No Rallies at Schools says PTUZ Boss.

 Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said the militant teachers’ organization has wrote to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), calling on it to ban the holding of rallies at schools to ensure the protection and safety of teachers. We wrote to ZEC asking it to ban the use of schools as campaign bases. Schools used as campaign bases in the past lost valuable school furniture and other material. Schools were used as springboards of violence against teachers suspected to be aligned to the opposition parties, said Majongwe yesterday.Majongwe said PTUZ addressed the letter to Utoile Silaigwana, the ZEC deputy chief elections director.  Majongwe added: ZEC in reply said it would first consult the public service commission (PSC) over the matter before making a decision. Schools should be treated like hospitals and clinics. You will never find campaign bases at these places, so why at schools.
 In previous elections, teachers were displaced and assaulted and forced to flee their schools where they were campaign bases. The ultimate losers are school children as previous incidences have shown.
  Silaigwana could not be reached for comment despite repeated efforts.  Last month, scores of teachers and PTUZ leaders were severely beaten up by ruling Zanu-PF thugs for distributing fliers outlining the fall of the education sector. Teachers have been victims of violence in the run-up to previous elections on suspicions by the ruling Zanu-PF thugs that they are aligned to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
  This year, however, there have been few reports of politically motivated violence against teachers ahead of the elections.  Zimbabwe holds joint elections of March 29 to elect a new president and representatives of the senate, local authority and house of assembly.
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