Factcheck – Are Zimbabwe lawyers the largest professional body? -
Ngoni Mhuruyengwe
November 24, 2022
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:
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.
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