Nothing has been finalised yet but there is a possibility that Caesar Zvayi, the Zimbabwean national who worked for the University of Botswana until last week when he was bundled out of the country through a deportation order, may get termination benefits.
“The university is considering the question of any terminal benefits that may be due to him after due calculations one way or the other. Unfortunately, the university cannot discuss details of such matters affecting personnel with a third party,” says Samuel Moribame, UB’s director of public affairs.
The details that were sought, which Moribame says cannot be divulged, relate to whether Zvayi’s contract with UB entitled him to any termination benefits as is standard practice.
However, Moribame could reveal that Zvayi, who joined UB on June 12, handed over “some items belonging to the university” upon his departure.
“As is the standard procedure, we are carrying an assessment of things that could have been handed over to him when he was here at UB and to ascertain, together with him and relevant departments and sections, if everything is in hand and pick it up from there. As you know the circumstances of his departure might have made it difficult for him to hand over everything he got from UB at once. If that is the case, this is a matter that we can easily sort out together with him in due course, “Moribame says.
A former political editor of the government-owned Herald and ruling party supporter, Zvayi was deported from Botswana as a prohibited immigrant in terms of Section 7 (f) of the
Immigration Act which states that “any person who, in consequence of information received from any source deemed by the president to be reliable, is declared by the president to be an undesirable inhabitant of or visitor to Botswana.”
Zvayi’s deportation has also caused a stir in his homeland. The story has received substantial press coverage and the lead story of ZimDaily’s Friday edition was “Khama (personally) demanded Zvayi to be kicked out.” The paper is virulently anti-government.
One part of the story reads: “Sources close to the buildup of the saga that surrounded Zvayi’s presence in Botswana confirmed to ZimDaily that President Khama demanded to know why Caesar Zvayi had been cleared to work in Botswana without thorough background checks. It goes on to say that “Khama then ‘personally’ demanded that he (Zvayi) be kicked out as soon as possible and was determined to see the process through in person.” ┬á
Zvayi’s deportation has won Khama fans in Zimbabwe. ZimDaily says that the Zimbabwe student organisation, ZINASU lobbied for Zvayi’s deportation.
“We the students of Zimbabwe write this letter to appeal to your government to urgently act and deport former Zimbabwe Herald newspaper editor Caesar Zvayi who is now working at the University of Botswana as a lecturer in the media department.
“Your Excellency, we salute and commend your efforts in not recognizing and condemning the 27 June one-`man election in Zimbabwe.
“Your country is a good model of a democracy and good governance in Africa and people like Zvayi should not be accommodated as they propagated hate among Zimbabweans because of his vitriolic writings in the daily newspaper.
“Caesar Zvayi should be deported and come back to Zimbabwe lest he pollutes those students in Botswana with his dirty and unclean background, as his past is not clean,” reads the letter to Khama.
