Salary review for Zim state universities’ staff

Leroy Dzenga

THE Zimbabwe Government has called on teaching staff at state universities and colleges to be patient as the process to review their conditions of service is underway.

The assurance comes after lecturers at state universities wrote to government threatening to go on strike over a salary dispute.

Zimbabwe State Universities’ Union of Academics, a collective of state university lecturers, is angry that its proposal for a salary review was overlooked in the recent supplementary budget presentation by Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube.

Speaking to ZTN news on the sidelines of the Hillside Teachers’ College graduation ceremony last week, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Fanuel Tagwira, urged university staff to be patient.

“There are processes going on, therefore let’s wait and see what is going to come out from those discussions. Through their association, university staff met with the ministry and we came up with a document. That document was taken and given to the Ministry of Finance. We believe that something is going to come out of it,” said Professor Tagwira.

Government has offered a 76 percent salary hike to civil servants, a development that will see the lowest paid worker earning $1 023 up from $582, but university workers are not covered under the deal.