Coltart orders Zanu (PF) militias out of schools

His order comes as teachers especially at remote rural schools agonise about returning to their posts after being threatened by thugs stationed at the schools by Zanu (PF). The militants are said to have been positioned in the schools to prevent people from expressing their views in constitutional hearings expected to start across the country soon.

According to teachers unions, the militias have orders to disrupt the hearings so that the contentious Kariba draft constitution favoured by President Robert Mugabe can be adopted without debate. However, reports claimed that the ministers order was being ignored and some teachers who returned to their schools this week were shocked to find the militiamen still camped in classrooms and teachers houses.

I havent been able to verify these reports (that some militants are refusing to leave the schools). But what I have done is to issue a statement to all 7 000 Government schools stating that schools are educational institutions and they are to be used solely for educational issues. It would not surprise me though if that directive has not been fully implemented, he said. The minister also said he was working on ways to speed up the re-engagement of teachers who had fled to neighbouring countries at the height of political violence that claimed up to 200 people but have since returned.

Coltart said Zimbabwe had lost 20 000 teachers in 2007 and 2008. His ministry earlier this year said the teachers could return to the original schools with no questions being asked. However, returning teachers have complained that some education officials are refusing to re-engage them or are asking them to write letters explaining why they had abandoned their posts without notice. Many of the teachers fled violence at the height of election campaigns.