Strike shutters Zimbabwe's main university

HARARE: More than 100 lecturers and teaching staff picketed at Zimbabwe's main university Tuesday to back a five-week wage strike that has already forced the cancellation of exams.Lecturers at the University of Zimbabwe downed tools on April 16 to demand an increase in salary from $230 (US dollars) to $2,500 per month, the amount they were last paid back in 2018 before a massive currency change and devaluation.Zimbabwe National Students Union students joined the staff at the third picket outside the university in central Harare since the indefinite strike began.There have been no classes since the action started and students were unable to write exams due two weeks ago, Association of University Teachers (AUT) representative Obvious Vengeyi said."The administration suspended five of AUT leaders hoping the strike will go off but unfortunately they have added fuel to the fire," he told AFP on the sidelines of the demonstration."If they do not address our demands, this university will close its doors for the first time since it was opened in 1952," Vengeyi said.The AUT said the university employs about 1,200 lecturers and other teaching staff but only 17 were working.

Earlier this month, six students were arrested and charged for protesting in support of the teachers."We have realised that the lecturers are the cornerstone of our education so their mistreatment means that there is no progress that can happen at this university," student leader Darlington Chingwena told AFP.Lecturers are demanding their monthly salaries be pegged at $2,500, which they say is on par with other regional higher education institutions.Salaries were devalued after Zimbabwe shifted from the US dollar in 2019 to a local quasi-currency known as the RTGS (real time gross settlement).It was replaced by a new gold-backed currency launched in April 2024 with the aim of tackling sky-high inflation and stabilising the country's long-floundering economy. According to a document seen by AFP, the university -- which reportedly has around 18,000 students -- said last week it will replace the striking staff with temporary hires.str/br/ho/giv