The Vice Chancellor of the Chinhoyi University of Technology, Prof David Simbi has come under pressure after he caused chaos last week when he officiated letters expelling more than 50 lecturers who yet stood by the institution in difficult times during the economic downfall period of 2006 to 2009.
In a development that now triggers a string of lawsuits against the university and subsequently the Zimbabwean government , the university over the past 7 years hired the staff members as lecturers, only to later abruptly cancel the contracts and force them to sign new terms which the University has now violated.
At the time of writing at least 4 expelled staffers had received news that their termination letters have been revoked under unclear circumstances just as a mood of uncertainly swept over the whole institution since last week.
These are the same employees who sustained the university through the economic trials of the recent years 2006 – 2009 when many staffers left the country en masse. When the government of national unity was formed however in 2009, they were all soon abruptly forced to cancel their standing contracts. New contracts were then forced on them reportedly under duress with their titles being stripped down to mere ‘teaching assistants’. The new contracts would then expire at the end of each year in December and be renewed thereafter.
But the registrar last week issued a directive reportedly under support of the Vice Chancellor, stating that the staff members were now expelled with immediate effect 6 months before the expiry of their contracts.
With their contracts cancelled and an abrupt contractual arrangement forced on them, which has albeit been violated, the staffers are now seeking legal recourse.
There was chaos last week which affected not only the staffers but also the students’ morale.
Efforts to obtain a comment from both the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar were fruitless since last week Thursday and email inquiries were neither replied nor acknowledged despite more than 6 telephone based verbal inquiries.
The Registrar’s secretary however claimed to ZimEye that the staffers are not lecturers but are teaching assistants.
“They are not lecturers, but rather teaching assistants,” she said before mentioning that the Registrar was in a meeting. More to follow…