UNIVERSITY of Zimbabwe (UZ) lecturers were reportedly frogmarched to tidy the campus premises ahead of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Public Lecture to be held on Thursday next week.
According to information gathered by NewsDay Weekender, the lecturers were yesterday assigned to do various tasks such as picking litter, cleaning up offices and other duties.
Lecturers who refused to participate in the exercise were threatened with unspecified action.
According to a circular dated August 8, 2024 directed to faculty chairpersons, Faculty of Arts Dean Fainos Mangena ordered all lecturers to participate in the clean-up exercise.
“Kindly note that we have a clean-up campaign tomorrow, Friday August 9, 2024, in preparation for the Sadc public lecture to be hosted by the University of Zimbabwe on Thursday August 15, 2024,” Mangena said in the circular.
“We are all [academics and support staff] expected to assembly by 0830hrs tomorrow at the Great Hall, where we are going to be addressed before we are assigned our cleaning duties.
“There shall be an attendance register and so do not decide to absent yourself from this important exercise.”
A lecturer who attended told NewsDay Weekender: “We were cleaning windows, picking up litter, doing general cleaning, sweeping around the premises, etc.”
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But some lecturers refused to comply with the directive.
“It’s not part of my job description,” a lecturer who agreed to comment on condition of anonymity said.
“The university has hired permanent staff to do the cleaning on a daily basis. What has changed? They should have planned accordingly with the groundsmen for the special day of the public lecture.”
Efforts to get a comment from UZ vice-chancellor Paul Mapfumo were in vain as he said he was engaged with other business.
