on fuel, will most certainly lead to price increases of basic commodities spiralling out of control making
the situation for ordinary citizens even more desperate.
Zimbabweans are suffering and going hungry. This is compounded by a leadership who from indications
are prioritising power dynamics than addressing fundamental issues affecting citizens. A case in point is
the doctors’ strike. Junior doctors have been on strike since the 3rd of September 2019 and a solution to the
impasse between the state and medical professionals does not seem imminent. Meanwhile, public hospitals
are not providing needed health care leaving many people vulnerable and leading to unnecessary loss of
life.
Moreover, there are reports that the ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu
PF) councillors are intimidating school teachers in their respective localities by threatening them with
punitive measures if they fail to report for work. Headmasters are coerced into keeping a register of teacher
attendance, something noted by teachers as an intimidation tactic.
The response by Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi to civil servants’
citing incapacitation was that there is no legal basis for industrial action. What is puzzling is the ease with
which the state swiftly dismisses symptoms of the problem and fails to deal with the root cause.
This was further elicited when Minister Ziyambi presented Zimbabwe’s 11-15th combined report on human
rights to the 65th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) in
Banjul, Gambia on the 26th of October 2019. Zimbabwe‘s human rights record was under review as the
country had not submitted a report since 2007, therefore this submission was a combined report of the past
12 years. The wide ranging report, states among other issues that government believes junior doctors are
not willing to engage with the government which happens to be the employer, and has since concluded
doctors have been infiltrated by political elements; the #Shutdown January 2019 violence according to the
government ‘was caused by ‘rogue’ elements representing external forces with a regime change agenda’;
and the recent spate of abductions have been suspiciously timed to coincide with notable international
visitors to the country to taint the country’s image.
There is a definite disjuncture between the suffering that Zimbabweans are experiencing and the
prioritisation of what needs to be done. President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently pledged USD$1 million
for the Global Fund in Lyon, France, at a time when the country’s junior doctors and civil servants are
citing incapacitation. While it is fully accepted that Zimbabwe like other countries had to contribute but a
3