US embassy cable - 03HARARE784

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000784 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/S RAYNOR, AF/PDPA DALTON, ECA/A/S/A PIVES, 
APRINCE, JFRISBIE, ECA/A/E/AF AMARTIN 
 
ACCRA FOR REAC NKETEKU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, OEXC, SCUL 
SUBJECT: UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE REOPENS BUT STUDENTS 
ARE SLOW TO RETURN 
 
REF: A: HARARE 781 
 
B: HARARE 752 
C: HARARE 729 
 
1. The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) officially re- 
opened Tuesday April 22, 2003 and most professors 
returned to work.  Many students, however, have yet to 
arrive on campus, delaying the start of classes.  The 
Ministry of Higher Education closed UZ in February 
2003 in response to a strike by academic staff.  No 
regularly scheduled classes or exams have taken place 
since November 2002, when the faculty members began 
the strike in protest against low salaries and lack of 
benefits. 
 
2. The Ministry of Higher Education announced on 
Thursday April 17 that all University of Zimbabwe 
academic staff would be granted a retention allowance 
valued at 30% of their salaries.  This allowance is to 
be backdated to January 2003.  The 30% retention 
allowance was promised to all lecturers during 
negotiations in December, but was at first only 
granted to staff at the Medical School and not to 
other departments.  The Association of University 
Teachers (AUT, the collective bargaining unit for 
university academic staff) discovered in February 2003 
that the retention allowance was only paid to Medical 
School staff.  AUT members outside of the Medical 
School then refused to give undergraduate lectures to 
protest the salary discrepancy.  The Ministry of 
Higher Education responded by closing down UZ and 
threatening to fire and replace all the striking 
academics. 
 
3. After announcing the 30% retention allowance, 
University of Zimbabwe Vice-Chancellor Levy Nyagura 
proclaimed that classes would resume on Tuesday April 
22 (after the long Easter holiday weekend) and that 
all students and staff should plan to return to 
campus.  Nyagura explained that a revised schedule 
would be implemented in order to make up for class 
time missed since the university was shut down in 
November 2002.  Classes will now be held from April 22 
until May 5 when exams originally scheduled for 
December 2002 will be held.  The second semester will 
begin on May 19 with classes running until the middle 
of July and final examinations ending in early August. 
The next academic year will begin in September, 
switching UZ back to an American-style school 
calendar. 
 
4. Press reports on April 23 indicated that although 
many teachers returned to campus, most students did 
not.  Classes therefore did not resume April 22 as 
most lecture hall seats were empty.  Some students may 
not have heard that the campus had reopened and 
classes resumed, as a large number of UZ students come 
from rural areas of Zimbabwe with limited access to 
news.  Other students have undoubtedly been delayed by 
transport problems.  The price of fuel more than 
doubled in Zimbabwe last week (Ref B), causing 
commensurate changes in bus fares.  Some students may 
not have the money on hand to pay for the long journey 
to Harare.  Others may simply be unable to find a 
functioning bus, as Zimbabwe's severe fuel shortages 
continue despite the price increase.  Finally, 
politics may play a role in student attendance.  The 
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) called for a 
3-day stay-away this week to protest against the fuel 
price hike (Ref A).  Some university students may be 
staying home in solidarity with the ZCTU protest. 
 
5.  Comment:  The Government of Zimbabwe seems to have 
appeased the UZ professors' salary demands, at least 
in the short term.  However, contacts at the 
university have told us that conditions are now ripe 
for student unrest and that further disruptions to the 
semester are likely.  Most students receive loans from 
the government to cover tuition, accommodation, and 
living expenses.  After paying their fees to the 
university, they are left with about z$60,000 (about 
US$43 at current market rates) per year to pay for 
food, transport, books, and other expenses.  This 
means that a student is expected to live on z$5000 
(about US$3.50) per month.  Bread, for example, now 
costs z$300 per loaf.  A medium-sized pizza is z$2000. 
A round-trip bus ticket to Harare's high-density 
suburbs costs over z$1000.  A weekly newspaper costs 
z$500.  It is clear that students will be hard-pressed 
to survive on z$5000 per month, and student protests 
to demand higher government stipends are possible. 
End Comment. 
SULLIVAN