Teachers will not back to work for 2nd term - no surprise, fallen wages don't cover transport costs alone

If the worker's wage is not enough to pay for his/her transport cost to work, let alone everything else; then it will be just a matter of time before the worker stops going to work because not many workers can afford to subsidise the employer indefinitely. In Zimbabwe the workers' wages have fallen significantly since the beginning of the year. It is therefore not surprising to hear that teachers will not be returning to their work stations next Tuesday, the beginning of second school term.

"We have communicated to government that things are bad. We asked them to organise a meeting, but they are not responding. Judging from what is on the ground, teachers are not going to teach," explained Raymond Majongwe, Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general.

"We tried our best to engage the government, and so they must not blame us if our members fail to come to work. We gave them enough time but they did nothing," Majongwe told the Daily News.

Teachers, nurses, cleaners, electricians, etc. who are paid in RTGS$ are worse off today than they were beginning of the year. The RTGS$ has lost its value from 1:1 with the US$ to 4:1 or worse today. Most workers were struggling to meet their basic need back then and now they are sinking. If the worker's wage is not enough to pay for his/her transport costs alone; forget about food, accommodation, etc., etc.; it is clear the worker will have no choice but to stop going to work, that is not rocket science.

If PTUZ's decision is that the teachers must stay at home, then they must stay put. If the decision is to hold peaceful street protest, then the organisers of the protest must go the extra mile and explain these are peaceful demonstration. They must deploy stewards to make sure everyone remains peaceful. If violence should ever breakout, the stewards must identify the trouble makers and hand them to the authorities.

Whilst this Zanu PF regime is not prepared to pay the workers a living wage, will never admit that it has no clue how to revive the economic meltdown, etc., etc. The one thing the regime is ever ready to do is to use brute force to silence all dissent. Think of the regime as the bad wolf accusing the sheep down-stream of mudding his drinking water!

We should not give up our right to hold peaceful protest to highlight the suffering masses' plight. We have a just cause and we do not want it clouded by diversionary side issues. We must make sure we do not suffer and die in silence like sheep in a slaughter house, we must be heard or be it be smart enough to drink downstream of the bad wolf!

Mnangagwa rigged last year's elections confident his regime will rig economic recovery and that has now proven mission impossible. The only way out is for the regime to step down so the country can finally implement the democratic reforms and end this curse of rigged elections and pariah state.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs the economic situation will only get worse.  As more and more workers fail to report for work because their wages cannot even cover their transport costs this will only accelerate the economic meltdown! We should never ever forget that behind the worsening economic meltdown are human beings who are now dying for want of food, US$5 per month medicine, etc.

Our mission is to make sure the regime steps down and thus save the nation from the heart-breaking human suffering and unnecessary deaths.

The country is in this economic and political mess because the nation has been stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for the last 39 years. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta are holding the nation hostage and have done so for decades; this is totally unacceptable. The regime must step down, that is not negotiable!