Tinotenda Hove – The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) is under fire amid allegations that it has not paid close to 8,000 Ordinary Level and Advanced Level examiners, weeks after the examination results were officially released.

The affected examiners reportedly marked examination scripts for a two-week period, from 7 to 22 December 2025, but left their respective marking centres without receiving any payment. According to sources, most markers were expecting to receive at least US$400 each, inclusive of travel and subsistence allowances.

ZIMSEC spokesperson Nicky Dhlamini acknowledged that some examiners were still unpaid but said the council was still establishing the full scope of the problem. “I need to verify which subjects the examiners were marking before I can give the answer,” said Dhlamini.

However, a disgruntled examiner who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed that none of the examiners had been paid at all. The examiner detailed how markers were deployed across different centres countrywide, depending on the subject.

“The markers were dotted around the country, for example, Ndebele was marked in Lupane, while Geography was in Mutare, Maths O’ Level at the University of Zimbabwe and A’ Level Maths in Bindura, Business Studies and Accounts at Masvingo Polytechnic, and other subjects were marked at different centres,” said the examiner.

The source added that after the deduction of travel and subsistence costs, each examiner was still supposed to take home at least US$400 in allowances. “After the T&S, each examiner was supposed to have a take-home, including allowances of US$400 plus,” the examiner said.

Payment rates reportedly varied by subject, with Business Studies examiners earning the highest rate at US$1.80 per script. “Business Studies was followed by Geography and Shona Paper 1, whose script rate was $1.20, Biology $1.10, Accounts $1, and the rest of the subjects were $1.10,” the marker explained.

The examiner said the issue of delayed or non-payment had become a recurring problem at ZIMSEC, affecting even Grade Seven markers in previous years. “This problem has been perennial, and Grade 7 markers have faced the same difficulty too. The ZIMSEC guys are no longer picking up our calls now,” the examiner said.

The allegations have sparked frustration among examiners, many of whom rely on marking allowances as a critical source of income, as pressure mounts on ZIMSEC to urgently address the issue.