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Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter
Members of three major teachers’ unions in Zimbabwe pay about US$7,5 million per year in subscriptions in return for one T-shirt each, a calendar and a diary, The Herald can exclusively reveal. The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta), the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ), say they have a combined membership of 65 000.
Each member pays between US$8 and US$10 monthly as a subscription.
In return, they get a calendar, a diary and a T-shirt each once a year.
Unions in other countries, particularly in Europe, invest subscriptions in money markets and listed companies and use the money to improve housing and healthcare for their members.
The lack of benefits in Zimbabwe, where teachers earn less, but are theoretically contributing more, has seen union membership dwindling over the past few years.
Making matters worse, the unions cannot even agree on how to go about negotiating for better working conditions with Government.
PTUZ and TUZ confirmed that their membership was plummeting.
There are about 120 000 teachers countrywide and about half of them are not in any union.
Zimta has 43 200 members who pay a basic monthly subscription fee of US$10 each, while those who want to benefit from other projects like motorbikes and housing schemes are asked to pay more.
PTUZ has about 13 000 members who pay a flat monthly subscription fee of US$10 each, while TUZ has about 8 000 members who contribute US$8 per individual in basic monthly subscriptions.
This means collectively, the three unions pocket at least US$620 000 per month, which translates to about US$7,5 million annually.
“As Zimta, we have about 43, 200 members who pay monthly subscriptions of US$10 while those who want to benefit from other schemes like motorbikes, housing and bereavement pay more,” said Zimta chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu.
“The money also goes to T-shirts and diaries. For that US$10 subscription, we also provide legal representation to our members from the lowest court to the High Court.
“The subscription also goes towards training trade unionists and leaders for collective bargaining meetings.”
Mr Ndlovu said subscriptions were also used to buy properties, boasting that Zimta was the only teachers’ union that owned real estate.
He said they also offered loan facilities to members and they had housing schemes in Harare, Ruwa, Marondera, Bindura, Bulawayo and Karoi.
However, a Zimta member who joined the association in 1995, and declined to be named for fear of vitmisation, said he was yet to benefit from the housing scheme despite being a consistent subscriber.
“We are not getting anything from the unions. I was in Bindura yesterday (Monday) at our offices and a number of people came enquiring on many matters – people are not happy,” he said.
PTUZ president Mr Takavafira Zhou said their membership declined from about 15 000 to 13 000.
“We have noted that the decline is as a result of adventurous behaviour by members especially new teachers. If you look at Zimta members they are old people, who are therefore stable.
“But for us, we have new people coming in. In that group, you will find that there is a tendency to say unions are not important because they expect instant benefits.
“From the uniform US$10, we give T-shirts and we also have a bereavement facility where we give a coffin worth US$450 as well as cash to the bereaved to the tune of US$240. We also give US$190 for transport or a vehicle. We also offer soft loans but have reduced on that because members are a problem in paying back,” he said.
However, a member of the executive who spoke to The Herald said only a few members benefited from the bereavement scheme.
“Most of them get T-shirts while others don’t get anything at all,” he revealed.
Mr Zhou said they relied on representatives at schools to inform them if any of their members had a bereavement.
“If we are not notified by those people, how do we know? We work with what we get from our representatives at every school. We cater for seven members in the members’ family i.e the member himself or herself, the spouse, three children and parents of the member.
“We also provide legal representation to our members if it’s not about embezzlement of funds or improper association charges,” said Mr Zhou.
TUZ chief executive officer, Mr Manuel Nyawo, said their union had 8 000 members who contributed US$8 per month each.
“Our members benefit T-shirts, calendars and vehicles. We are also giving out stands to our members though they pay more. I don’t have the figures for stands off-head.
“We have over 500 stands in Glen Norah, over 1 000 in Solomon Mujuru scheme and over 1 000 in Eastview.
“People may say what they want, but they have to understand that we have 10 provincial offices where we pay rent and our personnel are also paid from those subscriptions…
“As you may be aware, everyone wants to see their cent count so they pull out when they feel they are not benefiting,” said Mr Nyawo.
A T-shirt, a calendar and a diary altogether cost less than US$10.
In essence, it means these members get US$10 from their US$120 yearly contributions.
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