The Minister of Higher Education Brian Mushimba says the University of Zambia employees are not civil servants who should impose a pay day on which to receive their salaries.

He says the University is a quasi-government institution which receives grants and uses them as they wish.

However, the minister says his ministry is in talks with the Ministry of Finance on when the grants for January will be released.

On Wednesday, lecturers and other workers at the campus staged a peaceful protest demanding two months back pay.