Someone Must Pay For Gambling With College Students' Lives - Majongwe

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said authorities were reckless in ordering the reopening of colleges earlier this month against sound advice.

In a post on Twitter, the outspoken trade unionist said the people and officials who made the decision to reopen institutions of higher learning “must pay” for the rise in coronavirus infections. Said Majongwe:

If truth be told the People and Officials who insisted on reopening Colleges ignoring the COVID-19 threat should take full responsibility for the cases comi drone [sic] these institutions. Such recklessness must not be tolerated. Surely someone must pay for this.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science, Innovation and Technology Development ordered principals of teachers’ colleges, polytechnical colleges and industrial technical colleges to suspend face-to-face lectures on campus.

The permanent secretary in the Ministry, professor Fanuel Tagwira said all students should vacate halls of residence by Friday, 24 July 2020.

He said the escalating cases of COVID-19 may put the lives of students and members of staff at high risk, hence the closure of the institutions.