By Advent Shoko
HARARE – A heated exchange between lawyer and academic Fadzayi Mahere and economist Professor Gift Mugano has reignited debate over Zimbabwe’s higher education crisis, academic salaries, and the politics of poverty.
The row began after Mugano argued that any professor claiming to be poor while blaming ZANU PF was “a fake professor,” insisting academics should generate income for themselves and their institutions. Some commentators were in his corner with one Richard Tagarira saying:
“He is not wrong. Something is wrong about having so much knowledge and be grieving from poverty.”
Fadzayi Mahere Previously Clashed with Professor Gift Mugano On Other Issues, Now Engage in Poverty Debate
- Zimbabwe Inflation Debate: Mugano Stands By Price Stability As Critics Call Narrative Fictitious
- Zimbabwe Inflation Debate: Mahere Calls Price Stability “Fictitious” Amid Government Claims
Mahere fired back with a fact-driven response, saying Mugano’s view ignores the economic collapse facing Zimbabwean universities, where lecturers earn salaries widely reported to be below basic living costs. She argued that teaching and research, not profit-making, define academic work, and that chronic underfunding, brain drain, and politicisation have crippled institutions. She wrote:
“…your ‘revenue-generating’ endeavour presupposes a functioning economy. If your view were correct, the University of Zimbabwe would have had no lecturers and professors when we were there in 2004–2008 because inflation eroded their wages… Are you aware that university professors earn US$279 but fees at the University of Zimbabwe are in the region of US$700? Is it not ridiculous for a professor to be earning so little that he or she cannot afford to pay for his or her child to take a course at the university and attend his classes?”
Her remarks spotlight a wider higher education crisis marked by low pay, staff migration, overcrowded classes, and shrinking research funding.
Professor Mugano is a Zimbabwean economist, academic and policy analyst who has long been a vocal commentator on the country’s economic direction. Over the years, he built a reputation as a sharp critic of government policy, frequently highlighting structural weaknesses, currency instability and industrial decline. However, his recent public posture has raised eyebrows after what many observers describe as a noticeable shift in tone, with Mugano now striking a more conciliatory stance toward the state and praising aspects of current economic management, a marked departure from his earlier hard-line criticism.
The clash underscores deeper national tensions over whether poverty in Zimbabwe is driven by personal effort or structural economic failure, and what role public intellectuals should play in confronting that reality.
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