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
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
21 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Anatomy of the budding India-China bonhomie
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi's just concluded visit to India and the agreement between the two sides on the India-China boundary question is an encouraging sign in mending the relationship between the two countries, which has been struggling to normalise since the border standoff in 2020. Wang Yi's visit to Delhi and the agreement outlining several measures to manage the contested border ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned trip to China for the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit also reflect broader changes occurring in geopolitics. The India-China dynamics must also be read in conjunction with the engagement of the two countries with Russia. The three-way conversations involving Russia, India, and China are noteworthy as it is reflective of the broader regional geopolitical realignments in response to US policies towards them. In an ideal world, New Delhi would prefer to see Chinese power balanced by the US and/or Russia. (AFP) External affairs minister S Jaishankar is now in Russia. For both India and China (as also for Russia), the three-way conversations present an excellent opportunity to signal to Washington that there are possibilities of alternative global blocs and realignments outside of Washington's orbit and influence. What is perhaps more important and consequential are the underlying causes behind the current bonhomie between India and China. Beyond the optics, it is also evident that both India and China are eager to achieve a degree of normalcy in their relationship. The statement from the ministry of external affairs on the outcomes of Wang's India visit testifies to that. It is, therefore, possible to argue that there is a convergence between New Delhi and Beijing on the need to normalise bilateral relations. However, their respective definitions of normalcy are different. For China, normalcy means moving on from the current border impasse with India and focussing on the global balance of power. As Wang said, 'We (India and China) should never allow bilateral relations to be defined by the boundary question or specific differences to affect the overall picture of our bilateral ties.' Without normalcy with India, China knows that it will not be in a position to leverage Indian unhappiness with US President Donald Trump for its own larger geopolitical purposes. In other words, China seeks to exploit the current opportunity to challenge the US's global supremacy, and for that purpose, normalcy with India would be helpful. But the question is whether Beijing is willing to engage in sustained give-and-take negotiations with New Delhi to settle the border issue. For New Delhi, normalcy with China is centred on disengagement at the border so that it can focus on the larger geopolitical questions of India-China relations, India-China-Russia dynamics, and so on. For India, normalcy on the border and status quo ante bellum as of 2020 is key. China's global objectives behind the current warmth towards India should not be missed. Wang stated recently that 'as important members of the Global South, we have the responsibility to take the lead in opposing hegemonism and power politics'. There is little doubt that China would want to use India and Russia, and the Global South, to target the US-led world order. However, let's be clear. If Trump offers a G-2 with China, Beijing is likely to settle for it, sacrificing its secondary geopolitical equations. A similar logic extends to Russia as well. Moscow would vociferously promote the virtues of an alternative world order outside of the US orbit, but what it wants is to be recognised and treated by Washington and Europe as a great power and be accommodated within the European balance of power system, rather than being part of a China-led global order. As for India, it will continue to emphasise the importance of the Global South, multipolarity, and global alternatives, but New Delhi is not comfortable being part of a China-led, Russia-backed, non-American world order. If India is accommodated into a US-led world order as an important stakeholder, New Delhi is likely to accept that. In an ideal world, New Delhi would prefer to see Chinese power balanced by the US and/or Russia. However, since these options are not currently available, it is inclined to settle for underbalancing China, given its lack of capacity to balance Beijing on its own. In that sense, the three countries – India, China, and Russia – are hedging against geopolitical uncertainties and opting for their respective second-best options. This essential geopolitical dynamic should not be lost on our policymakers. In the meantime, and notwithstanding the deep mistrust between the two countries, India needs to engage with China for two key reasons. For India, conflict management with China is a key issue, as the fundamental contradictions in the relationship are unlikely to disappear soon. Therefore, it is essential to establish and strengthen confidence-building measures (CBMs) to manage Sino-Indian tensions. In that sense, the recent agreements are in the right direction. A no less important reason for India to engage with China on a sustained basis is that managing the relationship with Beijing — its rise as a global power and ambitions for superpower status, aggressive pursuit of its territorial ambitions, and attempts at unipolarity in Asia — is going to be India's most crucial task for the next several decades. From that perspective alone, New Delhi will need to engage productively with Beijing. Happymon Jacob is the founder and director of the Council for Strategic and Defense Research and the editor of INDIA'S WORLD magazine. The views expressed are personal
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Russia Captures 3 More Villages In Eastern Ukraine, Says Army
The Russian army said Wednesday it had captured three villages in eastern Ukraine, claiming fresh territorial gains despite US-led peace efforts and a flurry of diplomacy to end the conflict. Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram its troops had "continued to advance deep into the enemy defences" in the embattled Donetsk region, taking the villages of Sukhetske and Pankivka. They are near a section of the front where the Russian army broke through Ukrainian defences last week, between the logistics hub of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka. In the neighbouring central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian army said it had captured the village of Novogeorgiivka. Moscow's troops first entered the region -- previously spared from fighting -- in July. These latest advances come amid accelerated efforts by the US and European leaders to broker a peace deal that would end the offensive, now in its fourth year. US President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had agreed to meet the Ukrainian leader and accept some Western security guarantees for Kyiv. These promises were met with caution in European capitals. According to three sources familiar with a Monday call between Trump and Putin, the Russian leader proposed holding the summit with Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow -- an idea rejected by the Ukrainian president (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
NATO defense chiefs to hold virtual meeting on security guarantees for Ukraine
BRUSSELS: NATO defense chiefs were due to hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday, a senior alliance official said, as Western countries pushing for an end to Russia's war on Ukraine devise possible future security guarantees for Kyiv that could help forge a peace agreement. Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO's Military Committee, said that 32 defense chiefs from across the alliance would hold a video conference as a US-led diplomatic push seeks to end the fighting. US Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, will take part in the talks, Dragone said on social platform X. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chided efforts to work on security arrangements in Ukraine without Moscow's involvement. 'We cannot agree with the fact that it is now proposed to resolve collective security issues without the Russian Federation. This will not work,' Lavrov said Wednesday, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Russia will 'ensure (its) legitimate interests firmly and harshly,' Lavrov added at a news conference in Moscow with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi. Defense chiefs work on details of Ukraine security force US President Donald Trump met last Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and on Monday hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and prominent European leaders at the White House. Neither meeting delivered concrete progress. Trump is trying to steer Putin and Zelenskyy toward a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbor, but there are major obstacles. They include Ukraine's demands for Western-backed military assurances to ensure Russia won't mount another invasion in the coming years. 'We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly secure and lasting peace,' Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post Wednesday after Russian missile and drone strikes hit six regions of Ukraine overnight.
