According to http://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#strftime-strptime-behavior the %z directive is used to specify the timezone offset  of the form +HHMM or -HHMM. However it is not implemented in datetime.strptime.

I'd prefer to have %z available in strptime but if not having it is a deliberate decision I think it should be mentioned in the documentation as not to confuse users.