Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
Teaching them a lesson: A report on the attack on Zimbabwean teachers
INTRODUCTION
The attack of teachers has been ongoing against the backdrop of violence being perpetrated
against civil servants (including district administrators, and nurses) by ruling party (Zanu PF)
supporters, “war veterans” and the youth militia. Violence against teachers has continued
unabated since June 2000. Violence against teachers has been concentrated in the rural
communities where teachers are rightfully considered to be a group that has considerable
influence on the communities in which they live. The reported attacks on teachers who support
or are suspected of supporting the MDC seems to be a way of limiting their political influence
on the rural populace. In July 2001 two ministers are alleged to have issued death threats
against student leaders and their principals for supporting the opposition MDC. The threats
were issued at a meeting between the ministers, student leaders and principals from Masvingo,
Bondolfi and Morgenster teacher training colleges, Masvingo Technical College and
Mushagashe Vocational Training College. The meeting was told that the only way that their
safety could be guaranteed is if they supported Zanu PF. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stan
Mudenge reportedly said:
“You are going to lose your jobs if you support opposition political parties in the
presidential election. As civil servants, you have to be loyal to the government of
the day. You can even be killed for supporting the opposition and no one would
guarantee your safety.”1
The Minister of Education, Sports and Culture told the meeting that:
“We cannot continue to pay our enemies. People have to know which side of
their bread is buttered”
The threats came a month after the Deputy Minister of Education, Sports and Culture allegedly
said that his ministry would not provide security to teachers affected by violence for supporting
the opposition.2 The threats by the two ministers were seen by ZIMCET Executive Director,
David Chimhini, as having exposed civil servants to possible attacks by ZanuPF supporters.
The brutal attack on teachers has had far reaching consequences that go beyond the teachers
themselves. Violence also affects the schoolchildren, when, in some instances, they are made
to witness scenes of extreme violence such as beatings and torture. Schoolchildren may
experience behavioural and emotional reactions after their experience of violence against their
teachers, who are supposed to be their guardians in the school environment. The Canadian
Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT) says that ‘a climate created by on-going organised
violence can also produce generalised feelings of insecurity and uncertainty for children, thus
making it impossible for children and youth to feel that they have a future’.
In some instances, school children have become victims during attacks on their schools. In the
Midlands province, pupils from five schools were allegedly abducted and taken for re-education
classes by “war veterans” and Zanu PF supporters. At Chomuwuya High School “war veterans”
reportedly disrupted a prize giving ceremony in October 2001, while in Masvingo “war veterans”
are alleged to have disrupted lessons at Rusitu High School. Therefore the addressing of
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2
Daily News, 18 July 2001
Daily News, 19 July 2001
2