Artuz members freed without charge 

POLICE in Marondera yesterday failed to formally charge the nine teachers arrested while passing through the town during a Mutare-Harare salary caravan march on Saturday.

Source: Artuz members freed without charge – NewsDay Zimbabwe December 18, 2018

BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

The teachers, who are all members of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz), were intercepted by police in Macheke as they marched towards Harare.

The salary caravan march is meant to push government to pay teachers’ salaries in United States dollars as well as providing full bonuses.

The nine teachers, who had been charged for public nuisance and failure to notify police of their march, were dismissed without charge after the courts said the charges were unsustainable.

Addressing the marchers outside the court, Artuz president Obert Masaraure said they had done nothing wrong, hence they were proceeding with the march.

“We have been released without charge, and we have resumed the march towards Harare. We are going to camp at Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s office on the 19th as we demand our salaries to be paid in United States dollars as well as full bonuses,” he said.

Earlier, business came to a standstill at Marondera Magistrates’ Courts as pressure groups and human rights activists gathered in solidarity with the arrested teachers.

For close to half an hour, the activists chanted slogans and broke into songs targeting Ncube, whom they want to address their plight.