Factcheck – Are Zimbabwe lawyers the largest professional body?

Claim: Zimbabwe is the most politically quarrelsome country on earth because its professional ranks are dominated by legal practioners, according to a claim posted on some social media platforms which triggered a debate on the number of law students and lawyers in the country.

Source:

Source: This post triggered the debate in one platform grouping journalists

Verdict: False. While we are unable to verify the claim around the demand for law studies among potential students, it is a fact that lawyers do not constitute the largest number of professionals in Zimbabwe. Other professions have larger numbers, such as teaching which has over 130,000 teachers in public schools.

In Zimbabwe there are +/- 2000 registered Legal Practitioners, according to the Law Society of Zimbabwe.

However, according to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education there are about 135 000 public school teachers in Zimbabwe.

According to the Health Service Board, as of February 2020, there were 1,414 doctors and 15, 353 nurses working in the country’s public hospitals.

Zimbabwe has more than 20 universities, but only five are currently offering training in law. These are: University of Zimbabwe (UZ), Great Zimbabwe University (GZU), Midlands State University (MSU), Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University and Africa University.

Conclusion: Law profession is not the largest group of people

Sources: Law Society of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Law Students Association

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education

This fact check was produced by Bridget Mabanda, an intern at ZimFact and a member of a college fact checking club at Harare Polytechnic initiated by ZimFact.

Do you want to use our content? Click Here