'University staff were not on strike but didn't have $0.50 to report for work'

Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Development Oppah Muchinguri says that university staff were not on strike but didn't have money for transport to report for work on Tuesday which resulted in a violent protest by University of Zimbabwe students leading to the closure of the university.

Speaking in a Ministerial Statement to the Senate in Parliament this afternoon, Muchinguri said that the staff had not been paid their February salary which was due on the 25th of the month which left all the workers so broke as not to afford $0.50 to travel to work. The Minister insisted in her statement that the workers were not an industrial action as was reported by sectors of the media.

As a result of the non academic staff members' failure to report for duty, students at the university were not served their breakfast on Tuesday morning and there were no lecturers in the lecture rooms leading to the students going on a riot. The riot went out of control leading to members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police anti riot squad descending on the students spraying tear gas and beating up the students to disperse the riot.

The University Vice Chancellor immediately closed the college for a week ordering all students to leave campus. Police details were deployed to remove students from the campus with some leaving campus without their vital clothing and toiletries which were in the residence halls. Several students spent Tuesday night in the streets of the capital as they had no money to travel to their homes out of Harare some out of the country.

Minister Muchinguri explained that her Ministry had to engage the services of acting president Emmerson Munangagwa to get Treasury to release the salaries of the workers before the university was reopened the following day.

Muchinguri thanked the members of the ZRP for what she called swiftly bringing the college under control where as students body ZINASU has condemned the police brutality against the students. She also went on to thank a ZANU PF allied non recognised students body ZICOSU for what she said was cooperation her Ministry got from them to calm the students.

Several students who had already left the capital are still not yet back at the college after they had been told to go home for a week. Some students claim to have paid for a week's rental to some accommodation agents who are refusing to refund them.

The Minister blamed the failure to pay the university staff salaries on what she called a tight environment in which the Ministry of Finance was operating under. She said the Ministry should be paying the workers on the 25th of every month but sometimes delays until the 10th of the following month. As a way forward Minister Muchinguri said she has agreed with the Ministry of Finance to alternate non or delayed salary payments with all other government departments and not only delay paying university staff.