The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) condemns in the strongest terms the agenda of subordinating Government to ZANU PF, brought into focus by the Chinhoyi conference resolutions presented by Ziyambi Ziyambi. We reject the reported proposal to give the party exclusive authority to recommend candidates for government employment.
These positions are threatening the distinction between a political party and the State. Their implications extend beyond recruitment: they concern who exercises public power, whose interests Government serves, and whether citizens can hold public institutions accountable.
Zimbabwe’s constitutional order establishes constitutional supremacy. Section 2 makes inconsistent conduct invalid. Section 3 recognises multiparty democracy and the rule of law. Sections 194 and 200 require merit, fairness, impartial administration and a politically neutral Public Service. Section 203 assigns public-service appointment functions to the Public Service Commission. Sections 56, 67 and 68 protect against unfair political discrimination, safeguard political choice and require fair administration.
An elected governing party may advance its programme through lawful government processes. However, an electoral mandate does not authorise party structures to override public institutions, determine citizens’ rights or impose political allegiance as a condition of employment.
ARTUZ believes that subordinating Government into a party reverses public accountability. Government officials exercise authority entrusted to them for public purposes. They must answer through constitutional institutions and lawful procedures. Under party supremacy, the decisive question risks becoming whether an official has satisfied party leadership rather than fulfilled a public duty.
This creates a parallel chain of command. A minister, school administrator or public-service manager may face pressure to obey party instructions, even where those instructions conflict with professional responsibilities. Formal institutions may remain in place while their decisions are effectively made elsewhere.
The result is government by direction from structures that citizens cannot challenge through the same procedures available against public authorities. Responsibility becomes blurred: the official claims to be implementing a party directive, while the party avoids the obligations attached to exercising State power.
Party control over recruitment would institutionalise political dependence. An exclusive recommendation system would give party officials power over who can even be considered for public employment. A formally advertised vacancy would offer little protection if access to the shortlist depended on political approval.
Such gatekeeping could exclude competent applicants, reward personal connections and make workers dependent on political patrons. It would create opportunities for favouritism, corruption and retaliation against those who refuse political demands.
For unemployed graduates, economic desperation would become an instrument of political recruitment. For serving workers, fear of losing promotion or fair deployment could become a means of enforcing silence. Political choice cannot be meaningfully free when the ability to earn a living depends on pleasing a party structure.
For teachers, party supremacy threatens both labour rights and professional independence. A teacher must be able to raise concerns about salaries, staffing, unsafe classrooms or shortages without being treated as disloyal. A union must be able to organise workers and challenge the employer without its members being subjected to political screening.
Where Government and party authority are fused, an ordinary workplace grievance can be recast as opposition to the ruling party. Collective bargaining risks being displaced by demands for political obedience. Workers may be pressured to attend party activities or demonstrate loyalty to protect their careers.
ARTUZ rejects any system in which a teacher’s professional future depends on party endorsement. Qualifications, competence and fair procedures must determine recruitment and advancement. The classroom must remain a place of learning, and school leadership must remain accountable for educational standards and learner welfare.
The consequences would fall hardest on ordinary people. Partisan administration risks turning public services into rewards for loyalty. Communities could be judged by political allegiance when seeking teachers, infrastructure or assistance. Citizens might feel compelled to approach party officials to obtain services that should be available through impartial public institutions.
Poor households are especially vulnerable because they have fewer alternatives when public services fail. They cannot easily replace an under-resourced public school, pay for private services or withstand exclusion from employment. The danger is therefore material: diminished access to livelihoods, weaker services and greater dependence on political patrons.
Party supremacy also weakens the correction of Government failure. Professional advice becomes less useful when officials fear that unwelcome facts will be treated as political disobedience. Recruitment errors become harder to remedy when appointees owe their positions to powerful sponsors. Misconduct becomes harder to expose when oversight threatens party interests.
A capable Government needs competent workers who can give honest advice, report failures and apply rules consistently. Political control that suppresses these functions undermines the very capacity required to deliver development.
ARTUZ therefore demands the withdrawal of any resolution or directive seeking to place party authority above constitutional institutions or establish exclusive partisan control over recommendations for public employment.
We demand an unequivocal commitment from Government and the Public Service Commission that party affiliation, endorsement and ideological certification will not determine ordinary public-service recruitment, promotion or deployment.
We further call for transparent, merit-based employment procedures, supported by objective criteria, documented decisions and accessible appeals; protection against political coercion and retaliation for teachers, applicants, union representatives and other public workers; effective parliamentary and institutional oversight of political interference in public administration; and respect for independent trade unionism and collective bargaining, including workers’ freedom to challenge unfair treatment.
ARTUZ calls on teachers and other public workers to document political interference and report it through their unions. We urge fellow labour organisations to defend a public service that treats workers fairly and serves communities impartially.
Our position protects workers across political affiliations. No worker’s livelihood should depend on personal loyalty to a party official. No citizen should need political permission to receive a public service.
Government must answer to the people under the Constitution. Public employment must be governed by merit and fairness. Public education must serve every learner.
Serving Our Nation, Saving Our Profession & Livelihoods.