By Staff Reporter
THE University of Zimbabwe (UZ) has fired four trade union leaders of the ongoing prolonged strike in direct violation of the Labour Act and International Labor Organisation (ILO) conventions.
This follows a crippling industrial action which entered day 71 Wednesday as the lecturers insist on a salary rise US$2 250 from the current US$230.
The affected lecturers who are leaders of the Association of the University Teachers (AUT) include: Munyaradzi Chamburuka (President), Bornface Mwakorera (Secretary General), Justin Tandire (Organising Secretay) and Obvious Vengeyi (Spokesperson).
Vengeyi posted on social media that they were dismissed for using the Great Hall without approval from the university authorities had opened the building for them and had also provided a legal officer and security personnel during the event.
The four were suspended last month and later underwent disciplinary hearings.
“We have received dismissal letters from the university following the disciplinary proceedings. We were suspended on the 6th of May, and the letters stated that the dismissal is effective from the date of our suspension.
“We wrote to the registrar that we wished to use the great hall for the purposes of balloting on the 28th of March and the balloting was meant for the 2nd of April, but the registrar did not respond to our letter of request.
“Then came the second of April, the university opened the hall and also brought in a legal officer of the University of Zimbabwe to be part of the proceedings. The university also supplied security guards to oversee the process until the end and then two days later, that is when they said we used the hall without authorization,” he said.
He vowed to pursue legal action in resolving the matter.
“We are still AUT members, we will continue with our strike and picketing .We will seek legal remedy, which we will discuss later with our legal adviser.”
