HARARE – Police on Tuesday arrested three University of Zimbabwe (UZ) lecturers, including a high-ranking Air Force officer, as tensions between academic staff and university authorities boiled over in a long-standing salary dispute.
Those arrested at the university’s main entrance this morning are Professor Obvious Vengeyi (Religious Studies), Dr Desmond Ndedzu (Economics), and Group Captain Boncase Mwakorera, who also lectures in aeronautical engineering and chairs the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the Zimbabwe National Defence University.
The arrests mark a dramatic escalation in a protracted standoff between UZ lecturers, represented by the Association of University Teachers (AUT), and the administration led by Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo, who has been at the helm since 2018. His tenure has been characterised by repeated clashes with staff over declining salaries, deteriorating working conditions, and alleged suppression of academic freedom.
Lecturers are demanding a return to their pre-October 2018 salary levels, which saw junior lecturers earning US$2,250 per month. Today, they take home only US$230 plus a local currency component of less than ZiG8,000 – worth under US$200 – an effective salary cut of 87%. Many say they now struggle to meet basic living costs, including housing, food, transport, healthcare, and school fees.
AUT claims it has sent more than 27 letters to university management since 2018 requesting salary adjustments, receiving only one formal response. Frustrated by what they describe as administrative indifference and arrogance, the lecturers initiated an indefinite strike on 16 April 2025, withdrawing all teaching, research, and university service.
Before the arrests, the university had suspended several AUT leaders over their role in mobilising the strike. Those suspended include AUT president Phillemon Munyaradzi Chamburuka, Justin Tandire, Mwakorera, Vengeyi, and fellow lecturer and activist Dr Munyaradzi Gwisai. Gwisai was later dispatched to Avondale Police Station to seek the release of his detained colleagues.
In a defiant statement issued ahead of the strike, AUT labelled the UZ administration “oppressive, parasitic, and arrogant”, accusing it of enriching itself while neglecting the welfare of academic staff. The statement read in part:
“We have subsidised this University for more than seven years. On the contrary, they have plundered it… From the 16th of April, we are withdrawing not only our labour but also our tools of work. We shall henceforth withdraw our computers, mobile phones and data! Enough is enough!”
Addressing students directly, AUT stressed the action was not intended to harm learners but to push for a fairer education system:
“For the past seven years we have endured humiliation… We your educators are no longer able to be your role models! We can’t afford to pay for our own children to attend this very University… Our strike is for your good. We wish to provide you with quality education.”
The lecturers detailed their daily struggles, including walking to work, skipping meals, and relying on second-hand clothes – a stark image of the profession’s decline.
Despite the university’s attempts to contain the strike by suspending union leaders starting 7 April, AUT says the move was a desperate and ineffective ploy. The executive met on 9 April and resolved to proceed with the industrial action regardless.
Solidarity has poured in from other sectors, including the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), who have condemned the arrests and expressed support for the lecturers’ demands.
Zimbabwe’s economy remains in deep crisis, with widespread poverty and crumbling public services attributed to decades of mismanagement, corruption, and authoritarian rule under Zanu PF.
Lecturers say they are prepared for a prolonged struggle, vowing not to back down until their dignity is restored and their demands for fair remuneration are met.
