By Promise Dube
Some employees at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo have accused the university of neglecting to pay their medical aid for July, paying their monthly salaries late and withdrawing buses for their transportation despite providing pitiful transportation allowances.
Employees who spoke to CITE on the condition of anonymity said according to the contract they signed with the university, the employer pays 80 percent of the total medical aid while the member contributes 20 percent.
However, without informing staff, workers said the Office of the Registrar had suspended payment on medical aid.
“The university has been paying medical aid since 2008 and not a month has passed that it has not been paid. Then without any notice from the management, in particular the Office of the Registrar, medical aid payments to all medical aid societies were cut leaving staff members and their families exposed,” said concerned employees.
“From August 1, 2023, none of the staff were covered by any medical aid scheme as the management in its wisdom or lack of it, just withdrew medical cover for its employees. Salaries are usually paid late and there is no explanation to that effect. Most people received their RTGS salary on August 2, 2023 ,yet people have to commute to and from various locations to NUST.”
The concerned employees said the university gave them a transport allowance of ZWL$15 515 per month which is inadequate for them
“It’s really a bad joke from management which gives itself 200 litres of fuel monthly. If you convert ZWL$15 515 using the US$1: ZWL5 000, it gives you US$3 dollars a month and that is supposed to cover the employee for five times a week,” said the NUST employees.
Contacted for comment, NUST Director of Communications and Marketing Thabani Mpofu admitted there had been a challenge paying medical aid but claimed that was rectified.
“There was an anomaly on medical aid, which has since been rectified. Staff members will not be inconvenienced from accessing various services,” he said and did not respond to other concerns raised by the employees.
The employees have also accused the institution of withdrawing buses that used to ferry workers citing fuel shortages.
“They withdrew buses that would drop workers in various locations around Bulawayo arguing that they do not have fuel,” said workers.
“The University further removed parallel and block programmes because it was not paying its lecturers for self-funding programmes despite the fact that lecturers were getting a small percentage. Right now there are no parallel or block programmes at NUST. Other Universities such as Catholic University are teaching. NUST has been losing revenue due to this,” added workers.
Some of the employees alleged the current registrar is worsening the financial situation as the university is not generating income and no one is able to challenge the management.
“Bear in mind that just a couple of weeks ago, over 60 people were fired unprocedurally and were later on reinstated. There is so much fear that no one is able to raise any issue,” said the workers who claimed the Registrar was taking advantage of this.
“Since the appointment of the current registrar NUST has been going down. The university has no meaningful income generation. If academics complain they are shortlisted for dismissal,” said the employees.
