By Staff Reporter
Harare – Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) Secretary General, Robson Chere, has delivered a poignant Christmas message reflecting on a year of economic turmoil and democratic backsliding, urging citizens to unite for a better 2025.
Chere in a statement likened 2024 to Zimbabwe’s economic crisis in 2008, citing inflation, low salaries, and an unfavorable tax regime as factors that plunged civil servants and the broader population into financial despair.
“This is the year that saw the unjustified continued decrease of real disposable income of teachers, civil servants and the majority of citizens due to low nominal salaries, inflation and an anti-poor tax regime.
“The ZiG strange currency completed our collective economic demise and ushered us into a gloomy and sorrowful supposedly festive season,” he said.
He criticized the government’s treatment of civil servants, highlighting stagnant wages and staggered bonuses as inadequate.
“We are ushered into the festive season with gifts of low salaries and staggered bonuses from the government.
“Those of us going for retirement are going out to pasture with virtually no savings,” Chere lamented
Chere’s message also highlighted the escalation of “lawfare” against labour leaders and human rights defenders in 2024, including his own 35-day incarceration on charges he described as “fictitious.”
“Fellow citizens, 2024 saw the escalation of lawfare against labour leaders and general persecution of human rights defenders.
“It has been a year that marked the intensification of closure of the democratic space in our country,” said Chere.
“It’s a year that saw myself being incarcerated for 35 days without bail on fictitious frivolous charges.
The ARTUZ leader condemned the growing calls to amend the 2013 Constitution to extend presidential term limits, calling such proposals a violation of democratic principles.
Turning to broader societal issues, Chere decried the rise in drug abuse among youths, attributing the trend to unemployment, stress, and lax enforcement.
“2024 saw the drug abuse scourge among our youths in particular and citizens in general exponentially increasing.
“The results are there for all to see. The causes are simple. Unemployment, idleness, laxed policing and stress are all combined enablers of drug and substance abuse.
“The state just doesn’t care. Junkies and stoned citizens are manipulatable any day,” he remarked.
Despite the challenges, Chere called for renewed solidarity among Zimbabweans, emphasizing the need for collective action to address economic and social issues in 2025.
“When we embarked on the struggle for labor and citizens’ emancipation, we knew it would be hard, grueling, and deadly.
“Nothing has changed.
“We stand where we stood,” he asserted, urging citizens to unite in 2025 to “reclaim our collective dignity.”
He pledged that ARTUZ would continue to advocate for workers’ rights, urging citizens to unite in reclaiming their dignity.
“2025 will mark a more united aggressive agitation for the betterment of our collective lot. We are clear on that,” he said.
Chere concluded by expressing gratitude for the support shown to ARTUZ during 2024 and wishing Zimbabweans strength in the coming year. “Zimbabwe, our motherland, will survive through the courage of her people. Merry Christmas and a happy new year,” he said.
