by Innocent Mujeri

Teachers affiliated to the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) are at loggerheads with their leader, Obert Masaraure, whom they accuse of swindling them of their hard earned cash as well as abusing donor funds.

A letter written by one disgruntled teacher, Courage Sibanda to Masaraure revealed that members were hoodwinked into paying subscription fees so that they could be eligible for a cushion from some unnamed donors.

However, the subscribed teachers never received any funds from the so-called donors.

“New members are on our necks now. You said the money given to you was just a small amount. But why haven’t you distributed it. We have the most vulnerable members, can’t you disburse that money from donors to them,” said Sibanda.

Sibanda further accused Masaraure of inflating membership figures of ARTUZ to attract more funds from donors.

According to Sibanda, most people on ARTUZ membership database are not teachers but friends and college mates of Masaraure.

“Its worrisome how you move around harvesting people’s details and add them to ARTUZ database so as to justify donor funding of huge sums. ARTUZ database is full of people who are not even teachers and some of them are your former college mates,” fumed Sibanda.

Sibanda, who also labelled himself vibrant and vocal member of ARTUZ, further said members were not reaping any benefits from ARTUZ. He also challenged Masaraure to publish the expenditure budget of ARTUZ and also to attach  the full list of membership so that members could see how their subscriptions are being used.

One member of ARTUZ who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity said they felt let down by Masaraure who is now clandestinely pursing opposition politics at the expense of the teachers’ welfare.

“Our president now spends much time dining and wining with people like the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian Nichols and some opposition party members like Nelson Chamisa. He no longer has time for us and the only time we hear from him is when he will be reminding us to pay subscriptions. It’s high time we dump ARTUZ and be affiliated to another organisation that serves our interests better,” fumed the teacher.

Since its formation in 2009, ARTUZ has been accused on a number of occasions of being a public nuisance as it spends much time in stage-managed confrontation with the law enforcement agents.

Analyst Terrence Chipwanya said ARTUZ’s confrontational approach is a calculated move as its leaders are paid handsomely after every arrest.

However, the disgruntlement of members is now threatening to tear apart the 11 year old teachers’ union as members now feel used by ARTUZ’s leaders.