Bulawayo university lecturers & Harare nurses go on strike
By Violet Gonda
Tuesday 30 January

More and more groups are going on strike as the economic crisis and living conditions worsen. Lecturers and non-academic staff at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) went on strike in Bulawayo on Monday and the Association of University Teachers (AUT), agreed that all academic staff at state universities would go on a collective job action, when the various universities opened.

University of Zimbabwe lecturer and political commentator Dr John Makumbe said: “NUST was expected to open today and so the staff and lecturers have gone on strike and it’s likely to happen with each day approaching for the opening of each state university.”

University of Zimbabwe lecturers are expected to start their job action when the university opens in mid-February.

Meanwhile nurses at Parirenyatwa and Harare Central Hospitals in Harare have also gone on a strike. So have mortuary attendants and cooks at several hospitals, joining a growing number of disgruntled civil servants who are failing to cope in the harsh economic climate.

Junior doctors at the main state hospitals countrywide are on strike, some for six weeks, without a solution in sight.

The industrial action by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, which was supposed to start on Monday, will begin as a go-slow strike on Wednesday this week.

And the country’s main labour body, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, warned the government it will call for a general strike if the demands of workers across the country are not addressed by the 23rd February.

Some analysts believe this is the time the pro-democracy movement should unite to fight the Mugabe regime as one. But Dr John Makumbe said: “Let each group do its own thing but they must do it fully and effectively and the regime will run into so many problems.”

Speaking on the plight of university lecturers, Makumbe said they are asking for a 1000% salary increase and for terms and conditions of services to improve significantly. The government awarded civil servants a 300% increment recently, but this is still not enough for people to cope with the high cost of living in Zimbabwe.

An average university lecturer was earning around ZW$70 000 a month, before the 300% increase which resulted in salaries going up to about ZW$230 000. But Makumbe said: “It’s inadequate because most accommodation, if you are in flats – is about ZW$80 000. If you in a house it’s more than ZW$120 000 to ZW$150 000. That’s before you pay your telephone bill, before you pay your electricity, before you buy one litre at ZW$4 000 to ZW$5 000 a litre for your car for fuel. So it’s a very, very difficult time. At the University of Zimbabwe now, lecturers are only showing up when they have to.”

Basically every sector in Zimbabwe has been hit by the economic crisis which is largely blamed on the bad policies and mis-governance by the Mugabe regime. The basic basket for survival for a family of 5 in an urban area is now ZW$370 000. Makumbe said: “And academics are asking to earn just a little more than that.”

He said the Association of University Teachers gave the authorities the mandatory 14 days notice – in accordance with the Labour Relations Act – but there has been no response.