FIREBRAND trade unionist, Raymond Majongwe, has said he has no plans to step down as secretary general of one of the country’s teachers’ organisation.
In an interview with NewZimbabwe.com last week, he however dismissed calls for him to step down saying he was not the longest serving leader of an organisation in Zimbabwe.
“Compared with others, l am a youngster and I think I will be here for a while and those who differ will have to live with that reality,” he said.
Majongwe has been the secretary general of the PTUZ which fights for improved conditions of service for teachers since the union’s formation in 2002.
He accused the Zanu PF-led government of selectively using some aspects of the 1999 Nziramasanga Commission on education to advance its narrow interests.
He said the ruling Zanu PF party uses “education as a political tool as and when it deems fit”.
“When you look at the way Zanu PF handles its approach towards the education system, and you start to believe that there is a reason why things have to go that way.
“Those of us who have memories will tell you that when President Robert Mugabe is donating computers it is a result of the recommendation of the Nziramasanga Commission.
“By 2008 he had distributed about 5,000 computers even to many schools that did not have electricity; some of these computers were already infected by virus unusable.”
Majongwe said this was because Zanu PF did not find its recommendations politically correct at the time the report was written.
However, countries in the region such as Botswana and Mauritius borrowed and implemented some of the commission’s recommendations.