Debt Threatens UNZA Operations
By Francis Maingaila
Lusaka, Zambia24 — (October 22, 2025) — The University of Zambia (UNZA) is facing a deepening financial crisis that threatens its operations, with unpaid salaries, delayed pension benefits, mounting debt, and new management costs pushing the institution toward potential collapse, the University of Zambia Lecturers’ and Researchers’ Union (UNZALARU) has warned.
UNZALARU President Professor Andrew Phiri told journalists in Lusaka that chronic underfunding, poor governance, and delayed tuition payments have placed severe pressure on the country’s largest public university, undermining infrastructure, student services, and academic performance.
“The University is in a financial ICU,” he said, warning that without urgent intervention, UNZA’s vital role in training Zambia’s workforce and driving innovation could be lost.
According to Professor Phiri, UNZA owes its current and former employees about K1.3 billion in unpaid benefits, including K502 million in gratuities and K773 million in pension arrears, some of which have been outstanding for nearly a decade.
He explained that government’s consistent delays in funding and failure to remit statutory obligations to the Zambia State Insurance Corporation (ZSIC), National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), and National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA) have worsened the situation.
“The University survives only because it is a public institution, but we do not know how long it can sustain this condition,” he cautioned.
Professor Phiri said years of inadequate funding have crippled UNZA’s core functions, affecting infrastructure development, maintenance, and service delivery.
He cited the shortage of staff offices, dilapidated lecture theatres and laboratories, overcrowded student accommodation, and unreliable water and sanitation systems as evidence of institutional decline.
He warned that a collapse of UNZA would be more than an institutional failure—it would be a national setback.
“Allowing UNZA to operate under financial distress compromises the country’s future,” he stressed.
Although the 2025 national budget increased UNZA’s allocation from K210.3 million to K308.5 million, including K150 million for personnel emoluments, Phiri described the increment as commendable but far from sufficient.
He noted that government’s contribution covers only 29 percent of the university’s operational costs, forcing UNZA to depend heavily on internally generated revenue, which now constitutes 71 percent of its income.
“It is unacceptable for government to claim to prioritize education while its leading public university is starving financially,” he said regretfully.
Phiri also blamed the UNZA management for worsening the situation through poor financial decisions.
He criticized the recent approval of a new organizational structure that adds several senior management positions, such as executive deans and additional directors, despite the university’s precarious financial condition.
“An institution that is already in debt cannot afford to expand its management structure,” he argued, urging the suspension of the new system until UNZA proves its ability to sustain it financially.
He further revealed that the Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board (HELSB) owes UNZA nearly K100 million in unremitted tuition fees for government-sponsored students, further straining the university’s cash flow.
The continued delay in these payments, he warned, threatens the smooth completion of the academic year, even as lecturers continue to teach and assess students without timely remuneration.
Phiri said UNZALARU has given the government until December 1, 2025, to resolve the ongoing financial crisis, warning that failure to act could trigger industrial action.
He explained that the union is demanding the immediate payment of terminal benefits owed to both serving and retired employees, along with timely and predictable disbursement of salaries and allowances.
“The government must also increase grants to the university to meet its operational needs and ensure the regular release of monthly allocations by the Ministries of Finance and Education,” Phiri said.
He added that the union is further urging the prompt settlement of tuition fees owed by HELSB and calling for the suspension of the new organizational structure until a proper financial review is conducted.
“Without addressing these long-standing problems, it makes no sense for UNZA to admit new students next academic year,” Phiri warned.
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