Varsity Students Riot Over Fees

By Vusumuzi Sifile

STATE universities have more than quadrupled fees for this semester, The Standard has learnt. Many students, turning up for the beginning of the semester were shocked to find fees had been hiked beyond their reach.

This led to riots at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

At NUST, a number of cars and buildings were stoned during the skirmishes. At the UZ, a bank building on campus was damaged.

At the Midlands State University (MSU) students had been told to set aside between $300m and $400m for fees. But when they went for registration, they were informed the fees at all state universities had been reviewed to between $3.7 billion and $4.34 billion.

At the UZ, students pay an additional $10 billion for accommodation on campus.

The Zimbabwe National Students’ Union (ZINASU) says the new fees are “nefarious and insensitive”.

“The government has surely reneged on its social responsibility of ensuring support for students in institutions of higher learning and guaranteeing the provision of the right to education,” said Zinasu secretary general, Lovemore Chinoputsa.

He said “such absurd amounts of fees are beyond the reach of many and are just a measure to malign and segregate the elite from the non-elite”.

Repeated attempts to get a comment from Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Stan Mudenge were fruitless last week.

But in his last interview with The Standard, on Wednesday 27 February, Mudenge said they had “great plans” for the students when they re-open.

Mudenge said then: “They will see what we are doing for them when they open for the new semester.

They should wait and see what we are doing to address their present plight and situation when they open.”

Although the fees being charged at State universities may appear less by Zimbabwean standards today, Chinoputsa said “many students are sons and daughters of poor peasant farmers” who have no reliable source of income.

“This is a deliberate move to deny the students of Zimbabwe their right to education.
Most government officials have their children learning at international universities where large sums of the much-needed foreign currency are paid to the prejudice of the nation,” Chinoputsa said.

On Wednesday, UZ Vice-Chancellor Professor Levi Nyagura was quoted as saying the fees were “very little to attract this attack”.

NUST spokesperson, Felix Moyo would not provide details, saying the violent incident happened when he was away.

Terror Time Again in Zimbabwe

By Vusumuzi Sifile and John Mokwetsi

ON 6 April, Wellington Gweru, the MDC council candidate who lost his bid to win Ward 10 in Chiweshe, says he decided to spend the night with his family at their uncle’s home in anticipation of an announcement of the presidential election results.

But the results were not announced that night. Gweru, like many other Zimbabweans at that time, returned home a disappointed man.

But sad news awaited him on arrival at his homestead: all his huts had been razed to the ground, with all the property inside reduced to ashes.

“A few days earlier, a number of war veterans and Zanu PF supporters had told me they had been sent by a top Zanu PF official to set fire to my huts because of my opposition affiliation,” he said. “They told me they had been instructed by our chief to deal with me as I was negatively influencing people ahead of the anticipated run-off for the presidential election.”

The Standard could not immediately confirm independently the incidents reported by Gweru of many MDC supporters in the area being terrorised by war veterans and Zanu PF militia.
But police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed they were “isolated incidents” of violence.

“It is misleading to say the whole country is burning. They are just isolated incidents. I will check those for you”, Bvudzijena said.

After the elections, many Zimbabweans, like Gweru briefly allowed themselves a little hope after President Robert Mugabe suffered what appeared to be a devastating electoral defeat by his old nemesis, Morgan Tsvangirai.

But two weeks on, that hope has turned to fear. Riot police, especially in high-density areas, have made themselves a permanent feature there, imposing a 10PM curfew.
Residents in such high-density areas as Glen View, Budiriro, Mabvuku, Mbare, Mufakose, Highfield and Chitungwiza fear the days of the batons are back.

At Makomva shopping centre in Glen View, it took the eloquence of Glen View South legislator Paul Madzore to convince an angry mob to disperse after the curfew began.
There have been roadblocks manned by the police. People have been ordered to stay indoors at night. There has been a clampdown on the opposition whose offices have been raided by the police. Foreign journalists have been arrested, Zanu PF war veterans have revived the people’s ugly memories of the tension and the violence before, during and after the 2000 parliamentary and the 2002 presidential elections.

Memories of those dark days come flooding back as people fear Zanu PF’s retribution for voting overwhelmingly for the opposition.

There have been reports of lives being lost in this new wave of fresh terror.
The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) monitors politically motivated violence and human rights abuses.

Last week it reported that soldiers, some wearing masks, raided bars and a public market in Gweru’s Mkoba suburb and assaulted people, reportedly for “failing to vote correctly”.
“Soldiers descended on unsuspecting revellers in bars and late night shoppers, beating them up. The soldiers were allegedly saying the people’s crime, among others, was not to have voted correctly,” said the ZPP.

The organisation said it had received similar reports of violence in Mashonaland East, where a Zanu PF official was said to be waging a campaign of retribution against people suspected to have voted for the MDC. Three victims, Gerald Shamuyarira, Shingi Chigovanyika and Irvine Chimanga, tried to report the official to the police but ended up being arrested themselves.

Churches reported incidents of torture as post-election violence mounted. Zimbabwe National Pastors’ Conference spokesperson, Lawrence Berejena said in Harare last week: “Some people are being seriously tortured, especially in the rural areas. Some have been chased from their homes while others are being denied access to humanitarian aid.”

Last week, the MDC released a list of 200 serving senior officers in the uniformed forces reportedly deployed across the country to command war veterans and Zanu PF youth militia to intimidate people ahead of the anticipated run-off election.

According to the MDC, the service chiefs will be operating “under the guise of war veterans”.

Political analyst Lovemore Madhuku said Zanu PF is cognisant of the fact that only through violence can it win the anticipated run-off.

“This explains the delay in announcing the presidential results,” said Madhuku.” Zanu PF is clearly buying time to intimidate the electorate through the violence now taking place everywhere in Zimbabwe. I must add that this violence is a waste of time.”

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) last week said it had “received information, some of it from sources inside Zimbabwe’s security establishment, indicating that youth militias, Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives and war veterans are being deployed, under the command of approximately 200 senior army officers, throughout the rural areas”.

Nicole Fritz, the director of SALC, said the deployment was part of a “state-sponsored, pre-planned attack on Zimbabwe’s civilian population”.

“The intention seems to be to use violence against and to intimidate voters prior to any run-off or rerun of the elections,” Fritz said.

SALC said “the international and regional communities have a heightened responsibility” to find a solution to the problem in Zimbabwe.

War Veterans’ chairman, Jabulani Sibanda, denied responsibility for any of the incidents of violence, as they are not “a thuggery organization”.

“I have always said as war veterans, violence is not part of our programme,” said Sibanda. “If there is indiscipline by one person that does not mean that is what we are, as war veterans. We are not an organisation of thugs, but that does not mean we are weak,” Sibanda said.

On reports that the war veterans had camped at selected commercial farms, Sibanda said: “Our people went there to check the numbers of white farmers, or aliens at the farms. What we have simply been saying is that if a white man has 10 farms, he has to retreat from nine and have one.”

Sibanda said “the MDC must stop fooling around and prepare for the run-off”. He denied the war veterans were working with the uniformed forces.

Sibanda’s deputy, Joseph Chinotimba, has of late been seen wearing a hat similar to the straw hat he donned at the height of farm invasions in 2000.

Attempts to contact Zanu PF spokesperson on the elections, the defeated Patrick Chinamasa, were fruitless. But last week he told journalists: “We are a peace-loving party and the people of Zimbabwe will not forgive anyone who foments violence.”

The statement may have been received with deep cynicism by many people, some of them victims of the violence which Chinamasa is denying.

Police ban on rallies illegal: laywers, parties

By Vusumuzi Sifile

THE police ban on all political gatherings is illegal as it was not issued according to the provisions of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), lawyers and politicians said yesterday.

On Friday the police commander of the harmonised elections, Senior Assistant Commissioner Faustino Mazango, announced “no political party will be allowed to hold a rally during this period until after the announcement of the outstanding results”.
Mazango told journalists the MDC applied to hold a rally today, but the police denied them clearance because “the current period is still very sensitive”.

But politicians and analysts yesterday said the ban was illegal and in contravention of POSA, which states that bans can only be effected at district level by the officer commanding (District). Friday’s ban was national.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa yesterday vowed the MDC would “continue with our normal activities”.

“The ban is illegal,” he said. “Zimbabwe has not been declared a police state. The law is very clear on political gatherings. The police are not above the law, and they cannot just wake up one day and change laws willy-nilly. We will continue with our normal activities.”
But he would not say if they would go ahead with their rally today.

Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku said the ban was “politically immoral and illegal”.
“There is no jurisprudential difference between a political gathering and a gathering for any other purpose. People who gather for any other purpose can also become politically agitated.

“This betrays the dictatorship mentality that there is always something wrong when people discuss politics. They want to promote a view that is not in the Constitution.”
Major Kudzai Mbudzi, a key member of Simba Makoni’s presidential campaign, said the ban was an “expression of fear by the government”.

“The guilty are always afraid. This has nothing to do with rallies; they fear that when people meet, they will discuss issues affecting them. What they do not know is that whether you ban rallies or not, Mugabe’s exit is now inevitable,” Mbudzi said.

Announcing the ban on rallies on Friday, Mazango said the MDC was “spoiling for a fight” and claimed the party had “deployed around 350 youths countrywide to man bases”.
But Chamisa dismissed the claims, saying the police were probably confusing them “with the new opposition, Zanu PF”.

“We are a ruling party and we want to be exemplary,” said Chamisa. “We cannot be wasting time setting up bases as if we are going to war, instead of setting up institutions to rebuild the economy, create jobs for the people and bring food to people’s tables.
“It is only losers who are setting up bases and they should be arrested. It is Zanu PF who have set up bases across the country. People are being terrorised and some have even fled their homes as bases have been set up there.”

Chamisa said the police claims were similar to those made in March last year when opposition supporters were accused of petrol-bombing.

“The MDC is not a military organisation. We are a civilian party and at no time have we harboured the issue of setting up bases. That is why we took the long route of democracy, and it’s good we have finally reached our destination. It is actually defamatory for Mazango to make such an allegation.”

Dawn of a new era in Zimbabwe

…Hopes for better health, jobs, schools, compensation

By Vusumuzi Sifile and Bertha Shoko

THE Marxist revolutionary, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, once said: “Against brute force and injustice, the people will have the last word, that of victory.”

Che's words, once described by Nelson Mandela as "an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom" appear to be coming true for Zimbabweans after Zanu PF's 28-year stranglehold on power was broken last week.

Though President Robert Mugabe remains in State House, waiting for a run-off, Zimbabweans already have high expectations that a new Zimbabwe has been born.

In bars, churches, workplaces, markets and homes, people from all strata of society are talking enthusiastically about what a new Zimbabwe will be like.

At Market Square bus terminus in Harare , on the day the final House of Assembly results were announced, Clever Manhanga, a commuter asked why commuter omnibus operators were still charging high fares when Zanu PF was out of power.
“We thought once Zanu PF was out of power, all things would be back to normal, but so far, there are no signs this will happen,” Manhanga said.

Others felt nostalgia for the good old days when Zimbabwe had been newly-liberated from colonialism.

Mathias Thohana, who trained at the University of Zimbabwe as an accountant years ago, recalled how he managed to send his two brothers and a sister to school on his college payout between 1995 and 2000.

“Life was good back then. I remember I asked my mother to stop cross border trading as soon as I started college,” Thohana said.
“She was having problems with her legs, after carrying heavy loads, for a long time, for resale across the border. But with just my university payout I was able to provide for the whole family. But now it's a different story.”

Thohana says in the new Zimbabwe he wants undergraduate students to have that dignity restored, to be able to provide for themselves and even for their siblings.

“Nowadays college students go begging from one relative to another because they cannot take care of themselves. These people are supposed to be future directors and chief executive officers of companies.

“Female students are now forced to resort to prostitution or high-risk relationships with older men to take care of themselves.”

The secretary general of the Zimbabwe National Students’ Union (ZINASU) Lovemore Chinoputsa said although they were pleased the MDC had won the House of Assembly elections, they were “not celebrating yet”. ZINASU is a key MDC ally.
“We have celebrated but we will not be overwhelmed by the win. This is the time to ensure that the promises made are fulfilled,” he said.
“We will continue as a watchdog to the new government. We need to play a proactive role in rebuilding, reconstruction and reconciliation. The education sector is currently dilapidated and there is an urgent need to revamp it. We need all the students expelled on political grounds back in school.”
Like Thohana, Chinoputsa said they expected the new government to “prioritise” the welfare of all students, particularly those at tertiary institutions who have lost dignity because of their poor lifestyles.
Qhubekani Dube, a survivor of Gukurahundi, said he wanted Mugabe tried for ordering the death of innocent civilians in the early eighties.
Dube said:” We definitely want Mugabe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Sydney Sekeramayi and Enos Nkala to be tried. We also want everybody who was involved in Gukurahundi named, so that we know who was responsible for what.

“We basically want the truth established first then we can talk about compensation for survivors like myself. The culture of impunity must be broken in Zimbabwe . Everyone should be held accountable for their actions.”

Dube says he lost many relatives during Gukurahundi. Mugabe has said the disturbances were an “act of madness”.

Enia Muzambara of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), a victim of police brutality, said in the new Zimbabwe she wanted members of the uniformed forces tried for human rights abuses.

“I know the people in the police force who beat me up. It’s a pity they did not kill me because when the right time comes I will fearlessly point them out. They must be tried. They must rot in prison.”

On the health delivery system, Nyasha Nyamaropa from Hatfield said the new government must prioritise the provision of free or affordable Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for those with HIV and Aids.

Nyamaropa said there must an urgency to revamp of the entire health sector with special focus on improved child and maternal and affordable specialist care.

“We do not want to travel to South Africa for specialist care or pay high bills for it in the private sector,” Nyamaropa said.
“Some kidney patients are dying because they cannot afford haemodialysis in the private sector. I am hopeful that the new government can deliver this.”
Ruth Nziramasanga, 78, a former teacher, said she hoped the new government would introduce “money that is not difficult to count”. She said counting many bearer cheques makes her “dizzy”.
She said: "Each time I go to buy something these high denominations confuse me and I always have to be assisted by till operators. Do you know I managed to send my four children, who are now in the United Kingdom , to boarding school on a teacher's salary? Today teachers sell maputi at school.”

But Brian Kagoro, a political commentator and lawyer, said he believed it was too early for people to expect things to change.
“There is an expectation that opposition forces are now moving from opposition to proposition,” Kagoro said. “The type of leadership required to change a regime and the type of leadership required to transform an economy are different … We are on the verge of either a proper transition or a failed transition.”
Ends//

Mugabe warned over poll run-off

By Vusumuzi Sifile

POLITICAL commentators and activists have warned President Robert Mugabe against standing in the presidential run-off election due in three weeks, saying a defeat would subject him to “indignity and embarrassment”.

Mugabe will face the MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai in a run-off election within 21 days after none of the four presidential candidates managed to obtain an absolute majority of the votes cast on 29 March. According to Section 110(3) of the Electoral Act, there should be a run-off election within 21 days featuring the two candidates with the highest number of votes.But following Zanu PF’s defeat in the House of Assembly elections, political analysts believe the results of the run-off would be no different, and have called on Mugabe to withdraw and avoid the possible humiliation of another rout.

Brian Kagoro, a lawyer and civic activist said on Wednesday it was “culturally unwise” for Mugabe to hang on to power.

“It is culturally unwise for grandparents to remain working when there are many young people who are able and willing to do the job,” Kagoro told journalists in Harare. Nkosana Moyo, the former Minister of Industry and International Trade, said in the run-off it was likely that all voters who supported Simba Makoni would support Tsvangirai.

The former Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo on Wednesday told journalists Zanu PF’s defeat last week marked the start of “the total disintegration of the party”.

“Why should the president, given all he has done for this country, subject himself to such indignity? This is a run-off he cannot win, but it is also a run-off he cannot postpone. In terms of the law, it has to be held within three weeks,” Moyo said.

“The right thing for the president in this situation is to withdraw. If he withdraws, he would have set a remarkable precedent. He must realise that having lost the first round, he cannot win the second. Mugabe and Zanu PF should be gracious in defeat.”

Moyo said the party was now disintegrating “very fast”.

Over the past few days there has been speculation that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)’s delay in announcing results of last Saturday’s poll was part of a plot to rig the election in Mugabe’s favour. ZEC officials have denied this, saying the delay was caused by the “meticulous verification of results”.

Hopes for a Move "From Opposition to Proposition"

HARARE, Apr 3 (IPS) - A leading commentator in Zimbabwe has sounded a note of caution -- this after the country passed a political milestone that saw the opposition win control over the lower house of parliament in weekend elections.

This marks the first instance in which parliamentary power has passed to the opposition since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, and the question now is whether the presidency will follow suit.

Results announced in a trickle by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) over the past three days show that the larger faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by former unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, won 99 seats in the 210-seat lower house, while a splinter group of the movement gained 10; the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the former ruling party, won 97 seats. An additional seat was captured by an independent, leaving three seats still to be contested.

"There is a temptation in the opposition to enter into endless celebration now. Others are already imagining themselves as ministers or holding important positions in government. This would be a big mistake for the MDC," said Brian Kagoro. "We are on the verge of either a proper transition or a failed transition. The MDC should now take a conciliatory approach and work with everyone, including those who were opposed to them. Deciding to go it alone could be suicidal," he added. "There is now an expectation for the opposition forces to move from opposition to proposition."

The snail-paced announcements by the ZEC sparked fears that the polls were being rigged to keep President Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF in power. "If the ZEC continues to delay in announcing the official election results...Zimbabweans...will have no option but to source the results from the parallel market," said Tendai Biti, general secretary of the larger MDC faction.

A black market for foreign currency, fuel and the like has sprung up in the face of Zimbabwe's economic decline, one of the key issues in the elections. The polls had already been marred by efforts to tilt the outcome in favour of government, notably through intimidation of opposition supporters and rights activists, bias in the state media, tight controls over independent journalists, a suspect voters' roll -- and the manipulation of food aid to sway the vote amongst the approximately four million people estimated by the United Nations World Food Programme to be in need of supplies.

Millions more who had fled abroad to find work or escape political repression were disenfranchised, while election observers from countries critical of the Mugabe regime were not permitted to monitor the Mar. 29 elections -- in which the presidency, House of Assembly, Senate and local government posts were contested.

Former information minister Jonathan Moyo was the only independent candidate to win a seat. Previously at the forefront of muzzling the press in a bid to entrench Mugabe's rule, Moyo was in the business of political obituaries, Wednesday.

"ZANU-PF is now history. The total disintegration of the party has started -- this time it's the real disintegration. Only if they are gracious in this defeat will the people give them another chance," he told a press conference in the capital, Harare. "The authorities are managing defeat, and they are not used to managing defeat," Moyo noted.

"In fact, this election is very difficult to rig. I would actually be tempted to say it is not 'riggable'. Part of the reason for the delay is because there is anxiety in the security, especially those service chiefs who unwisely, or rather foolishly, told the whole world that they would not salute any other winner than Mugabe."

Based on results posted outside polling stations, MDC-Tsvangirai claims it has won the presidency with 50.3 percent of ballots. The contest for head of state must go to a run-off within three weeks if none of the candidates gains more than 50 percent of the vote. The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network has estimated Tsvangirai's share of the vote at 49.4 percent against about 42 percent for Mugabe; the third contender of note, Simba Makoni, is believed to have seven percent of ballots. Once a finance minister under Mugabe, Makoni was expelled from ZANU-PF after deciding to run for president, and may now prove a deciding factor in a run-off in terms of who he supports.

MDC-Tsvangirai has said it will contest a run-off if the ZEC announces that its leader won less than the required number of votes. An article in the state-run 'Herald' daily about a probable second round has deepened speculation that a run-off in looming, even though Mugabe had earlier been dismissive of such a possibility; reports in this newspaper are widely viewed as telegraphing the intentions of government.

Additional reports speak of talks between the MDC and officials to ease Mugabe out of office under a deal that would see him avoid prosecution for human rights abuses that have intensified over the past eight years as he clung to power. The opposition group has denied such negotiations are underway, saying discussion about the future hinges on how the ZEC calls the vote. There is even talk of an averted military coup by security agents who have long backed the president, grown wealthy under his rule, and who are reluctant to have the legality of their assets scrutinised -- as well as of a split amongst senior officers over continued support of Mugabe.

Increased numbers of security forces, patrols and vehicle checks are reported in main urban centres. Noted Moyo, who left government in 2005, "The right thing for the president in this situation is to withdraw. If he withdraws, he would have set a remarkable precedent...Mugabe and members of his party, ZANU-PF, should be gracious in defeat."

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a grouping of civil society organisations, earlier this week petitioned the Southern African Development Community and the African Union to exert pressure on government to release the results. "Of significant concern are unconfirmed reports that the incumbent president is preparing to declare a state of emergency after announcing inaccurate results. This is consistent with the threats made by the security chiefs before elections that they are not prepared to accept the election results if President Mugabe and ZANU-PF lose the elections," said the coalition's MacDonald Lewanika.

George Charamba, Mugabe's spokesman, told the press that the head of state -- like other candidates -- was eagerly awaiting the announcement of results. "You talk to me as if you have already got the results of the election. As far as we are concerned, ZEC is yet to complete the announcement and unless that announcement is made, we will not comment about our plans," he said. "You people have been writing lies that the president is in Malaysia when in fact he is in the country. I was with him at state house over lunch." First published in April 3, 2008 on www.ipsnews.net