US embassy cable - 04HARARE1890

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001890 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
AF/S FOR BNEULING 
AF/PD FOR RILEY SEVER 
DRL FOR MICHAEL ORONA 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVELLE, D.TEITELBAUM 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, ELAB, KPAO, ZI 
SUBJECT:  TEACHER UNION TRAVAILS 
 
REF: HARARE 1734 AND PREVIOUS 
 
1.  (U) SUMMARY:  On November 9, Raymond Majongwe, of the 
Progressive Teacher's Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) briefed the 
Ambassador on his recent visit to South Africa to 
participate in a workshop sponsored by the Center for Civic 
Education's CIVITAS program.  Majongwe, a civil society 
activist who has been arrested and jailed numerous times, 
spoke about his participation in the CIVITAS workshop, his 
activism, and the difficulties for civic organizations in 
Zimbabwe.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (U) Majongwe is the founding Secretary General of PTUZ, 
a teacher-led union formed in 1997 when teachers decided 
that the existing, government-sponsored Zimbabwe Teachers 
Association did not serve their interests.  PTUZ often 
opposes the GOZ and has brought several cases against the 
Ministry of Education or other government officials on 
behalf of teachers who have been abused. Majongwe, who is 
also a member of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions 
(ZCTU), has been arrested several times for his 
participation in teachers' strikes and for conducting union 
meetings.  Majongwe told the Ambassador that he expects PTUZ 
offices to be raided by police in the near future. 
 
3.  (SBU) From September 25 to October 9 Majongwe attended a 
CIVITAS workshop in South Africa. Majongwe was nominated by 
PAS Harare to CIVITAS.  CIVITAS is a curriculum framework 
sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, which promotes 
civic education in schools.  Majongwe said that he was very 
impressed with the civic and democratic values taught in 
South African schools and hoped Zimbabwe's schools could 
implement such a curriculum. 
 
4.  (SBU) Majongwe said it was very difficult for PTUZ to 
obtain meetings with government officials and that it was 
very difficult to have teachers' meetings in certain areas. 
According to Majongwe, the police have broken up PTUZ 
meetings and refused permission for meetings when PTUZ 
applied under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). 
Majongwe said that 800 teachers who went on strike in 
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city and a stronghold of 
the opposition MDC, recently were denied their salaries. 
Majongwe characterized this as discrimination based on 
tribal affiliation, since only minority Ndebele teachers 
were penalized and majority Shona teachers who participated 
in the strike were not.  The teachers were not notified of 
the suspension of pay nor given a hearing, and the GOZ 
simply contacted banks to stop payment.  He added that the 
ILO was following this and other recent developments. 
 
5. (SBU) Majongwe said that, based on increasing political 
influences in the schools and violence against teachers in 
the 2000 election, PTUZ initiated a Schools as Politics Free 
Zones campaign, partly supported by a Democracy and Human 
Rights Fund grant from the Embassy. In advance of the March 
2005 elections, PTUZ was meeting with local leaders and 
government officials to attempt to prevent political 
rallies, at which teachers are often required to attend, 
from being held at schools and to prevent political violence 
against teachers. 
 
6.  (SBU) Majongwe said he expected the environment for PTUZ 
to become more difficult and more politicized as the 
elections approached and with the expected passage of the 
NGO bill (see reftel).  He said that it was likely that the 
GOZ, which sees PTUZ, along with organizations such as ZCTU, 
as a donor-sponsored organization intent on destabilizing 
the Government, could step up efforts under POSA and other 
laws to hamstring PTUZ operations and that PTUZ risked being 
deregistered as a trade union. 
 
7.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Majongwe's description of his 
organization's difficulties in organizing and meeting with 
officials is another example of the obstacles unions and 
others in civil society face.  Teachers are traditionally 
seen in Zimbabwe as highly influential on children and 
generally respected by the community, so schools and 
teachers are strategic targets as the GOZ seeks to control 
information in the run-up the 2005 parliamentary elections. 
International image and relations with multilateral 
organizations may be a slowly growing priority for ZANU-PF, 
but Majongwe's report and the recent COSATU expulsion 
reinforce the reality that domestic political control 
remains its chief priority.  END COMMENT.