Lecturers and other staff at State universities are not hired by the Government but by the universities themselves and so these should be innovative enough to generate their own income to augment the block salary grants they get from the fiscus, legislators have heard.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira told a parliamentary committee that it was absurd for university staff to complain about unattractive conditions of service to the Government instead of directing their concerns to their own university councils which have the overall authority and financial powers to raise money.
Prof Murwira was giving oral evidence last week before the portfolio committee on Higher and Tertiary Education which had invited him to respond to a petition from university workers under the Zimbabwe State Universities National Joint Council.
The staff had petitioned Parliament saying the Government should address their salaries, adding that they wanted the salaries paid before 2018 in United States dollars.
In his response, Prof Murwira said the Government was paying block salary grants to all State universities just as a baseline upon which their income should be built and it was up to different universities to be innovative and generate extra income that should improve the lot of their staff.
“The governing and executive authority of universities is vested in the university council and the Government’s role is only to give policy direction and support the university in terms of statutes through grants including salary support grants.
“I want to clarify that the Government does not give salaries to universities but it gives salary support grants. It is therefore important to note that the Government is not the employer but only a shareholder through the provision of grants for infrastructure and salary support,” said Prof Murwira.
“Anything that turns to suggest Government as an employer is incorrect. Universities are creatures of statutes and separate legal entities with a right to sue and to be sued in their own right. This means universities as separate legal entities are capable of entering into contracts unassisted. The minister cannot and does not interfere with contractual obligations for universities.”
He said the size of the block salary grants for each university were determined by calibre of staff among other factors and the academic staff was the core of any university, meaning that the human resources department must be “fit for purpose”.
Prof Murwira said universities should guard against a mismatch between human capital and the intention of the institution.
“The salary support grant given by the Government is sensitive to that factor in its application. We also formally gave a policy directive for universities to undertake a process of staff rationalisation for the use of Government support grants,” he said.
Only certain top staff such as the Vice Chancellor, Pro Vice Chancellor and bursar were Government officers.
“The State is playing its role through a salary support grant which is part of the salary awarded to all employees. In the next two to three years we do not expect all universities to have the same salaries,” he said.
“NUST and MSU are like Mozambique and Zimbabwe; these are separate entities. All these are creatures. Every university is like a little country. Don’t mistake our salary support grant to be your salaries.”
The Government was however working to ensure that the salary grants are increased at least to match regional parity.
“Our discussion should be how universities are raising money so that there is no poverty. We want to solve this
issue once and for all. It is not solved by begging. Let us work on the principle of regional parity so that our salaries are equivalent or greater than those in the region,” he said.
Universities, said Prof Murwira, should be centres of wealth creation in line with the Second Republic’s thrust led by President Mnangagwa to prioritise innovation and research.
“We need to take ownership principle, ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’. We discuss as owners of the nation and not as them versus us scenarios. The principle is as a premier wealth creation centre based on knowledge and skills and not a beggar, the principle of a university as an academically autonomous institution with board of management being supported by administrators and workers of the universities, the principle of distribution after production not distribution from production,” he said.
“Tackling the source of resources first, not just focusing on distribution without enhancing production. What is the source of the money? Every time you must ask that question. How do we make it grow to make the distribution grow? Anybody who asks for money must be able to tell the source of the money. The petition at hand is an employment issue. The employer of university staff is the council in terms of various Acts.”
Zimbabwe has 12 State universities spread across the country, with at least one in every province: University of Zimbabwe, National University of Science and Technology, Midlands State University, Great Zimbabwe University, Gwanda State University, Lupane State University, Zimbabwe Open University, Harare Institute of Technology, Chinhoyi University of Science and Technology, Bindura University of Science Education, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, and Manicaland State University of Applied Sciences. – The Herald
