After a month full of awful violence, the teachers in Zimbabwe decided to take action. The Progressive Teachers Union threatened to go on strike if the government will keep targeting them with their attacks.

The teachers union claims that at least 133 of its members have been attacked and over 1,700 have fled out of fear. The union also wanted to make it clear that they are not politically involved and have not endorsed either Zanu-PF or the Movement for Democratic Change during the elections.

Raymond Majongwe, the union’s spokesman, was quoted by BBC News saying: "They were beaten with iron bars, some have had their legs and limbs and hands seriously injured. Quite a lot have been hit on the head and it’s quite tragic, it's terrible."

Apparently, many of the teachers working as polling officers were accused of aiding the opposition during last month’s events and the assaults were conducted in order to punish them and also make an example out of them.

The election authorities announced a 47.9 % lead for Tsvangirai over President Robert Mugabe who had 43.2 %, both under the 50 % needed to be declared winner. At this point, Morgan Tsvangirai and the rest of the Movement for Democratic Change must decide whether they will participate in the re-run. The party has initially refused the idea on the count that they already have sufficient votes to be declared the winners but if they maintain their position, President Mugabe might return as president.