Zimbabwe: University of Zimbabwe Dismisses Striking Lecturers
THE University of Zimbabwe (UZ)’s administration has fired four leaders of the ongoing lecturers’ strike.
The strike has reached day 71, with lecturers demanding an upward review of their salaries to US$2,250 from the current US$230.
The four dismissed are Association of University Teachers (AUT) leaders: Munyaradzi Chamburuka (President), Bornface Mwakorera (Secretary-General), Justin Tandire (Organising Secretary), and Obvious Vengeyi (Spokesperson).
Vengeyi told NewZimbabwe.com, Wednesday that they were dismissed for using the great hall without approval from the university, despite the fact that university authorities had opened the building for them and had also provided a legal officer and security personnel during the event.
The four were suspended last month and later underwent disciplinary hearings.
“We have received dismissal letters from the university following the disciplinary proceedings. We were suspended on the 6th of May, and the letters stated that the dismissal is effective from the date of our suspension.
“We wrote to the registrar that we wished to use the great hall for the purposes of balloting on the 28th of March and the balloting was meant for the 2nd of April, but the registrar did not respond to our letter of request.
“Then came the second of April, the university opened the hall and also brought in a legal officer of the University of Zimbabwe to be part of the proceedings.
“The university also supplied security guards to oversee the process until the end and then two days later, that is when they said we used the hall without authorisation,” Vengeyi said.
He added that they will continue picketing and plan to pursue legal action.
“We are still AUT members, we will continue with our strike and our picketing. We will also seek legal remedy, which we will discuss later with our legal advisor.
“We are not disturbed at all, not worried. We knew they would reach this decision because, even during the disciplinary hearings, they classified the offence under Schedule D, which allows dismissal on the first offence and we knew this was their intention, to fire us in the hope that it would stop the strike.”
By New Zimbabwe.
