Zimbabwe: 'We Are Shutting Down All State Universities in Zimbabwe (2025)

The University of Zimbabwe Association of University Teachers (AUT) has threatened to escalate industrial action to all 14 state universities within the next 10 days if the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and the government continue to ignore their grievances regarding poor wages.

The AUT is demanding that the government and UZ reinstate lecturers' salaries to the pre-October 2018 period, when a junior lecturer earned US$2,250 before the remuneration was slashed to US$230.

Speaking outside the UZ campus, during the first day of their protests, union legal advisor and senior labour law lecturer at UZ, Munyaradzi Gwisai, issued Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Fredrick Shava and the Treasury a ten-day ultimatum.

He stated that if they fail to address lecturers' welfare, they will extend industrial action to all 14 state universities.

"Dr Shava, the choice is yours. You and Professor Mthuli Ncube and Permanent Secretary George Guvamatanga, the one who we hear is looting public funds, you must sit down and give UZ lecturers and staff what is their due.

"If you do not, take it from us, this is going to be a struggle that is going to go to the entire fourteen state universities and this is going to happen in the next ten days," fumed Gwisai, to rousing cheers from the assembled protesters.

Gwisai insisted that the university must entirely cease its services and has pleaded with all lecturers to withdraw all forms of service, including examination marking, until the institution reviews their salaries.

"We must ensure that not a single examination paper is marked from today onwards. We must ensure that not a single examination board sits from today going onwards," Gwisai exclaimed with ululations from the protesters.

AUT spokesperson Professor Obvious Vengeyi told NewZimbabwe.com that the UZ administration is full of "blue-ticking legends" (referring to ignoring messages) who are refusing to engage with lecturers.

He further charged that the arrogance of the administration stinks and will only make the situation worse.

"We must ensure that if you get a call from a dean, a departmental chairperson, who says to you, come to the lecture room, you just ignore it.

"They are buying themselves top-of-the-range latest vehicles. They are arrogant. They don't talk to us. They are not engaging us. We wrote to them more than forty letters since 2018, and they only replied to two. They squander resources on their own, leaving lecturers suffering. We need dignity for the profession. How can you pay a professor US$230?" Professor Vengeyi fumed.

He said the administration seems to be living on a different planet, completely disconnected from the realities faced by the lecturers.

Last week, Professor Vengeyi and his colleagues were arrested at UZ for protesting against poor wages and were released after spending a night in police cells and paying US$15 fines.

Last week, the High Court of Zimbabwe also interdicted the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the UZ from interfering with the protesting lecturers.

The UZ lecturers vowed to continue with the protest indefinitely until their demands are met.

The protests continue Friday outside the UZ premises.