A prospective voter has given the Civil Service Commission (CSC) a five-day ultimatum to urgently institute measures to effect the automatic resignation of a school teacher after he was recently
nominated to contest as a ZANU PF political party candidate in local government elections scheduled for next month.
Only Katanda, who resides in Guruve in Mashonaland Central province enlisted the services of Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, to assist him in getting the CSC to take remedial action against Samuel Machumi, who is employed by CSC through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education as a teacher at Nyamhondoro Secondary School in Guruve in Mashonaland Central province, by terminating his employment contract so as to stop flouting the Constitution, the Electoral Act and some provisions of the CSC.
According to section 200(3)(a) and (b) of the Constitution, civil servants are barred from acting in a partisan manner and from furthering the interests of any political party or cause.
On Thursday 20 July 2023, Chinopfukutwa wrote a letter to CSC requesting it to urgently act in terminating Machuma’s contract of employment as a teacher saying he cannot remain as a civil servant and at the same time a politician.
Chinopfukutwa reminded the CSC that it issued a notice dated 17 May 2023 in which it stated that members of the Civil Service who wished to contest in the forthcoming general elections either as councilors or members of the National Assembly should write a letter to it declaring their intention to contest the election and the members would be deemed to have automatically resigned on the date on which authority to contest would have been granted.
He said despite it being clear that Machumi is contesting for a local government seat as a ZANU PF political party candidate for Ward 11 in Guruve South, he had continued attending to his teaching duties at Nyamhondoro Secondary School.
The CSC, Chinopfukutwa said, must within five days, institute measures to effect Machumi’s automatic resignation from employment as a teacher failure of which he will consider instituting appropriate legal action to have him barred from continuing to discharge his duties as a teacher.
