FAITH NDOU
MASVINGO-The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) has filed a Public Interest Complaint before the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), accusing the Public Service Commission (PSC) of systemic labour rights violations.
ARTUZ says that the labour rights violations have left public servants impoverished and exposed to dangerous survival conditions.
In a statement issued on 29 June 2026, ARTUZ said the complaint follows the tragic death of Progress Makamani, a teacher employed under the PSC at Dune Primary School in Buhera District, who died on 9 June 2026 after an artisanal mine shaft collapsed.
ARTUZ said Makamani’s death reflects a wider crisis affecting public servants forced into hazardous informal work due to low salaries.
The union argued that the incident was not isolated but the result of prolonged underpayment and institutional neglect.
“Mr Makamani’s death was not an unfortunate accident in isolation. It was the foreseeable consequence of years of institutional neglect, poverty wages, and the continued failure by the Public Service Commission to fulfil its constitutional and statutory obligations towards public servants,” ARTUZ said in the statement.
The union said thousands of teachers and other civil servants are surviving on salaries far below the cost of living, forcing them into risky income generating activities.
ARTUZ cited its 2026 Teacher Basket of Needs Survey, which estimated that a teacher requires US$1,260 per month to meet basic needs.
“The Commission cannot continue to preside over employment conditions that deny workers dignity while expecting professionalism and quality public service delivery,” the union said.
“Workers earning poverty wages are left with impossible choices: endure chronic deprivation or expose themselves to dangerous livelihood activities. Mr Makamani paid for this broken system with his life.”
ARTUZ is calling for the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission to investigate salary structures, deductions and working conditions within the public service including concerns over the Government Employees Mutual Savings (GEMS) scheme.
The union also wants reforms that align public sector wages with the cost of living and restore dignity, safety and constitutional labour rights for workers.
ARTUZ said labour rights are human rights, warning that continued inaction is costing lives.
“The rights to life, dignity, fair remuneration and safe working conditions cannot exist only on paper while workers continue to die in abandoned mine shafts,” the statement read.
The union urged authorities to act swiftly, saying the death of Makamani should serve as a turning point in the treatment of public servants.
“Justice for Progress Makamani means justice for every public servant,” ARTUZ said.
