Jeko was vice-president of Midlands State University
Lecturers Association (MSULA). He was recently fired from work under unclear
circumstances and is suspected to have died from stress.
According to a source who requested anonymity, Jeko’s
sudden dismissal from employment must have affected him.
He becomes the fourth MSU employee to die suddenly after a
brush with the management in a short period of time.
This was after Solomon Raja from MSU’s Works and Estates
Department collapsed and died in his house last year after a prolonged
suspension from duty without salary and benefits.
Earlier, Abious Marozva, an administrator at MSU, had
collapsed and died in his house after a demotion from lectureship to an
administrative role.
A few months earlier, Samson Rwadzi Mhlahlo died at his
South Downs home after being demoted from the post of executive dean of Social
Sciences to the post of acting director of Press and publications.
He was no longer an academic.
“This is clearly worrisome. Stress levels at MSU seem to
have gone up lately and incidentally, those collapsing and dying would have had
an abrasion of some sort with leadership,” the source said.
“For instance, in the past, instead of one’s suspension
without salary and benefits lasting 14 days in line with the Labour Act, at
MSU, one could be suspended in perpetuity.”
MSULA president Farai Ncube refused to comment on the
matter saying he was at his farm.
“I am at the farm. I can’t comment now. I will call you
later,” he said.
Meanwhile, a leaked MSU memo seen by NewsDay dated August
25, 2021 and signed by registrar Tinashe Zishiri shows more heads are set to
roll.
Part of the memo read: “Subject: Restructuring and
rationalisation progress update.
“Restructuring and rationalisation should be complete by
the end of the year. Restructuring and rationalisation of the catering services
department is almost complete.
“The next phase of restructuring and rationalisation will
cover the Faculty of Social Sciences and non-teaching departments, namely the
human resources department, projects and maintenance department and central
services and amenities department.
“Communication on voluntary retrenchment, early retirement
and compulsory retrenchment targeting the above-mentioned will be circulated in
due course.”
MSU spokesperson Mirirai Shorwa Mawere could not be reached
for comment as her mobile went unanswered.
Zishiri refused to comment saying he was late for his
flight.
“I can’t say anything now because I have to catch a flight
in a few minutes. How can I comment without seeing you in person? You should
make a courtesy call and I can comment on everything you asked face-to-face,”
he said. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment