Zimbabwe’s teaching community has spoken with one voice, petitioning President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa to halt what they describe as a partisan empowerment scheme that rewards a select few while leaving the majority of educators in poverty.
On 27 September 2025, thousands of teachers signed onto a petition titled “We Are All Teachers — Empower All of Us,” demanding that the recently announced USD $500,000 “Empowerment Fund” for the partisan grouping “Teachers for ED” be scrapped and redirected into an inclusive, national facility accessible to all teachers.
At the core of the petition is anger at what teachers see as blatant patronage. While government has for years insisted that resources are too scarce to raise salaries to a living wage, it has suddenly found half a million US dollars to bankroll a politically affiliated faction.
“The teaching profession is a collective body, a crucial section of the working proletariat, and its welfare must be addressed collectively,” the petition states. “National wealth, derived from the collective labor of all Zimbabweans, cannot be deployed as a political tool to reward a select few.”
For years, educators have been demanding a living wage of USD $1,260, arguing that current salaries averaging USD $300 amount to nothing more than wage theft. Government’s insistence that there are no resources has forced teachers deeper into poverty, while classrooms deteriorate and learning outcomes collapse.
“The sudden availability of $500,000 confirms that the financial capacity to alleviate our suffering exists. The problem is not scarcity, but a deliberate political prioritisation of the ruling party’s interests over the legitimate needs of the nation’s educators,” the petition reads.
Instead of pouring scarce national wealth into partisan projects, teachers are demanding that the Empowerment Fund be rechanneled into a neutral institution like the National Building Society (NBS). From there, it could be turned into a demonstrable welfare facility, accessible to all 140,000 registered teachers across Zimbabwe.
“Mr. President, we are all teachers,” the petition declares. “Your administration has a moral and constitutional obligation to treat every civil servant with dignity and equity. You cannot empower the profession by rewarding collaboration and ignoring the majority who uphold the integrity of our education system.”
The petition is not just about money, it’s about dignity, fairness, and the principle of a professional, non-partisan civil service. For ARTUZ and the broader teaching community, the issue strikes at the heart of Zimbabwe’s education crisis: resources are there, but they are routinely misused, diverted, or politicised.
By rallying under the banner “We Are All Teachers,” educators are making it clear that true empowerment comes from equity, not exclusion; from investment in the entire profession, not partisan appeasement.
As the petition concludes: “We await your swift, corrective action to demonstrate that your government respects the collective value of Zimbabwean educators and recognises that true empowerment stems from equitable investment in the entire working class.”