UNZA Crisis Heads to State House


Union plans peaceful protest to demand urgent government action on pensions, funding, and governance issues

By Francis Maingaila ♥️

Lusaka, Zambia24 — (12 December 2025) — The University of Zambia Lecturers and Researchers’ Union (UNZALARU) will take the deepening crisis at the University of Zambia to State House on Friday, 19 December 2025, through a planned peaceful protest demanding urgent government intervention.

UNZALARU President Professor Andrew Phiri said the decision to march was driven by the Government’s failure to resolve long-standing and well-documented grievances.

"These include unpaid gratuities and pensions dating back to 2016, ZSIC pension arrears from 2012, delayed institutional grants, and interference by the Emoluments Commission in collective bargaining,".

He said the situation has been compounded by collapsing infrastructure, chronic underfunding of teaching and research, weak governance, and a severe shortage of student accommodation, which continue to undermine the university’s core functions.

Professor Phiri said the union has exhausted dialogue after engaging UNZA management and council, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Secretary to the Treasury, and the Secretary to the Cabinet. 

He said meetings with President Hakainde Hichilema in 2021 and 2023 brought only limited relief.

He said renewed efforts this year to secure further engagement with State House have gone unanswered, leaving the union with no alternative but to escalate the matter.

Professor Phiri stressed that the march, expected to involve between 150 and 200 UNZA employees, will be peaceful and is not directed at any individual. 

He said it is aimed at ending years of inaction that have disrupted livelihoods, devalued terminal benefits, and left some members dying without receiving their dues.

He said UNZALARU is demanding immediate action to resolve the crisis and prevent it from being passed on to future generations.

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