Zedius Chitiga
Tatenda Shunyai
ZAKA – A Zaka Primary School teacher who alleges victimisation by school head; Tawedzerwa Masase, has reported the matter with the District Education Inspector (DEI) saying Masasa is making his work very difficult.
Estone Matthews, a Grade 5 teacher at the school says the school head is victimising and harassing him for expressing his views.
In June, TellZim News reported that Masase, who is believed to have links to state security agencies, was victimising Matthews for allegedly inciting other teachers to defy Zanu PF.
Matthews is the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) provincial manager.
In a follow-up letter to his earlier complaints of harassment by state security agencies at the instigation of Masase, Matthews says he was being victimised for questioning why a very large hose was built for the head when teachers were ‘squatting’.
In June, Dr Takavafira Zhou of PTUZ said Masase was linked to the 2008 election violence “where innocent people like Simbarashe Chikomba were killed just because they did not support Zanu-PF.”
Matthews says the school head at one point removed a window pane from his house and used it to on another teacher’s house which was being built.
He says the school head also hates him because he questioned why the school was spending large amounts of money hiring computers when the school could just pay instalments for its own computers.
As a result of the feud, Matthews says he was left out of a workshop held at the school for the purpose of streamlining teachers with the demands of the new curricula being introduced by government.
The letter was copied to Masase, Provincial Education Director (PED), Permanent Secretary of Education and PTUZ.
PTUZ Masvingo provincial coordinator, Munyaradzi Chauke says Masase was pursuing a vendetta against Metthews.
“We view this as harassment and it’s not the first time. We are calling upon the Ministry of Education to take action because it is matter of urgency. The headmaster hates Matthews because he is a meber of our union,” said Chauke.
PED Zedius Chitiga said he was yet to learn the current twist of the matter.
“I am still to get the details of this issue but we are going to look into it and map the way forward,” said Chitiga.news
