AMALGAMATED Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) leaders are preparing a lawsuit against government after they have gone for three months without salaries.
The salaries were withheld by the Public Service Commission after the mid-January fuel price hike protests.
Artuz president Obert Masaraure, secretary-general Robson Chere and the union’s Mashonaland West chairperson Munyaradzi Ndawana were arrested for taking part in the protests in January and consequently did not report for duty since they were in detention.
The PSC went on to stop their salaries on the basis of absenteeism.
Advocate Hopwell Chitima, the Artuz lawyer, confirmed the planned lawsuit.
“I have been briefed by my clients to take legal action against their employer, who has unfairly withheld their salaries. I am just waiting for some backing documents before filing the court application,” he said.
Masaraure said families of the union’s leaders have hit hard times as a result.
“The families of these teachers are failing to access basic goods such as food, clothes, shelter and transport to work, among others, like healthcare and paying school fees for their children. Actually, when schools open next term, their children will not be able to go there because of financial constraints deliberately brought by the employer,” he said.
“If a teacher, who is earning a salary, can fail to meet basic living expenses, what about one who is going to work, but not being paid for about three months?”
Masaraure revealed that efforts to engage the employer amicably had failed, hence the move to go to court.
“We have been pursuing dialogue with the employer to resolve the impasse, but nothing is coming out. That is why we have engaged our lawyer to take legal action,” he said.
After spending over a fortnight in a fortified estate in the British countryside during the German bombing of London, His Majesty King George VI, 45, may now consider reappearing — if only briefly — as reports emerge of a lull in Luftwaffe air raids.
The King is understood to have been moved to a secure location following intelligence that Berlin was actively targeting Britain’s senior leadership. Even some senior cabinet officials are rumoured to have been unable to contact him directly, relying instead on intermediaries and pre-written statements.
Although Prime Minister Winston Churchill is said to have advised Hitler against targeting the monarch personally, the German High Command has not ruled out the possibility of a decapitation strike.
When — or indeed if — His Majesty returns to public view, he will witness a country physically scarred and emotionally weary. And though he will likely stand before the BBC microphones proclaiming resilience, and perhaps even “victory through perseverance”, the truth is Britain enters a new and far more uncertain chapter.
A diminished monarch for a diminished nation
While Whitehall insists morale remains high, voices of discontent have grown louder — particularly among war-weary civilians in blitzed cities. With entire boroughs of London in ruins, and with food and fuel supplies strained to the brink, some now question whether the government’s strategy of outright defiance is sustainable.
“What was it all for?” is the quiet question behind closed curtains, even among once-loyal civil servants.
“This is not the Britain of 1939,” says Professor Harold Elsmore of Oxford University’s School of Political Thought. “This is a country on fire — spiritually and literally. If the Crown cannot reassert moral leadership, there may be lasting consequences.”
Stirrings in the shadows
In recent days, BBC Home Service has learned that certain influential members of Parliament have begun urging the Archbishop of Canterbury and other senior clergy to consider a temporary regency — a move that would have been unthinkable just months ago.
“There must be a reckoning,” says an anonymous backbencher from the Midlands. “The people have sacrificed everything. The question now is: where is the King?”
Despite signs of extraordinary civilian solidarity — neighbours digging out rubble with bare hands, grocers giving away rations — there’s also a sense of abandonment. The symbol of national unity, critics argue, has been conspicuously absent during the darkest hour.
‘Resilience or resentment?’
In areas worst hit by bombing — Coventry, Liverpool, the East End of London — a quiet resentment is said to be taking root. The question isn’t just whether Britain can defeat Hitler, but whether the constitutional monarchy can survive the trauma intact.
“People rallied not to defend the monarchy, but to defend each other,” said one local councillor from Stepney. “We’re tired, we’re proud, but we’re not blind.”
There are rumours that even inside Buckingham Palace — now mostly evacuated — a faction of staff and advisors fear that the longer the King remains out of sight, the harder it will be to restore his authority.
Danger remains
Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe is far from finished. Intelligence suggests that long-range bombing campaigns may soon extend to industrial towns in the north. The RAF remains stretched, and while Britain’s resolve is not broken, its infrastructure certainly is.
The King’s return — should it happen soon — will need to be more than ceremonial. It must be meaningful, decisive, and seen. For now, he remains the monarch of a kingdom in survival mode.
And many are wondering — quietly but insistently — whether his reign will outlast the Reich.
If you have read to the end, please note that this is just a parody of an article recently published by the BBC about Ayatollah Khamenei.
