MARTIN MAWAYA
GWERU-Long queues have resurfaced at most banks in Gweru as parents and guardians jostle to pay school fees for their children ahead of second term opening on Monday.
The queues have been witnessed at ZB Bank and CBZ among others.
Normally when schools open parents face myriad of problems including forking out steep prices for uniforms and other essential needs.
Of late parents struggled to send their children to school as they were failing to cope with the cost of living against the stagnant Zimbabwe dollar salaries.
Their plight are worsened by bus operators who also charge exorbitant prices during the opening of every school term.
Over the years most uniform and stationery stockists make a killing as they inflate their prices and parents will not have any other choice but to buy the essentials at inflated prices.
Some parents told The Midweek Watch that they will not be able to pay the fees in full as the economic hardships continue to bite and erode their incomes.
Roselyn Chimuka of Riverside, said the deepening liquidity crunch has forced her to pay her kids fees in batches.
“I came to the bank earlier this morning so that I can pay fees for my kid. However, I only managed to raise half of the fees as you know that these are hard times. What I am earning doesn’t match with all my needs.
“The economic situation is grim and as parents we are struggling to raise the required amount. I only deposited what I have so that my daughter will not be inconvenienced when schools open on Monday while looking for the balance,” she said.
Another parent from Mkoba high density suburb, Abel Simango added that “ he has cancelled all the programmes of the day to do his children errands”.
He said the queues are moving slowly and the process turned to be horrible as he had not been served by midday after arriving at 9 am.
Simango bemoaned the prevailing high prices at most shops saying they “are not reasonable,”.
Other parents who were doing other businesses at the banks lashed out at the guardians who congest the banks by paying their children fees at the last minute.
Meanwhile, the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe ( ARTUZ) president Obert Masaraure told this reporter that his organization has already conducted internal survey on the way forward ahead of school opening.
Nearly 700 ARTUZ members have elected to report to work twice a week, Mondays and Fridays, 600 have advocated for total withdrawal of labour and only 42 have opted to report to work as they feared for their safety and loss of employment.
Masaraure added that ARTUZ will give further details in due course.
Civil servants have been at loggerhead with their employer over poor remuneration and teachers have threatened a crippling strike as schools open if their demands for USD salaries pegged at the 2017 level are not met.
