The University of Zambia (UNZA) Vice Chancellor Professor Stephen Simukanga has stepped down from his position.
Yesterday, University of Zambia Lecturers’ and Researchers Union (UNZALARU) members demanded the immediate resignation of Vice Chancellor Professor Stephen Simukanga together with three other principal officers at the university.
Others who have also stepped down at the highest learning institution are UNZA Registrar Dr. Kavwanga Yambayamba, UNZA Librarian Dr. Viatalicy Chifwepa and the UNZA Bursar Barbra Sampa.
Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education Permanent Secretary Dr. Patrick Nkanza has confirmed the development to QFM News in a statement that the Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Enala Mwase has assumed the position of the Acting Vice Chancellor of UNZA.
Dr. Nkanza says the positions of Registrar, Librarian and Bursar will be filled with officers to be appointed to act in these positions.
He says the academic and administrative functions of the UNZA have been restored, and in particular, the Examinations process, which starts on Monday 22nd June 2015, will proceed normally.
Dr. Nkanza states that the ministry in charge will work with all stakeholders to address the problems facing the University of Zambia, and specifically, the problems associated with accrued contractual obligations.
The Permanent Secretary says the ministry is also committed to process of continuous dialogue with management and all staff unions of the university in order to seek and deliver solutions to the problems that could hinder the academic and administrative life of the university.
instead of the Minister of Education resigning for failing to implement policy, a professional has resigned and will be snapped up by a neighbouring xenophobic country!
Is it just me or are these the same problems that have been at the institution from time in memory. Does the re-surfacing these problems indicate the problems with the government of the day. Short-cuts will not do, sticky tape solutions won’t help anyone especially the PF government which is visionless with a visionless leader like ALUNGU. ALUNGU you are not escaping this, your flaws are to many. You need to prepare for after presidency. You let things wander out of your control to soon.
you don’t seem to understand the reasons for their resignations. It concerns morality and integrity and has nothing to do with unza problems. If they are snapped up by a neighbouring country, well and good for them but on the back of what they did they had to go! This was not a demand front government but from fellow professionals remember.
Let’s not be cheated the resignations will not even improve the failures of the highest learning institution in the land. @ kabulo-muleya I concur its the morality and integrity of the individuals that they have stepped down and not solution to UNZA problems. One has just to check the listings according to performance to see where the Zambian institution falls among others. As long as UNZA remains totally dependent on financing from government the problems will continue. Whoever takes over will enjoy the office for a while then hard realities will follow. The institution has also been infiltrated with political activity such that professionalism has been thrown to the wind.
What region of Zambia do these selfish people come from?
The agony of nepotism
Bravo for putting up pressure.let us put presure on Chikwanda to resign on moral grounds for puting ourcountry on Kaloba
Some form of integrity. Not aba ba kolwe whio shoot and maim people yet stick to their positions in fear of prosecution like louse -kaya ok inda
Professor is a victim of a frivolous scapegoat. We’re all very informed that It’s ba shikulu ba Chikwanda who should be resigning and not these hapless victims
we hope unza will be given people who know the system and not ba chipantepante. prof had overstayed despite him being a hard working person. after this we hope we shall see a revolution to get rid of hopeless university managements that aim at filling their bulk pockets through unnecessary projects in universities. management that shall not specialise in victimization of those who oppose unproductive policies. professors and other lecturers, administrative staff look up to management but if management is running universities like high schools then we have problems. answer to all university problems in Zambia lie in decentralized budgets and management of funds. if university managements shall continue to dictate how projects and budgets should run then we will continue to see managements…
Ok God. What knowing the system? SIMUKANGA and his team knew the system so well. The problem is that 98 % of those who have been VCs come from Natural SCIENCE background. There is some unwritten rule that only scientists and engineers can run UNZA. Also that only those who studied at UNZA know the system as the result same old inefficiency and ignorance has been shared. Even people from corporate world can do better. UNZA needs a business mind.
There is too much baggage with whoever takes the helm in most institutions in Zambia. Too many people have been short changed and too much injustice has been allowed to slide. Can we not have a new dispensation where human beings take care of vulnerable human beings just for once? Like do something right at least once in our fcuking lives??? Resignations are not enough – lets get to the baggage, open it and begin to deal with it. Please.
If only our politicians could take a leaf from these academics! But you all know why they can’t. Politicians beg for a job from their president while Professionals put their skills on the open market.
This is the PF you wanted, so how is it going for you? You denied a man who is far intelligent and put in a chimbwi with no plan. Honestly don’t feel sorry for you. Tribalism much practiced by Bembas and Cewas. I happen to be half of each.
You put in thugs to run Government and when they use thug tactics you complain? It doesnt make sense to me.
Universities inspire but what is on the ground is something else. we need universities that will be run by passionate people for education of the nation. prof. nkanza we the Zambian majority had hope when you were appointed permsec but you seem not to understand the problems of the universities in Zambia. it’s management or failure to manage the merger resources at their disposal. huge salaries for management, too many aimless trips, purchase of useless equipment, employment of relatives and friends, this is what we are facing in Zambia. for fear of their shadows managements now employee spies as security officers, install cameras even in corridors where theft has never been since 1964. viva unza viva union, time to bring back the unza you known.
With or without them nothing will change for the institution but them will join us in foreign services for more money in the pocket. They are failing to deal with the root causes but only with contributing factors. What is wrong in the country?
In any forward moving country, the managers of a failing institution are fired, Unza is a failed institution.
There must be more than what meets the eye.very un usual,leaders in africa dont just resign that easily.
I hope they get the money back! Lock them up and make an example of them! This has been going on at UNZA for too long!!!
Once again as we cheer bravo we forget the bigger picture. We are treating symptoms and not the underlying problem. The problems at UNZA are not unique to UNZA. The real problems are systemic. The system is broken. Until we have a functional political system with a government that is actually adept we will continue to have these breakdowns in anything that the government is involved in. NHA, UNZA, BOZ, FRA MINISTRIES AND CABINET ITSELF WILL ALL BE DYSFUNCTIONAL UNTIL WE HAVE A GOVERNMENT THAT KNOWS WHAT ITS DOING. I CHALLENGE ANYONE FROM THE PF TO NAME ANY GOVERNMENT OR QUASI GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS THAT ARE OPERATING WELL IN ZAMBIA RIGHT NOW. NAME ONE! THE ANSWER IS ZERO OVER ZERO!!!!!
Is ZAMBIA about to shut down then ? Sell the country to the highest bidder.
Not yet, wait until after they borrow the bonds again and the stealing starts
What price is ZAMBIA? A pound? £1.10 or £2 including the value of HE?
Mad President as was a prophetic word made by brother Maiko Zulu years back. Mwanawasa wasn’t SATA wasn’t this one truly is.
They have done well to resign. Now we need people to put pressure on Chama and Chanda and Chikwanda and Sata and Lubinda and Katanga and Libongani to resign
@Wambakana Mulenga those names you mentioned never resign, they have to be fired in this paty! Mumbi, Kabimba, Atanga et al!
I don’t know the back story here…but it is so refreshing to hear of Zambians resigning on moral grounds. Or is it? It would have been good for the article to provide more information!!
But do we honestly still need universities in Zambia when a tea spoon still comes from China and a tooth pick from South Africa
Read Paramount Chief Chitimukulu’s part 1 of his current six-part article on this site (Lusaka Times) and see what he says about our education. Essentially, he says education is useless if it does not benefit society. There is no way a country that has been producing graduates since the 1970s can still import spoons from China and tooth-picks, mango juice, pineapple juice and bricks from South Africa. It is a shame.
I don’t sense in insulting the Republican President over this matter. You honestly know that these problems have been there for over 30 years now. You should be offering solutions not showing your political bitterness over every issue
@nda nje no one is insulting the republican president. We all have respect for Lungu as a human being but more importantly as our president. However we respectfully disagree with his policies and that is normal and expected in democratic country. To use the excuse that these problems where prevalent before Lungu came to power is not valid.
The whole premise of government is to solve or at least attempt to solve existing and foreseeable problems. Lungu is failing to address these issues because he does not know how. That is not an insult. Simply an observation. He is presiding over a run away deficit and dysfunctional state. No one gains if lungu fails so we would all hope that he succeeds. We should be asking how much better we can do as a country not if we will SURVIVE.
Read all the postings. Unless you have skipped some you will see what I am talking about. How can you say Unza has problems because Lungu is a mad man? Then we should call all former presidents mad
KK managed to suppress dissenting views at Unza but this did not help matters
May be we recall him?
Perhaps its our definition of insult that is different. I would not use such language however some people have more passionate ways of expressing themselves. I would hope that civilty prevails and we all constructively contribute to these discussions. All that said we can talk all we want but its upto the government to take action. The voters can only have thier say at election time and as it is right now, things are not good for Zambia. DEFICIT YALUBANA, EDUCATION YAZANDA, HEALTH YAFUNTA. ECONOMY OSAKAMBA. KWACHA YEVE AWE SHUWA! !!
Only a white man can bring sanity to unza. They are the only ones that also bring back long lost credibility to unza. Not these prof this, prof that at unza. Just being paid a lot of money for facko! I wud rather send my child to university of iraq or Afghanistan.
Professor Serpell failed ! Try another suggestion.
Jamakudi, Are you sure we have to go back to the colonial period?? You are looking for ba zungus to run our university??? Shame bra.
Its really good for the workers of unza to see this person so called simukanga gone at last. He is the one who influenced friends to go for the alternative of getting gratuities unceremoniously indeed he is gone now look for money and pay people.
GOOD RIDANCE ONLY IF THE REPLACEMENT WILL BE A BUSINESS MINDED PERSON WITH PROVEN BUSINESS RECORD WITH MODERN COMPUTER SKILLS. IT BUFFLES ME TO IMAGINE THAT WE HAVE FAILED TO RUN THE UNIVERSITY PROFITABLY WHILE GOVERNEMENT SHOULD CONTINUE TO CARE FOR THE VULNERABLE THROUGH A FREE BURSARY SCHEME. MAKE ME A BOARD MEMBER AND YOU WILL NEVER REGRET AS A NATION .
BY THE WAY, WHY DO WE APPOINT PEOPLE INSTEAD OF WIDENING THE NET BY ADVERTISING THEREBY GIVING AN OPPORTUNITY TO MANY BRILLIANT ZAMBIUANS TO SERVE THEIR COUNTRY?
FOR ME THE BEST NEWS IS THAT BURSAR GOING……. PRIDE WILL NEVER YAKE YOU ANYWHERE……..BYE BYE BABRA
Nam 2- zambia 1 latest in windhoek namibia
Out of topic……shame for operating at another level……
Just privatise UNZA.
Or just give it to Rupiah Banda and forget about UNZA.
Pro. Simukanga has been a very pompous man in his 8 years of running UNZA. He has been demanding so much respect from his juniors. I once traveled with him to one of the countries in Asia. Almost everyday on this tour that we had together he woke up late and made everyone wait before the next journey on this tour. He always sat alone on a two seater and kept on talking and directing traffic on the bus throughout the 15days or so that we were together. He was really/is really a power hungry person. I think the 8 years was too long in a democratic position like that of a VC. In his own words he says it is wrong to behave like you are one of the junior officers or in his crude language behave like a Cleaners. If you can not respect the cleaners then you cease being a part of the whole.