make headway with the fractured and often corruption-riddled opposition.

Apart from that, the civic society organisations are also being used as proxies for financing the same opposition which is prohibited under the Political Parties Finance Act from getting foreign funding.

And ahead of the 2023 elections, more than US$5 million has been channelled towards the anti-Zimbabwe civic society organisations from the United States to run anti-Zanu-PF campaigns, with organisations like Crisis Coalition and Zimbabwe Coalition for Debt and Development (Zimcodd), having already started their campaigns such as "The how far campaigns'' to discredit the Government of the day.

Frustrated by little headway in overthrowing a democratically elected Government, the British are now trying to coax the country's neighbours to exert pressure on the Zanu-PF-led administration.

"We are engaged very much with South Africa and, yes, it wants to see a progressive, inclusive Zimbabwe as part of the region and the wider world. Zimbabwe holds ambitions to join the Commonwealth as well. It is a collective effort. I do not think that one country alone can influence the progression and inclusiveness of democracy. It is therefore important that we, together with key partners, continue to play this role," Mr Ahmad said.

On the other hand, the United States is funding NGOs to fight the Government through the courts of law. A US grant that will run for five years funded through the USAID will see NGOs being supported to influence the alignment of legislation with the Constitution and advance the implementation of key provisions through innovative and reinforcing advocacy action.

The NGOs will also get funding for legal advocacy, litigation, and other strategies that seek to influence both the formal alignment of laws as well as the ongoing implementation of the Constitution.