Justice Joseph Mafusire handed down his written judgment for the original #SafeSchools case, the Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) v ZANU PF & Minister of Education HC 263/18. It is a bold judgment upholding the rights of children, teachers and schools. Here are some quotations from the judgment:
“I was satisfied that the respondents [ZANU PF and Minister of Education] were guilty of blatant abuse of the rights and freedoms of the school children; their schools and their teachers” [para 34]
“The High Court is the upper guardian of all minor children in Zimbabwe. No one tramples on their rights and freedoms and expects the court to look the other way. It will not. … Section 81(2) of the Constitution says a child’s best interests are paramount in every matter concerning the child.” [para 37]
“The deponent to the first respondent’s [ZANU PF’s] affidavit [argued that] the first respondent, under the new dispensation, is now, as it were, a new creature. I did not agree. Evidence placed before me showed that the first respondent was still the same old creature and still perpetrating the same old abuses.” [para 38]