Zimbabwean school teacher Patrick (not his real name) is angry and in pain. He has three broken ribs, a bandaged right arm and is barely able to sit up; traces of blood can be seen in the drip attached to his stomach.  |  It's the end of my career as a teacher. I'm going to find something else to do |
Two weeks ago he was beaten with iron bars in the northern Mashonaland Central Province. He says the ruling Zanu-PF party youths who attacked him wanted to know why his school, used as a polling station in the 29 March elections, recorded a high figure of opposition voters. "I am no longer going back to teaching," he says from a private clinic in the capital, Harare. "It's the end of my career as a teacher. I'm going to find something else to do." Backbone Many teachers acted as polling officers on election day - and have done at every election since independence in 1980.  Some schools have closed because of the political violence |
They are the backbone of the country's electoral process. But in rural areas, several schools have been shut down because of political violence that has been unleashed since the March polls. Teachers are being targeted, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) says, and many are now fleeing. More than 5,000 teachers have been beaten, about 600 hospitalised and 231 teachers' houses burnt, the union says. Raymond Majongwe, PTUZ secretary general, says the number of teachers being attacked is growing by the day and as a result the quality of education is suffering. "The same teachers that are being pushed around and being beaten are no longer going to be giving their best," he said. | I think if education could be described as being in hospital, it would be in an intensive care unit |
"They will be looking over their shoulder every other time to see who is present, who is coming and who is advancing," he said, describing their fear. Zimbabwe's education system, once the envy of the region, has recorded its "worst year", he said. "I think if education could be described as being in hospital, it would be in an intensive care unit," he said. For the Zimbabwe Election Commission, the massive displacement of teachers could prove a headache ahead of the planned presidential run-off on 27 June. Polling officers from different sectors will need to be recruited and trained. Difficult And it has not just been teachers under attack. Independent election observers have not been spared either. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) had more than 8,000 observers across the country during the March vote. It says hundreds of them are now being persecuted ahead of the run-off. And despite the courage to go on, it is fast losing members willing to take part because of the continued crackdown. Zesn admits monitoring the run-off will be an extremely difficult task. But Zesn Chairman Noel Kutukwa is not giving up. "We believe our role is to observe the election and to produce a report that is as accurate as possible according to what we have observed and the ground," he said. "Our intention is that we will observe those elections, but we will not risk our observers. We will have to come up with different strategies of doing the same work." Nevertheless, it is an issue certain to impact on the freeness and fairness of the run-off.
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