Hundreds of disgruntled teachers have threatened to dump the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) after the representative body deducted ZWL$9000 from their salaries.
By Kelvin Kasiwulaya
Most of the teachers this Thursday approached the government’s Salary Service Bureau (SSB) offices in Gweru to give instructions to seize with immediate effect ZIMTA subscription deductions from their salaries.
Teachers who spoke to this reporter, noted that ZIMTA was no longer representing their interests and was now syphoning their meagre salary for its own personal gain.
“Imagine a teacher like me getting ZW$28000, while nurses are getting more than ZWL$250 000, ZIMTA have failed to represent us and why are they demanding ZWL$9000 from us. Better we leave the organisations as it serves no purpose,” said a female teacher who chose anonymity.
Another teacher who had travelled from Shurugwi to deal with the hiked deduction on his salary said ZIMTA was now milking a dead cow.
‘ZIMTA is milking a dead cow, instead of fighting for a better living wage for us, they are taking from the little that we have.
I don’t think that these ZIMTA leadership are serious about our concerns, what they want is money, it is high time we part ways with this parasitic union,” he said
Reached for comment, ZIMTA President, Richard Gundani confirmed that the association had hiked fees but not as high as ZWL$9000 and was also going to confirm if the membership of the association was dwindling because of the recent increase.
“What I know is that we recently hiked our subscription fee but not as high as ZWL$9000, let me check if such things are happening, we always do a follow up on our membership to see if there is a decline,” said Gundani.
Teachers used to pay as little as ZWL$600 for ZIMTA subscription fees before the current ZWL$9000 that has riled most teachers.
Apart from the ZIMTA fiasco teachers have been cornered to opt out of Nyaradzo funeral cover since the service provider is proposing to peg ZWL premiums in United States Dollars (USD) starting 1 November 2022.
