There’s an unfortunate headline doing the rounds right now: Zimbabwe’s teachers: what a treacherous crowd. Joram Nyathi, the author of the article, castigates Zimbabwe’s teachers for not accepting and being grateful for the US$100 voucher that was recently waved under their noses in an effort to get them to go back to school. Joram believes that most families would do ok on this paltry sum. As some of the comments on his blog point out, teachers have to pay transport, medical fees, buy clothes, food . . . so US$100 is really pretty much a smack in the face. Yes, the sum that teachers are asking for right now – US$2300 – is high, especially in a bankrupt country. But more to the point, Zimbabweans should really be asking how we can afford one of the most bloated governments in the world? And indeed why we are going to allow it? Joram at least raises this issue in his blog. But we need to do more than simply write about the fat salaries, perks and allowances that all of these ministers, deputies, senators, governors, and their swathe of support staff are going get. It’s not fair to take it out on the teachers. At least the teachers have a solid sense of what they’re worth. Zimbabweans have for too long bowed and scraped and bobbed up and down for the few crumbs that come our way. Let the teachers strike continue. Let doctors and nurses strike. Let bank staff strike. Let housewives and domestic workers strike. Let NGOs strike. Let our whole country resist, and let all of us say no to a Unity Government that is irrationally large. It’s time for our politicians to grow up.

This entry was posted on February 20th, 2009 at 12:10 pm by Bev Clark and is filed under Activism, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.