University staff appeal for reversal of 50% pay cuts

Zimbabwe’s universities are reeling under crippling cuts to funding which have seen the salaries of lecturers cut by half as the country’s economic situation continues to worsen.

The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development said Treasury had slashed its budget by about 50%, resulting in a corresponding cut in salaries for lecturers and other university staff.

The ministry has appealed to the Treasury to reverse the cuts.

The higher education ministry also said universities were owed US$7 million by the Treasury, a situation that was affecting their operations.

The ministry said it had met with vice-chancellors of local universities who expressed shock at the unilateral decision to cut salaries for university staff.

“The vice-chancellors and the Staff Association of Zimbabwe State Universities have raised concerns over the proposed 2017 budget allocation that has been radically slashed by almost 50%, in particular salaries for staff in universities," said Dr Machivenyika Mapuranga, permanent secretary for the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, in a statement.

"Key players have been alarmed by this decision taken by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development."

Illegal

Mapuranga said vice-chancellors had told his ministry the salary cuts were illegal.

“Members of the staff association [of universities], whose constituency had already raised alarm bells, wrote to the ministry indicating that in terms of the Labour Act, it is illegal to reduce employee salaries. They unreservedly expressed their position that the salary budget cuts should be reversed… with immediate effect. Members categorically stated that state universities are not able and have no capacity to pay for the other 50% towards employment costs,” said Mapuranga.

He said his ministry and the vice-chancellors held a meeting and agreed that there appears to be a shocking lack of appreciation by Treasury of the strategic role that the universities play in the socio-economic development of Zimbabwe. Mapuranga said universities are operating under the same harsh economic environment as any other sector in Zimbabwe.

“About 90% of students who enrol at local universities and tertiary institutions are from poor families but Treasury continues to ignore this reality,” said Mapuranga.

He said universities are owed huge amounts of money by students who do not have the capacity to pay. Mapuranga said many students in the country were failing to sit their examinations or access their results due to their inability to pay fees.

Government responsibility

He said at a meeting between vice-chancellors at state universities and his ministry, it was agreed that government, as the responsible authority that set up and established the institutions of higher learning, had a duty to meet the most basic costs of running these institutions. He said the basic costs include employment, administration and infrastructural development costs.

The economic situation in Zimbabwe is worsening, with experts blaming it on the policy failures of President Robert Mugabe’s government.

Late last year, the government introduced a new quasi-currency – bond notes – to run alongside the United States dollar and South African rand, but the introduction has done nothing to ease a biting cash crisis.

Despite signs of a failing economy and his old age, Mugabe – who turns 93 on 21 February – plans to run again for another five-year term in next year’s presidential elections. The ZANU-PF leader has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and his government’s human rights record has attracted sanctions from Western countries.